Friday Coffee with PJ

Here are some random thoughts for  you to enjoy with your coffee, no matter how you prefer it (I prefer mine with just a dash of milk or cream (and not the flavored stuff!).

1. One of the courses I teach at Lancaster Bible College is a course on the Pentateuch. Now apart from the opening chapters of Genesis, the first half of the book of Exodus, and some of the narrative sections of the book of Numbers, the average Christian would most likely prefer to be reading from other sections of the Bible. After all, who needs to read about all the laws and regulations God put before the people of Israel! But there is value even in them. Sam Storms, in his delightful devotional, More Precious Than Gold: 50 Daily Meditations on the Psalms, states the following about the commandments of the Bible: "Every commandment in Scripture, every precept, every prohibition or principle is lovingly designed to lead us away from what otherwise might spoil our appetite for God."  No wonder the Apostle John wrote that "his (God's) commandments are not burdensome" (1 John 5:13). Of course they are not for they are given for our benefit!  


2. Yesterday I heard a devotional taken from Joshua 9. The chapter relates how the people of Gibeon used deceit and cunning to avoid being annihilated by Joshua and the Israelites as they were conquering the Promised Land. The Gibeonites took a group of men and clothed them in worn out attire and gave them provisions that were weeks old. These men then came to Joshua and claimed to be from a far off country. As evidence they showed Joshua their worn out sandals and their dry crusty bread and their wineskins that had burst because of their age. Joshua and his leaders swallowed their lie and made a covenant with them, not realizing they were doing so with inhabitants that God had commanded them to drive from the land. They did so because, as we read in verse 14, "they did not ask counsel from the Lord." NOW ... it may very well have appeared to be a "no-brainer" to Joshua and his leaders. After all ... the evidence that the Gibeonites had traveled from a distant land was quite clear. BUT ... things are not always as they seem, which Joshua and company were soon to discover. ALL this to say ... there are NO "no-brainers" with God. We should constantly be seeking God's wisdom for the decisions we make. To fail to do so ... is an invitation to fail!

Thanks for stopping by . . .
pj