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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 22nd
Power failure
So about three thousand men went up; but they were routed by the men of Ai,
who killed about thirty-six of them. They chased the Israelites from the city
gate as far as the stone quarries and struck them down on the slopes. At this the
hearts of the people melted and became like water.
- Joshua 7:4-5
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Later in this series of devotionals, we shall see Joshua and his men miraculously
experiencing day during night
(Joshua 10:12-13), but before that, they had to swallow the
bitter pill of experiencing night during day. The unexpected rout at the hands of men of Ai
brought palpable gloom and despair in the Jewish camp, as though sun had set in the middle of day.
What exactly was the cause of their failure? The answer was not far to seek. It lay in the fact
that God’s presence-which was cause of their success, so far- had deserted them. Virtually,
there was a Divine power failure in their camp. Why? Sin by way of willful disobedience had infiltrated
into their midst. Consider this verse…
“But the Israelites acted unfaithfully in regard to the devoted things; Achan son of Carmi,
the son of Zimri, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of them. So the LORD's
anger burned against Israel.” –
Joshua 7:1
What was to be consecrated to the Lord exclusively, found its way, as it were into Achan’s pocket,
courtesy some wily scheming of the thief concerned. How could he ever think that the omniscient
God wouldn’t know about his thievery? A couple in early church times too thought, they could
“get away with it”
(Acts 5:1-10). Result? They all had to be at the receiving end of
Divine comeuppance.
Prayer:
Father, nothing we do is hidden from thy sight. Enable us to walk with thee
fully conscious of this fact. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
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