Today on the 40 days challenge we are reading Exodus 20 and Joshua 1. The idea is to get the general gist of the Bible, so that independently we can be drawn into digging deeper for the details. We have been reading with fresh eyes, the attitude is read like Jesus read to debate with the teachers and ask questions at age 12.
The Bible is simple enough for the inquisitiveness of a 12 year old, and deep enough to do a professor degree in.
There are many striking stories in this narrative. Striking and life transforming. We see that God calls out the law amidst smoke and fire to the Israelites. It was a scary unforgettable sight. The people were so terrified, they asked that God no longer speaks to them. They received the law with great trepidation.
Moses clarified that it’s all for a purpose, that God’s fear may be before them, so that they do not sin. On Mount Sinai, the Israelites encountered God, in a dimension that brings reverent fear. Do you Fear God? Do you truly fear Him? If you believe that His words are true, and the punishment for not obeying His commandments is eternal damnation, do you live with His fear before you? God is to be feared, and God is to be loved! Two words that sound apart, but operate on the same fulcrum.
His fear compels us to obey His commandments, His commandment is Love! His love compels us to obey His commandments, His commandment is Love.
The commandments can broken into 2. The first part is relationship with God, and the second part is relationship with others. Jesus later clarifies the pegs that hold the law – Love God Absolutely, and Love your neighbor as yourself! Everything in the Law can be summarized by this! The truth is, if you love God totally, you will live by every other standard you know is His.
These laws however will reveal man’s inability to keep them and the need for a higher covenant.
Fast forward to Joshua – We see God positioning another man to continue the work of respresenting Him before the people. Joshua is yet another type of Jesus and of His Christ. We certainly can find over 10 similarities! His name actually means exactly the same as Jesus’. He was announced by a Prophet, Just as Jesus was announced by John the Baptist. Joshua served Moses and by implication the Law before saving his people, Jesus also served the Law and fulfilled it, as a condition to bear the sins of the world… we could go on!
In Joshua one, we also see the need to not rest until our brothers get it!
Every segment of scripture the theme of discipleship, of spreading the word is strong. Let no one claim not to know that Jesus’s commandment of love is fulfilled in discipleship.
What I’ll like to put the search light on however is the most popular verse in Joshua – Joshua 1:8. It’s a charge in many centres of worship. This book of the law has a purpose, has a method and gives particular results. Please lend me your eyes, and ears… My question this morning is whenever we quote “So that you can make your way prosperous and have good success”, what comes to your mind? What do you see as success and prosperity?
Let me digress a bit and let me ask another question that may help you – Is Bill Gates successful and prosperous? Is Dangote successful and prosperous? When I ask people, particularly honest young people who they want to be like, these names feature. Are they successful and prosperous?
If your answer is Yes! Then the next question is, do they meditate on God’s word day and night? If they don’t, and they are successful, then throw away your Bible because we have just agreed it’s not accurate.
For God to be true and every man a lier, it must mean that anything that anyone achieves that is not a result of morning and evening meditation on God’s word is not success, neither is it prosperity! Read this a few times until you get it!
The question then is, if Bill Gates is neither successful or prosperous according to the Bible! What is Prosperity and what is Success according to the Bible? Today, I leave us with a question.
Attempt all questions
Adeolu Akinyemi