Be Glorified, Psalm 31:1-4

My Shepherd met me in His green pastures and laid me down in Joshua. He stirred my mind with Joshua 4:15:

Joshua 24:15 ¶ And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.

I’m in DC, praying for the Rededication celebration to be received by our LORD, whose eyes examine hearts and minds, and from Whom no thought is hidden.

Preparing his army for the battle of Canaan, Joshua’s first official act was to “make … sharp knives,” but these were for spiritual, not physical warfare.

The people God delivered from Egypt failed in their faith and refused to enter the promised Land. That entire generation died in the wilderness; only Caleb and Joshua survived.

It’s shocking to discover that the first generation of Israel as a nation failed to circumcise their children. The reason Joshua made sharp knives was to correct this major spiritual failing: he prepared to circumcise all the children of Israel, to rededicate the nation God forged in the fires of Egypt as One Nation Under God (Joshua 5:1-7).

Along the still waters, I remembered that even in the Old Testament, the Spirit explained to the children of God that physical circumcision, though important, was a metaphor of the heart being dedicated to GOD: Moses said, “Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked” (Deuteronomy 10:16). It is necessary to cut away the “foreskin of the heart in order to love God truly (Deuteronomy 30:6).

Having made and used the knives for their purpose, Joshua was ready to draw his sword in service to the “Captain” — he met Christ with sword drawn, ready to lead His army into the battle for Canaan (Joshua 5:13-15).

In Joshua 24, the great leader had come to the end of his ministry. He had faithfully drawn his sword and led God’s army in service to the Captain of the Lord’s Host. He stood before the people and challenged his nation in his farewell address: “Choose you this day whom ye will serve.”

We must make ourselves new “knives” to circumcise our hearts anew (Colossians 2:11). We must then meet with our “Captain” in the closet of prayer, and follow Him into battle in full armor and with the Sword of the LORD (Ephesians 6:12-21).

I thought about the fact that physical circumcision is permanent, and the cutting away of the flesh from our spirit is also permanent. But when our heart turns again to the appetites of the flesh, it is necessary to renew our heart’s dedication to GOD, to use the sharp blade of the Word of God to cut away the fleshy thoughts of the heart and clear the conscience of dead works (2 Corinthians 10:5; Hebrews 4:12).

In the valley, shadowed by His Cross, I knelt to worship. As I presented this body to Him, a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1-2), and aligned my affections with things above (Colossians 3:2), arresting every traitorous thought (2 Corinthians 10:5), I heard the Saviour call: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me” (Luke 9:23).

At the table, as He does faithfully, He anointed my head with His oil and filled my cup with His grace. Goodness and mercy followed as we entered the harvest.

Praying for revival! 🙏