Welcome to the Bible in a Year for 2025. Intro to this series and resource links available here, plus here’s how I’m approaching this year.
Scriptures for Today:
Reflection:
The allotment of land do not make for the most compelling passages in the Bible, it is true (at least not to us). Sometimes there are nuggets hidden in the lists, however. Other times there are big-picture themes that surface. Here are a few observations from today’s readings.
Job partially done (13:1, 15:63) - An interesting theme that we find in the book of Joshua is statements of the success of the conquest alongside notations that it was incomplete and varied in its effectiveness. I appreciate the honesty about failures here in the midst of celebrating the successes. It’s important to enjoy triumphs and equally important to acknowledge the flaws. One without the other is dishonest and breeds a lack of integrity in the human heart.
The Lord is their inheritance (13:32-33) - The Levites, the priestly tribe, did not have an inheritance of land. Instead, the Lord would be their inheritance. In the New Testament, one of the profound images for the church—the community of believers—is that of a priesthood. The letter of 1 Peter employs the image this way: “As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 2:4-5, emphasis mine) Elsewhere, he says this: “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you…” (1 Peter 1:3-4). The reference is clear!
God’s promise to Caleb (14:15) - Caleb and Joshua were the only faithful spies who believed that their God was bigger than their adversaries (Numbers 13-14). The other ten spies won over the people to fear. But Joshua and Caleb were promised that they would see the promised land and Caleb was promised an inheritance for his faithfulness (Numbers 14:24).
Questions:
What makes it easy to focus only on our successes and hard to admit our flaws and failures?
If you are a believer in Jesus, have you thought of yourself as a priest?
What else might the Holy Spirit be speaking with you about in the text today?
Prayer: Lord, you have delivered me from death and my feet from stumbling. Grant that I may walk before you in the light of life. Amen. (Psalm 56:13)
“But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” (Matthew 13:23)
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