April 23, 2013 … Personal Roadblocks

Daily Berry Patch Devotions in 2013 - Day 113

Passage of the Day: Joshua 7: 7 [NLT] ……  
[After the Israelites were soundly defeated by the Amorites] ,,, 7 Then Joshua cried out, “Sovereign LORD, why did you bring us across the Jordan River if you are going to let the Amorites kill us? If only we had been content to stay on the other side! 
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 Contextual Study of today’s passage: Joshua, Chapter 7 [NLT] … Go to this link … 
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Reference Passage #1: Hebrews 12: 1 : [Throwing off the sin which ensnares us … our choice to run God’s race.] …[NLT] …  
1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.

Reference Passage #2: 1st John 1: 9 : [We can choose to confess, repent, and be cleansed of our sin] …[NLT] …  
9 But if we confess our sins to him, He is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong. 

My Journal for Today: Don’t you just hate it when your driving down the highway and you run into a roadblock and probably a troublesome detour? And it’s bad enough when that roadblock and detour are out of your control; but what if the roadblock or detour is created by your own choice. Maybe you ignored or just got off God’s path and took a wrong road somewhere along life’s path; and now you run up against a roadblock in life.

That’s what happened to Joshua and the Israelites as they were moving to take the Promised Land which God had promised them. They had just taken Jericho in a miraculous way by being obedient to God’s direction; but then, as accounted in Chapter 7 of Joshua’s journal, linked above, Joshua’s army was soundly defeated by the Amorites in a battle it appeared would be easily won by the Israelites. And upon going to God, Joshua learned that it was because of disobedience, i.e., selfish sin, which ensnared the Israelites; and when they were able to confess, repent, and follow God’s Covenant with careful obedience, God’s power returned and allowed them to proceed in victory on their path into the promised land.

And when I was reading and re-studying this passage this morning, another New Testament passage, first directed at a Jewish audience of believers, came to my mind; and that is Hebrews 12: 1, copied above as a reference passage. And the OT and NT passages, taken together, spoke loudly to me for application.

How often do we run into roadblocks along the path of life; and we come to realize that the roadblock, or the detour we end up taking, was created by our own ill-begotten choice … quite possibly some unresolved pattern of sin. And our selfish choice – like the one taken by Achan in Chapter 7 of Joshua – has caused us to gut hung up in life. But fortunately we believers in this age of grace, under God’s New Covenant, can heed the warning of Hebrews 12: 1 and revel in the truth and reality of 1st John 1: 9, also copied above; and, … we can confess and repent of our sins, and we can be cleansed and move on in life, rather than having to be stoned to death as was Achan when he caused the roadblock to the Israelites.

Hit any roadblocks lately? Well, I’ll not belabor this self-exam today. It’s pretty transparent, isn’t it? …

But, in this moment of quiet contemplation, perhaps you’re reflecting on something in your life or soul which you feel needs “fixing” in your relationship with Christ so that God’s Spirit can set you back on God’s pathway in life. And so, let me refer you with this link to a beautiful song, sung by Queen Latifah, which might help you to throw off the sin which ensnares and has caused your roadblock in life   …

My Prayer for Today … Lord, Jesus, fix me! … Amen