Game. Set. Match.

SUMMARY: Total victory might take a while to achieve, and it will involve hard work, sacrifice along the way, and require a no-surrender spirit, but when you are on God’s side, and God is on yours, there will come a day when the Lord will give all your enemies into your hands and every single one of his good promises will be fulfilled to us. Game. Set. Match. And God will smile! That is the best victory: Making God smile.

GOD SPEAKS — I OBEY // Joshua 21:43-45

Total victory! It might take a while to get there, and it will involve hard work, sacrifice along the way, and with a no-surrender spirit, but when we are on God’s side and God is on ours, like Joshua and the Israelites, there will come a day when the Lord will give all our enemies into our hands and every single one of his good promises will be fulfilled to us. Game. Set. Match. And God will smile! That, my friend, is the best victory of all: Making God smile.

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For Israel, that took a very long time. Some of that extended time was the result of their stubbornness and rebellion—they had to repeated first grade several times; some of it was simply the nature of conquest—remember, this wasn’t a field trip, this was warfare, and warfare requires grit and determination; some of it gets chalked up to the sovereign ways of God—he lives outside of human time, so he is not a clock-watcher like we are as he develops his people into champions for life.

Not only did Israel take a long time, but it was full of hardship, battle, and testing. Again, chalk that up to the sovereign ways of God—he was preparing his people for possessing his promises, and they needed to first be tempered. Yes, it took a long period of walking, then waiting, then working, followed by a long period of working, then waiting, then walking some more, but none of the time was wasted.

Finally, the day came when Joshua declared, at least for this stage of Israel’s journey with God, “mission accomplished!” Game. Set. Match. God had given all of Israel’s enemies into their hands and fulfilled all of his good promises to them.

That is a true picture of the believer’s journey with God—periods of walking, waiting, and working, but never any wasted time. God is leading, guiding, strengthening, purifying, and tempering us into a holy people fit to possess his promises. And at stages in the journey, he brings us to places of victory and rest. We should anticipate those places, pray for them, and cooperate with God to get there as quickly as we can—knowing that our stubbornness, rebellion, and lack of trust will slow the journey down. But when we get there, we should continually remember that it was the good Lord who gave us the victory.

Game! Set! Match! That is the story the good Lord has pre-written about your life and mine. And while there will be other conquests until you reach heaven, when you reach victory in the present moment of challenge, remember who gave it to you. When you overcome a sin, receive an answer, and achieve a success, remember that it was the good Lord giving you a win over your enemies and fulfilling his good promises to you.

Likewise, remember that since God has a history of giving victory and fulfilling promises in your life, he will definitely be there for the next conquest, too. He is true to his character and faithful to his covenant with you—always. And he will never fail you—never!

So, enjoy the victory of this moment and be encouraged with whatever tomorrow holds. And between now and heaven, get ready to hear this a lot:

Game. Set. Match.

CHOOSE YOU THIS DAY: Are you in a season of victory—even just a small one? Rejoice—give God the glory!

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The Accommodating God

SUMMARY: God is a loving, caring, involved Father to his children. That was true back in the days of the conquest as he held Israel’s hand and settled them into a land of their own for the first time. And what was true of God back then is just as true of him today: God keeps an eye on his children, watching over even the smallest details of their lives, making accommodations for their weaknesses yet guiding them into the righteous living necessary to receive his undeserved blessings.

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The more I study scripture, the more impressed I am with God. I mean, I already love him, serve him, and worship him wholeheartedly, but as I get to know him more and more over the years, the more amazed I am at who he is—his character, his benevolence, his love for his people. And here in Joshua 20, as we learn of the cities of refuge he commanded Joshua to establish, I am struck by how accommodating toward his people he is.

We develop some very interesting ideas about God along the way; some of them entirely wrong and inaccurate, some of them flat-out heretical, some of them misguided, and some of them incomplete. Mostly our tainted views of God come from second-hand information—learning about him from extra-biblical sources, like parents, Sunday School teachers, Christian club leaders, etc. Now, there is nothing wrong with learning from the people who disciple us; that is actually the way of God. And we depend upon others to help form our understanding of God when we are children or new believers. So, I am in favor of human teachers and deeply appreciative of what they do for us. After all, I am one!

