I found this one while reading When Love Ends and the Ice Cream Carton is Empty - the new book I started reading last week. The author quoted it in one of the early chapters and the very moment my eyes fell on the words, I knew this was my new verse.
Now I am about to go the way of all the earth. You know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the Lord your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed.
Joshua 23:15
God has been doing a work in my heart this year. He's always working, but He's working extra right now. I have two or three paths going on at once here....and I'm not sure where any of them will lead. But I know that right now, more than ever, I need to cling to these words and know my God is good.
Here are the things I learned from this verse:
* This came from Joshua's farewell address to the leaders. In the verses leading up to this one, he shared with them important things they needed to know in taking over the job of leading the nation he led so well. No pressure. And in this verse, he sets up the words by reminding them (with no bitterness...just stating the fact) he's about to die. To me, that makes this promise all the more powerful. If I sat with someone who didn't have much time left on this earth...and he was sharing from his heart, I'd listen. Those words would be the most important.
* The word know means to perceive, discern, be familiar with, be aware of. I loved the definition be familiar with. When I think over this journey I've walked in the last year, I can say with absolute certainty that I've become familiar with my Abba. That sweet comfort...that familiarity...it truly is a knowledge that surpasses head information.
* The word soul means life, breath, passionate existence of an individual, appetite, desire, will, longing. It's the core of who I am. Not the physical existence of flesh and bone, but ME. Everything about me that makes me Bekah.
* The word good means pleasant, beautiful, excellent, lovely, delightful, cheerful. It's not just on the positive side of okay. It's deeper and more precious than that.
* The word promises means the Word of God - the account of His actions. Far better than the promises of people which are made and broken just as quickly and without any thought.
* The word failed means brought down low, to fall. It even went on to describe it as a terrible tragedy - whether on purpose or by accident.
So when I look at those definitions, I see that what Joshua wanted the leaders to know then...and what God longs for me to know now is this:
I've developed a relationship with God that has made me intimately familiar with Him and how He relates to me. Everything about the person I am - clear down to the deepest part of my personality...quirks and all - rests in that deep familiar knowledge of my Abba. And because of that...because of what I have seen in my own life and what I've read in the Bible and observed in the lives of others...I can say with certainty that every beautiful thing God ever promised...happened. Nothing fell apart. His plan has always prevailed. And even when things did not go as I heard they would - as in my relationship with Isaac - that does not mean He is incapable of redeeming them to be even greater for His glory.
Right now in my life, He's promised new starts...restoration...redemption. And He will bring it to pass.
2 comments:
Amen, Amen, and Amen!
And I amen YOUR amen. :) Miss you girl!
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