Day 100

Deuteronomy 34:1 —Joshua 2:24; Luke 13:22–14:6; Psalm 79:1-13; Proverbs 12:26

TODAY, ON THE hundredth day of our journey, we concluded the Torah, or Pentateuch —the first five books of the Bible. And as we did, we said good-bye to Moses. We should take a deep breath and understand that as we move forward, we are entering a new era with the children of Israel.

As we began the book of Joshua, we saw that God did not waste any time affirming His promises to Joshua, and Joshua wasted no time in preparing the people to do what we’ve been waiting for almost since the beginning of the Bible —to cross over the Jordan River and enter the Promised Land. This almost mythic land that was promised in advance to Abraham, and then Isaac and Jacob, had been a whisper of hope through centuries of captivity. It guided the Exodus into freedom and formed the basis of a new culture. Everything we’ve gone through so far has been leading us toward the Promised Land, and we are finally about to cross over the Jordan River into it.

In a very real way, the entire wilderness experience had a singular focus. It taught the people who God was and how to know and obey Him. Now they must go into the land with full faith that God will go before them, and full faith in the promise He gave their ancestors. But they won’t be able to just move in. They will have to contend for the promise. The children of Israel are about to embark on a great mission with God, and to accomplish it, they will have to collaborate with God against all odds. In this conquest, we’ll notice God instructing them to do very counterintuitive things, with almost bizarre instructions that sometimes won’t make logical sense. This is true of our lives today, and it is why we must be sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s guidance —why we must know and obey God.

In Joshua, we’re going to see one of the most glorious eras in the Bible. Even though we’ll see stumbles along the way, the people are fully engaged in their trust for and relationship with God.

Of course, that’s not the end of their story, and we’ll get to that soon enough. They will fall away and return repeatedly for the next several hundred years, but right now, we’re about to witness a new leader and a new generation. And we’re about to cross the Jordan into the Promised Land!

PRAYER:

Help us, O God of our salvation! Help us for the glory of your name. Save us and forgive our sins for the honor of your name.