Joshua 22:21-23:16, Luke 20:27-47, Psalms 89:14-37, Proverbs 13:17-19
Today is the 21st day of April welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is always a humbling pleasure and joy to just to come in and have a seat around the Global Campfire with everybody else and have this place. It’s amazing what…what we’ve been able to do together, right? To build an oasis, like an oasis for the heart that we can come to. It’s like we made…we built this. Every day we can come here and it’s a safe place to be in. Its just God word being read over us and us knowing that we can never really listen to the Daily Audio…like there’s no time that we’re listening that somebody else isn’t listening as well. And, so, we are in this together and that is an awe-inspiring thing. Even after all these years, it’s still an awe-inspiring thing…I mean I’m sitting here thinking about it and I can’t stop talking about it. It’s incredible that we have this place where we can be together. And, so, thrilled. Thrilled that we can take our place and take the next step forward. The next step forward leads us back into the book of Joshua. We’ve been traveling with Joshua and the crossing of the Jordan and the taking of the promised land and the dividing of the promised land. And we will conclude the book of Joshua tomorrow, but we left ourselves yesterday with a bit of a cliffhanger because the 2 ½ tribes were going home, they built this large imposing altar and the 10 tribes found out about it in they’re like, they’ve gathered together for war and have sent some delegates from each of the tribes to find out what in the world is going on. And, so, we’ll pick up that story. We’re reading from the New Living Translation this week. Joshua 22:21 to 23:16.
Commentary:
Okay. So, we have basically rounded the corner and we are at the end of the book of Joshua. We will conclude the book of Joshua with tomorrow’s reading. And we had a situation, develop in the last couple of days that could have been catastrophic, actually could’ve been civil war with…well…who knows how that would have gone other than it would have gone bad, right? So, just by way of reminder, these two and half tribes Gad, Ruben, and the half tribe of Manasseh that are in question here, they had been given their tribal land on the other side of the Jordan. It was conquered lands while the children of Israel were still wandering in the wilderness. And this land was given to them on the condition that they would cross the Jordan and fight alongside their brothers to settle that land, which they did. And then they came…they were…they were released, and they went back to the Jordan River and made this big altar. Okay. So, the news of that altar reached back to the other tribes in the land being settled and a story when around about that altar that these 2 ½ tribes were rebelling against the other tribes and against God. That was not true. That is called an assumption. An assumption is a plausible explanation or a plausible way of looking at reality without all the facts. So, you have pieces of a story. In this case, yes, indeed the 2 ½ tribes left camp. Yes, indeed the 2 ½ tribes went back to the Jordan River. Yes, they built an altar there and continued on their way. Those are the facts. The rest of it was assumption, a plausible explanation that happened to be utterly false and could…that…that assumption, that reality that people had begun to live into and believe was the truth, that this 2 ½ tribes went back to the Jordan River and conspired against the other tribes and conspired against God and had built this other altar was going to cause the other tribes to go and squash the conspiracy. And had they strapped on their swords and God on their horses and took off down toward the Jordan River toward these other tribes believing the assumption then it would’ve been catastrophic. Thankfully, they sent a delegation to see if there might be missing pieces to the story. And once those pieces were put into place the assumptions fell apart because they were false realities. Let’s think though about how many assumptions we make in any day, but let’s think of major assumptions that we’ve made that we’ve acted upon that have caused catastrophe in our relationships. Just because you can assume it doesn’t make it real. Even just because you want it to be real doesn’t make it real. And we are a people prone to believing whatever we want to believe. When an assumption is almost a creative power within us to fill in blanks and make a cohesive story that has a very important missing pieces that we made up so that it can make sense. And this isn’t helpful. We remember the story of Jesus at Caesarea Philippi saying, “what are the assumptions about me? What are people saying about me?” And we remember the disciples saying, “they think you’re John the Baptist rising from the dead.” That’s a…that’s a false assumption, right? He wasn’t John the Baptist raised from the dead or something…that you’re one of the prophets of old. That was a false assumption. That’s not who he was. Obviously, that story in the gospel is to lead us to the same question that He was asking, “who you say that I am?” But that it’s ties in here because it’s not “who do you assume that I am or who does everybody else say that I am, not make up an assumption or follow someone else’s assumption. What is the truth of who you say that I am?” So, back to this story in Joshua. The assumption could’ve created something devastating. We need to remember that in our lives before we start trying to figure out things and filling in the blanks and forgetting that those are assumptions and not facts because otherwise we’re living a false reality, something we made up that could lead to something devastating.
Prayer:
Father we invite You into that. Our one point of truth is You. You are the way the truth and the life. When we are pursuing You with our hearts, we are pursuing the pathway of truth and the pathway of peace. When we’re frustrated or just making things up because it seems foggy out there and we need answers, and we start building assumptions then we’re being impatient and creating false realities. Help us Holy Spirit to be present to what is actually happening, to be present to the leading of Your Holy Spirit because You have promised You would lead us into all truth. So come Holy Spirit and lead us into all truth we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.