Yet we can end up with a view of God that has not been informed directly by the Word of God. That is why we can develop a theology that sees him as detached from our daily lives and common concerns, or that sees him as angry and spoiling to judge us, or as a grandfatherly-type cosmic deity who winks at our sin; one who is at our beck and call to give us our every wish. If you hold any of those views of the Almighty, it didn’t come from scripture; it came from people.

At some point, we desperately need to know God from scripture. When we do, we quickly learn that he is not perpetually angry, or disconnected, or wishy-washy about sin. In fact, we see from Joshua 20, which details his prescription for dealing with accidental deaths in the community, that he is very much concerned about both justice (the righteous punishment for sin) and the accommodation of our human frailty (his anticipation that there will be accidental deaths among the human race).

Furthermore, we see in the founding of these cities of refuge that God didn’t merely give rigid, inflexible rules to govern the social and legal needs of his people, but he took into consideration that there would be some gray areas of the law, as well as highly reactive human emotions to accidents and grievances. It also shows us that God went to great lengths to provide practical guidance for even the mundane matters of human life. Actually, it shows us that nothing about our lives is too small for his involvement.

God is a loving, caring, involved Father to his people. That was true back in the days of the conquest as he held the Israelites’ hands and settled them into a land of their own for the first time. And what was true of God back then is just as true of God today: he keeps an eye on his children, watching over the smallest of details of their lives, making accommodation for their weaknesses while guiding them into the righteous living necessary for his gracious blessings in their lives.

So be encouraged. God cares about your life—every last detail of it.

Of course, God cares about the small things. He has to, or he won’t care about anything. You see, everything is small next to the bigness of God! ~

Dr. Ray Noah

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Ask Big, Live Large

SUMMARY: Are you willing to ask big things of God? God loves it when his children trust him so much that they are willing to step way out in faith to possess promises that are way beyond what is humanly possible. God is honored when we pray bigly. But if you ask big things of God, get ready to be big enough for the britches God gives you. God wants to give in abundance, but he will never waste kingdom resources on the unprepared. When he gives you something, he expects you to fill it out; to steward it in a way that brings glory to him. So be willing to ask big and live large.

God Speaks—I Obey // Joshua 19:1 & 9

Are you willing to ask big things of God? I hope so! God loves it when his children trust him so much that they dare to step out in faith beyond the ordinary to possess promises that are way beyond what is humanly possible to attain. Here’s the deal:

God is honored when we pray bigly.

So are you ready to live large! If you ask big things of God, get ready to be big enough for the britches that God’s generosity will require of you. You see, God is a God of abundance, and he gives in abundance. Now, not to worry, I am not promoting some sort of prosperity gospel heresy. Simply yet biblically put, divine abundance means that God gives us more than enough. But while he gives abundantly, he never wastes kingdom resources on those unprepared to steward his generosity so that it brings maximum glory to himself. When he gives you something, he expects you to fill it out. In other words, he wants you to leverage every ounce of his provision to the fullest so that he can give you more. If you waste it, settle for less than maximum use, or misuse what he provides, he will not release more to you. In fact, there is an indication in scripture (see Matthew 25:24-30) that if we don’t steward his gifts wisely and industriously, he will even take away what he has given and give it to someone who will develop it in faith.

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In the case of the land allotment to the tribes of Judah and Simeon, the visionary folks of Judah had an industrious spirit about them. So, God gave them much more land than they needed at the time. Yet because they had not taken full advantage of it, God took a portion of it and assigned it to the Simeonites. Judah, however, was not content to shrink into their land. They got fired up and later asked the warriors of Simeon to join forces with them to take the land that was not yet under their occupation:

