November 13, 2009

Very interesting reading today, Ladies! By the way, did you know that in this blog, wherever you see a scripture reference that looks highlighted, it's actually a link? You can click it, and you will be redirected to Biblegateway.com where you can read that reference. It's pretty handy if you want to read but don't have a Bible with you.

Pretty painful stuff happening today in Joshua 5. Joshua and the Israelites are in Canaan now; the surrounding kings have heard about the river crossing and are afraid to mess with them, because they have God with them. Not just a god, but THE REAL, LIVING GOD. Now it's time to catch up on things, and all the men and boys have to be circumcised. Clear back to Abraham, this was God's way of separating his people unto Himself, and showing them to be different from everyone else. While they were wandering around in the wilderness for 40 years, all the circumcised men died off, and the people born during that time weren't circumcised. They got that done, and were all staying around the camp healing up.
At the end of the chapter, Joshua sees a man with a sword coming, so he goes out and asks if he's friend or foe. He's an angel, the Captain of the Lord's Host! Can you imagine? He must have been awe inspiring. Definitely not the sweet little angel depicted in the painting of the kids on the bridge with their guardian angel! Joshua, tough old warrior that he was, dropped to his knees and called himself a servant.

Psalms 10, Psalm 11, and Psalm 12 were short today. They give a good description of evil people and offer a prayer for deliverance from the wicked. We can see how the deeds of the wicked haven't changed much over the centuries.

Notice this in Psalm 11:5 - The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth.

Does it say, His soul hateth violence? No. It doesn't. Look at that verse carefully. It says, "The wicked and him...", the Lord's soul hateth. Those are people, not just acts. Don't let anybody tell you the Lord loves everybody in the whole world. There are more references than this one that prove that there are actual PEOPLE that God hates.

Proverbs 13 is a wealth of good instruction. In verses 2 & 3 we see more about watching our mouth. Verse 4 has an admonition against lying. Verses 7 & 8 talk about how rich people can have all those things, but still have nothing. Verses 13 & 14 tell us why we should love God's word. And much more! Read it and see what you find.

* If you want to read a good book with some awesome warrior angels, and a great depiction of the spiritual warfare that goes on around us all the time, read This Present Darkness, by Frank Peretti.