When you consider the self-help books out there, the councilors, theme parks, sex, drugs, and entertainment, humans are on a seemingly endless quest to find new sources of joy. The search for this emotion is the root cause for uncounted dollars spent, families separated and lives ruined as life's troubles are covered over with a joyous mask. So why would joy be listed as a fruit of the spirit?

Perhaps it is because joy is often looked for in the wrong place or the wrong way. Everlasting joy can only be found when you take your troubles and cast them upon God. Is your life a mess because of a bad decision you made an hour ago? a year? a decade? The God that made you has a plan for your life and he will help you accomplish it every step of the way if you will just swallow your pride and let Him take the reins of your life. Doing this will not weaken Him and He will not tire of your requests. So lean on Him and let Him undo any troubles you may have caused.

And he wants you to pray for all matters great and small.

Without Ceasing,

---

Day 2

This reading sounds harsh at first, but note chapter 30. God is promising mercy if they return to Him, even after all the calamities they would bring upon themselves if they turn from God's covenant. Just like the parable of the prodigal son, He is anxiously waiting our return so he can drape His love over us and bless us more than He had before. This is a God who understands human nature and our will to sin against His teachings. He has taken this into account from day one, and has had a plan for each one of us, no matter what our past is. Our God is an awesome God!

He even knows our hearts will turn to wickedness before we are tempted. The end of this day's reading attests to this fact. The earlier passages are a sign of the mercy God promised to them when they find their way on His path once again.

It's been said that the Old Testament and New Testament versions of God are as different as night and day, but this is not so. You can find examples of mercy and love from Him in both Testaments, despite our weaknesses. You also see examples of judgement for those who reject His commandments. The main difference will be found in the gospels later in the year, when a perfect lamb is sacrificed for us all.

Day 3

Moses ends his speech with a song for the Israelites to learn that will remind them that when times were tough, it was the works of their own hands that brought about their difficulties. We also have one of the Psalms of the Bible written by Moses with this interesting ending.

If God is the one establishing the work of our hands, no evil will result of it, but if we turn from His plan, only ruin can follow.

Day 4

All good things must come to an end and the life of Moses was no exception. He blessed the tribes of Israel, much as a father would bless his sons in that day and then saw the promised land from a mountaintop before he died.

The Bible doesn't mention anyone but Moses and God there when he passed, so that must mean that God himself buried Moses. I doubt this was done with a rock slide. I envision God taking more care with the body of one who had been as a friend to Him. But how did the Israelites know that he was finally gone? He must have told them before leaving that this would be his final mountain climb. Joshua was the new leader of the Israelites.

So why did he bother to send spies? Hadn't God already promised all of this land to them? Anyway, the spies found out that the kingdoms there were quivering with fear of the advancing tribes of Israel from a prostitute. For saving them, they agreed to spare her and her family from the coming doom, which sounds nothing like the instructions of God in this matter. But Joshua didn't correct them, so I can only assume that it was OK with him. We'll see later if this was OK with God.

Day 5

Here is another crossing of a body of water by the Israelites upon dry ground. Many of them had never experienced this kind of miracle while the oldest of them probably had told the story of crossing the Red Sea when they were children. What a sign of wonder!

Shortly after, all of the men were circumcised, because that hadn't been done during the journeys, and the people began to enjoy the produce of their new land, which signaled the ending of the manna from Heaven.

Joshua fought the battle of Jericho. This is a good showing of faith. As a soldier, could you imagine being told to circle a city once for six days in a row, then seven times on the seventh day? A faithless soldier may begin to build a catapult or battering ram, but their faith held firm and the walls of Jericho came tumbling down! Reminds me of a good song from my youth...

Day 6

In this case, it resulted in the deaths of at least 36 of them before the Israelites were routed by an army of fewer numbers and this fate would have continued had this man not been found and destroyed. As it was, the next battle was much more decisively won by the Israelites. God actually used the earlier defeat of His people toward the utter destruction of their foes. Does that sink in to you? No matter how badly you have failed God, no matter how embarrassing your defeat, He can use that to your advantage and to His. It happens every day!

One hardship removed, another one added. Jacob didn't ask God about the travellers who made a treaty with the Israelites and was deceived into allowing some of the current inhabitants of the promised land to live as servants to the Israelites. As we read on, I get the sense that God's instructions are being diluted by His chosen people.

Day 7

Here we have a recounting of the first time a nation was attacked for their treaty with Israel. True to their promise, Israel marched on to protect their "friends" and God fought for them, even though they had disobeyed Him in forming the treaty. During the battle, Joshua cried out for the sun to remain in the sky so the fight could continue and God listened to him, causing this request to be so! In addition, God rained huge hailstones on the enemies of Israel, killing more fighters than the army of Israel could. He promised to fight for them, and He was true to His word. The carnage that is spoken of for the remainder of chapter 10 and 11 was perhaps the most one-sided string of military victories ever mentioned in history! 31 kings had been taken and killed, and that means 31 cities of people slain!

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Thanks for sharing my goal of reading the Bible in its entirety this year!