Judges 2:16 Then the LORD raised up judges, who saved them out of the hands of these raiders.

The Book of Judges traces the Israelites from the time of the death of Joshua to Samuel (who would anoint their first king).  Basically the people would drift away from God. Their enemies would beleaguer them. God would raise up someone who was appointed to lead them back or lead them against their enemies. (These leaders had various degrees of success, mostly depending on how well they followed God). The process would repeat itself.

I think a key point of the Bible is within this Book.  People find God, then they drift, God wants His people to come back to Him. The people encounter a person, situation or circumstance that causes them to repent and revival occurs.

That is probably why it is called RE-pent and Re-vival.  We end up doing it again and again.  We could just be penting and viving.

Which brings us to another key point of the Bible. God wants us to RE-turn to Him.  Good thing He has a lot of patience.

Joshua 24:15  “But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

The Book of Joshua chronicles in large part the battles of the Israelites, led by Joshua, against the people occupying the Promised Land.  A long time of peace ensued. Joshua was a very old man by the time of this verse. He gathered the people and reminded them how the Lord first brought the people out of the land beyond the Euphrates and then out of Egypt.  They, themselves, had seen many great wonders.  As Joshua prepares to go the way of all earth, as he puts it, he challenges the people of Israel at that time, and for all time, whom will they serve?

We are confronted with such a choice in this day.  Indeed, this is a choice we make every day. Who do we serve?  I would say that to whomever my actions are pleasing is to whom I serve.  If my actions are only pleasing to the world, then I serve the world.  If my actions are simply pleasing to myself, then I am simply self-serving.

It is not a stretch to say that we give service to the things we care about and value. Our happiness becomes tied to these things. If we give service, care about, and put our faith and values into things that are superficial and pass away, so too will our happiness.  If we care about things more permanent, so too will be our happiness. If we care about, and put our faith and values into things that are everlasting; so too will be our happiness.

So who you going to serve?

Joshua 10:13 So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till the nation avenged itself on its enemies, as it is written in the Book of Jashar. The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day.

I don’t like back tracking, but here I go.  I am well into reading the Book of Joshua, but the above verse kept gnawing at me for a couple of reasons.  I ended up getting sidetracked on this for some time.  I’d like to briefly discuss one of the points of this verse.

It says that the sun stood still and the moon stopped.  Some argue that this is impossible and would have catastrophic effects on the Earth.  I read that some point to this verse and say that’s why the Bible is unbelievable. That says more about the person than the Bible.  If that would be impossible to God, that would kind of mean that gravity is the God and not God.  Man’s understanding doesn’t confine God.  Man’s understanding begins (and ends) with God.

My question here is not whether this event happened, but rather what was it that did occur? Was the sky lit up so that it appeared the Sun was still high in the sky?  Did the Earth stand still? If there was some sort of celestial alteration, shouldn’t there be more of a record of it somewhere?

Some years ago, it was circulated that NASA scientists “discovered” that there was a missing day. You might have heard that story. It was a hoax. God does not need man to lie for Him.  However, many cultures have an extended day or night as part of their folklore.  Could it be because there was some basis for that?

Perhaps what I should be asking is a different question. Why was this verse in the Bible?  I believe that this verse exemplifies what perhaps the Bible (or at least, up to this point) is all about.  Read this carefully: The point is that God is bigger than gravity. God is bigger than any situation, any circumstance, any sickness or any sin that we may have found ourselves.  That sheds a whole new light on our lives.

Joshua 14:12a Now give me this hill country that the Lord promised me that day.

This is one of my favorite stories in the Bible.  To understand it best, I might need to rehash some things that happened earlier. Previously, Moses sent twelve spies to scope out the Promised Land.  All came back and said that the land was, indeed a wonderful place.  However, ten of the spies said that the people that held the hand were too powerful for the Israelites.  In fact, the people were like giants!  Caleb and Joshua, who were the remaining spies, said that they believed God would give those people over to them.  Moses, pressured by his people from the fear of the ten spies report, decided not to enter the Promised Land.  Not good. God told them, that since they doubted none of the people who were adults would live to see the Israelites enter the Promised Land, except Caleb and Joshua.

Let’s fast-forward forty years. Joshua takes over for Moses and wins the battle of Jericho. The Israelites enter the Promised Land.  They decide to divvy up the land.  Joshua gives Caleb first dibs on choosing his inheritance because of his faithfulness.

To paraphrase: Caleb says that forty years ago he was willing to fight the so-called giants of the land because God had said He would give the Israelites the victory. However, he was not able to fight the giants.  Now he was an old man and the story is told that the giants were still at Hebron.  Even though he was eighty-five years old, he did not believe that God had changed His mind. Caleb wanted Hebron as his inheritance, so he may fight the giants that God had destined him to do so long ago.

If God has given you a vision, a dream, a mission or a quest, do not think your opportunity has passed with time or age.  The calling of God is without repentance.  God does not change His mind.  Just look at Caleb.