The men of Judah said to their relatives from the tribe of Simeon, “Join with us to fight against the Canaanites living in the territory allotted to us. Then we will help you conquer your territory.” So, the men of Simeon went with Judah…. Then Judah joined with Simeon to fight against the Canaanites living in Zephath, and they completely destroyed the town. So, the town was named Hormah. In addition, Judah captured the towns of Gaza, Ashkelon, and Ekron, along with their surrounding territories. (Judges 1:3,17)

I like that about these two tribes. God’s blessing was more than they could handle, but they were unwilling to shrink into what they could handle. That is not the case with many believers today: they get overwhelmed by abundance, as unbelievable as that sounds, and for a variety of reasons, fritter away their opportunity to fully occupy their blessings. They are like the intimidated steward in Matthew 25, fearful that he might lose what he was given. But in the case of Judah and Simeon, they got smart: they joined forces and helped each other take the land. By strong faith and hard work, they expanded into their blessings.

That is the kind of believer I want to be. I want to not be afraid to ask bigly of my Father. And I want to be unafraid to leverage the large opportunity he gives in response to my asking, but maximize what he has placed in my hands. I want to do that to show him how much I trust him. I want to do that so that he can trust me with more. I want to do that so that others will be provoked to godly discontent in settling for anything less than God’s generous abundance.

Among the many things I want people who know me to say in reflection of my life, I hope they will say, “He asked big, but he lived large for God.” I want to leave nothing on the table when my life is over. I want none of heaven’s treasures appointed for me while I am on earth to remain in heaven. I want it all for the glory of God alone.

How about you? Make a commitment from this day forward to be a person who asks big and lives large.

Choose You This Day:

Ask your Heavenly Father for some big, hairy, audacious provisions today. Choose to ask big, then live large.

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Ask Big, Live Large

SUMMARY: Are you willing to ask big things of God? God loves it when his children trust him so much that they are willing to step way out in faith to possess promises that are way beyond what is humanly possible. God is honored when we pray bigly. But if you ask big things of God, get ready to be big enough for the britches God gives you. God wants to give in abundance, but he will never waste kingdom resources on the unprepared. When he gives you something, he expects you to fill it out; to steward it in a way that brings glory to him. So be willing not only to ask big of God, but live large in a way that honors his provision.

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God Speaks—I Obey // Joshua 19:1 & 9

Are you willing to ask big things of God? I hope so! God loves it when his children trust him so much that they are willing to step way out in faith to possess promises that are way beyond what is humanly possible to attain. God is honored when we pray bigly.

So are you ready to live large! If you ask big things of God, get ready to be big enough for the britches God’s generosity will require of you. You see, God is a God of abundance, and he gives in abundance, that is, he gives us more than enough, but while he gives abundantly, he never wastes kingdom resources on those unprepared to steward his generosity so that it brings maximum glory to himself. When he gives you something, he expects you to fill it out. In other words, he wants you to leverage every ounce of his provision to the fullest so that he can give you more. If you waste it, settle for less than maximum use, or misuse what he provides, he will not release more to you. In fact, there is an indication in scripture (see Matthew 25:24-30) that if we don’t steward his gifts wisely and industriously, he will even take away what he has given and give it to someone who will develop it in faith.

In the case of the land allotment to the tribes of Judah and Simeon, the visionary folks of Judah had an industrious spirit about them. So, God gave them much more land than they needed at the time. Yet because they had not taken full advantage of it, God took a portion of it and assigned it to the Simeonites. Judah, however, was not content to shrink into their land. They got fired up and later asked the warriors of Simeon to join forces with them to take the land that was not yet under their occupation:

The men of Judah said to their relatives from the tribe of Simeon, “Join with us to fight against the Canaanites living in the territory allotted to us. Then we will help you conquer your territory.” So, the men of Simeon went with Judah…. Then Judah joined with Simeon to fight against the Canaanites living in Zephath, and they completely destroyed the town. So, the town was named Hormah. In addition, Judah captured the towns of Gaza, Ashkelon, and Ekron, along with their surrounding territories. (Judges 1:3,17)

I like that about these two tribes. God’s blessing was more than they could handle, but they were unwilling to shrink into what they could handle. That is not the case with many believers today: they get overwhelmed by abundance, as unbelievable as that sounds, and for a variety of reasons, fritter away their opportunity to fully occupy their blessings. They are like the intimidated steward in Matthew 25, fearful that he might lose what he was given. But in the case of Judah and Simeon, they got smart: they joined forces and helped each other take the land. By strong faith and hard work, they expanded into their blessings.

