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In more than three decades of my Christian life, I have been blest by 2 types of Daily devos'
(matter not exceeding 500 words) in universal Christian literature. Not only those Devos'
which have a different theme everyday but also the ones which revolve around a certain
theme over a period of time, say a fortnight, have richly edified me. In fact, both
styles have their own inherent advantages. If the former style caters to the varying
spiritual needs of a christian from day-to-day, the latter aims 'to ground'
a child of God in a certain subject in order he derives the full benefits of the
deep insightful study of a certain topic, spread over a fixed span of time.
In my Daily devo page, I have consciously tried to go in for 'a blend of both the
styles' whereby within a constant theme, I would be aiming to focus on different
facets of it which admittedly is a closer imitation of the 'Constant theme' style
than the 'Varying topics' one.
Having dwelt on the topic of Christian journey in the previous month, now in the month
of Febraury, I intend to focus on a monumental piece of Jewish history….the
Conquest of Canaan, with its particular relevance to modern day breed of
Christian spiritual warriors.
Once again, let me wish you a happy and an edifying read…
Suresh Manoharan
February 18th
One’s loss is the other’s gain
When the trumpets sounded, the people shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet,
when the people gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so every man charged straight
in, and they took the city. –
Joshua 6:21
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It would serve us well once again to focus on the Divine plan in the conquest of Canaan.
While, Joshua and his army were to do their part of physically engaging the Canaanites
in battle, God would make it much easier for them by psyching out their opponents
much before the physical assault took place. In the miraculous crossing of the
River Jordan and in the fall of the Jericho wall, the message that went out loud and
clear to the Canaanites was Almighty God was on the side of the invaders. Realization
of this somber fact, would itself knock the wind out of their sails! For the
idolatrous Canaanites, who had exhausted God’s patience
(Gen 15:16), the fall of
Jericho represented yet another chance to repent. But history sadly bears out the
fact that, they were in no mood to repent, rather they all rallied in unison to war
against the Joshua and his army
(Joshua 9:1-2). A wasted opportunity for Canaanites
to repent (had they repented, wouldn’t they have been forgiven as Rahab was?)
meant more opportunities for Joshua and his men to depend solely on God’s might.
Paradoxically, the impenitence of the Canaanites paved the way for Israelites
to see greater miracles of God.
What a comfort, dear Christian brethren to know that greater the opposition to us,
more His power will be at hand to see us through our difficulties …till the work,
we have set out to do for His glory is accomplished. With He on our side
(Rom 8:32),
can any forces of darkness deter us from doing His work of winning souls for Him? No way!
Ask the early Church…its steady conquest of the world was also stunning
(Acts 5:14)!
Prayer:
Father, there is no greater security than to have thee by our side in our day-to-day walk with thee.
May we always depend on thee to score victories of faith, in the spiritual realm, too. In Jesus name.
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