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And that’s it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.
Community Prayer and Praise:
Thank you, Brian, your family, and the team. Everyday Brian you say that you are very thankful and grateful to have us partnered with you to bring the word of God across the world. And yet for me I really think I want to be the one to say that I am very thankful, honored. And it’s such a privilege to be part of a ministry that is impacting, influencing, blessing, touching, changing every tribe, tongue, and nation across this globe. It's…it’s just…it’s amazing just to even have that thought that God’s word is penetrating to these places that I can’t even go to myself, but the word of God through this ministry and through this technology is going across and beyond borders. I’m so thankful for this. Proverbs 11:25 says a generous person will prosper. Whoever refreshes others will be refreshed. And I want to say that I am so refreshed that others are being refreshed. And, so, I want to extend this thanks in the same way that you have been extended your thanks. So, thank you so much. This is Ann from Arizona. By.
I just listened to April the 16th and I heard Jasmine who is a Canadian who is in Africa as a missionary and her husband David facing grace in Jesus. I just lift them up to You today. Wrap Your arms of love around them and sustain them. And I just ask for supernatural healing to flow over her husband’s body, that You would heal him from this covid and this malaria and that You would sustain him and her daughters as their heir Lord for the Kingdom of God. Their Kingdom builders and I pray that You’d reward them for their service and that You would put a hedge of protection around them and keep out the fiery darts of the enemy. Make them strong Jesus. Help her to feel our prayers and our love and our care and our concern for You are the mighty God and Your hand is not short and there’s nothing that You cannot do. I just left this precious family up to You Jesus and we’re trusting and hoping to hear a good report soon. We ask all these things in Your precious name. Amen.
Good morning family it’s Mary Lynn from New Brunswick Canada and I’m calling this morning on Friday April the 17th or 16th I’m not sure for Jasmine. And Jasmine I want to pray for you. My husband’s name is also Dennis and as you heard I’m also Canadian and I have two friends that are in Africa as missionaries as well. So, family just pray with me right now. Father I come before You Lord and I stand in agreement with Jasmine’s request for her husband Dennis and his health. Father I ask Lord that Your hand of protection and healing would be upon Dennis right now Lord in the name of Jesus. Father these two people have given their lives at servants for You in this country far away from home. And Lord Your word tells us Lord that You are our healing. Your word tells us that You are our protection. Your word tells us that You’re our stronghold and our…our savior. Father You are our everything. And Lord these people have given their lives in obedience to You, and they are looking to You to fulfill the promises that You have given them. So, Father just like it says in Genesis, “and the Lord said” and that is exactly what happened. Father we’re claiming that for Jasmine and Dennis, faith and grace. We ask Lord that every promise You have ever made to these two individuals for Your service that You would bring them to pass in this time. Give her peace, give her comfort, give her confidence in her savior Father. Help her to hold tightly to the hope that she has. And Father we just thank You. We thank You because it’s done. Your word says and that is exactly what happened. So, we thank You Lord that You have been faithful to this couple. In Jesus’ name. Father, thank You. Jasmine we’re praying for you. Bye family.
Good morning Daily Audio Bible family this is John Opara recording from South Sudan Juba in South Sudan. It’s been quite a while that I checked in. I have been traveling to the field to support our staff that are in the field within South Sudan. So, this has caused me to run behind but thankfully, thanks to God I have caught up now and this is why I am recording to just let everyone know I’m doing OK. I’m preparing to attend my daughter’s wedding in the US. And I need your prayers because I need to first of all go to Nigeria to get my passport renewed and…and then go to US to attend the wedding in June. So, maybe I…I will call in from US when I get there. May God bless you. But I just want you to know and I…I hear all the things that are going on and the…the pain, the attack of the enemy upon the body of Christ and I want you to know that God remains the ultimate power. He is absolutely in control and will never fail you. Thank you. Bye-bye.
Hi Daily Audio Bible family this is Rebecca Joy from Illinois calling in. This is a few days late so I apologize for that, but I am calling in for Radiant Rachel and her niece Kaylee. I’ve heard the prayer request about how Kaylee’s having some problems swallowing food and having a fear of it. And strangely enough out of everything that day that I have related too I related to that because when I was younger, I also had those kinds of irrational fears that I just didn’t know where they came from but suddenly, I was afraid of things like thunderstorms and elevators and just odd things. But I wanted to call in hopefully giving some encouragement and let you know that I’m praying for Kaylee. I want her to know, if you would be so kind as to tell her, that having those fears, feeling those fears is OK but what’s not OK is giving into them and letting them control your life. And, you know, I hope that she learns that lesson a lot sooner than I did because it took me quite a while. I’m 23 now almost 24 trying to still figure that out but hopefully she can get a head start. Yeah. I’m praying for you guys. Thanks for calling in and I hope to hear from you all soon.