Daily Devotions

Josh 1:1-9 Now after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord it came to pass, that the Lord spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ minister, saying, 2 Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel. 3 Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses. 4 From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast.
5 There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. 6 Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them. 7 Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest. 8 This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. 9 Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.

Here is a question to ponder; Is God concerned with how successful an individual is? In verse 8 of our reading this morning we find the word success, the only time that verse is found in the Bible. So, is God concerned with how successful an individual is? The answer is yes, but it depends upon how you define success. Most people today gage success by a different standard than God does. How much money does one have, how many toys can thy buy, how popular are they, are they leaving a mark in the world. I read obituaries in the paper and some are so long with all that a person has accomplished, how much organization they belonged to, the business they started and so on, the mark they left in the world. In the religious realm people look at the size of a church, how many books someone has written and so on. But how does God measure success? According to verse 8 of our reading success is determined by how one is given to the Word of God and obedience to God. All that we do in this world that is of this world will be left in this world when we leave it. Be careful not to judge success by the wrong standard. The success that Joshua had as the leader of God’s children was tied directly to his obedience to the Word of God. The same will be said of you and me one day.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 21st, 2014 at 4:45 am and is filed under Daily Devotions. You can skip to the end and leave a response.