That is the kind of believer I want to be. I don’t want to be afraid to ask bigly of my Father. And I want to be unafraid of leveraging the large opportunity he gives in response to my asking. I want to live as an example of maximizing what he places in my hands. I want to do that to show him how much I trust him. I want to do that so that he can trust me with more. I want to do that so that others will be provoked to godly discontent in settling for anything less than God’s generous abundance.

Among the many things I want people who know me to say in reflection of my life, the one thing I hope they will say is, “He asked for big things of God, and he lived large for his glory.” I want to leave nothing on the table when my life is over. I want none of heaven’s treasures appointed for me while I am on earth to remain in heaven. I want it all for the glory of God alone.

How about you? Let’s commit from this day forward to be people of ask big and live large.

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Don’t Let Them Forget God

SUMMARY: As moral relativism increasingly influences our present world, people will do what seems right in their own eyes, but it will always be so wrong. Perhaps we can be agents of change by simply and fiercely committing to and winsomely declaring a source of truth that is unchanging, the Word of God, and unapologetically calling our culture to God’s standard, even as our culture by and large has forgotten God. The prophetic drift of this fallen world is inexorably toward forgetting the Almighty Creator and Ruler of us all. Let’s not let our fellow human beings forget God without a fight.

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I know, this is the exact sentence that begins Judges 18. It is not a mistake. It is the third time in three chapters that the writer uses the same sentence to describe the moral condition of Israel during this time. And each time, the sentence is followed by a story that disturbs our sensibilities. In this case, what follows is arguably the most revolting story in the Bible. I won’t even retell it—you can read it for yourself—but it is brutal and disgusting. But pity poor me, trying to come up with an edifying devotional from it.

To unpack that phrase in more detail—in those days Israel had no king—I would refer you back to the devotional I presented for the previous chapter. Just to summarize, we are being given a picture of what life was like in Israel when they had abandoned any controlling moral authority that kept them between the lines of social civility and moral uprightness. Not unexpectedly, things got increasingly ugly.

It seems to me that the writer of Judges has prophetically summed up our twenty-first-century world in this hat-trick statement: “In those days, Israel had no king.” Then, in the very last line of his book, he adds to it: “There was no controlling moral authority to govern people’s lives, so everyone did what was right in their own eyes.” (Judges 21:25)

“What was right in their own eyes” reflected a philosophy of moral relativism, which is simply put, public and private life without the presence of a “controlling moral authority.” Unfortunately, both in the day of the Judges as well as in our day, without fail, moral relativism produces personal, cultural, economic, and global chaos. It is when truth is no longer propositional, but what you or I want it to be, e.g. “My truth.” The brilliant author and famous Soviet dissident, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, presciently described this unfortunate state in his now-famous Templeton Address, “Men Have Forgotten God.” He lamented, “Men have forgotten God; that’s why all this has happened.”

While he was describing the atrocities that took place in Eastern Europe, he might as well have been describing Judges. And sadly, he is describing what will happen in an American culture that, like the aforementioned cultures, embraced relativism as its philosophy of life. When we have no controlling moral authority—a God who decides what truth is, who determines how human beings should live, and who holds them accountable for it—each of us will begin to do what seems right in our own eyes.

We will do what we think is right, but it will be so wrong!

All that to offer this reminder: you and I can perhaps be agents of change by simply and fiercely committing to a source of truth that is unchanging, the Word of God, and unapologetically calling our culture to God’s standard, even as it has forgotten God.

The prophetic drift of this fallen world is inexorably toward forgetting the Almighty Creator and Ruler of us all. Let’s not let the world forget God without a fight.

CHOOSE YOU THIS DAY: Tell someone about your belief in God’s truth today. Even if they don’t believe, they need to know that you do.

   

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