Childhood Sweethearts
Linda is away during March, Clayton Bjelan brings you today’s devotion.
Her feelings for me pretty much disappeared!
Reference: v27 “But Israel did carry off for themselves the livestock and plunder of this city, as the Lord had instructed Joshua.”
Explore: My wife and I were childhood sweethearts, dating in the later years of high school and early into our tertiary studies. But, before you think this is going to be all ‘fairytale like’, I’ve got to say that we actually broke up for 4 years before eventually getting back together in our mid-twenties and getting married.
We parted ways primarily because of my wife. She felt that she wasn’t dedicating herself completely to God and needed to sort that out… at the same time her feelings for me pretty much disappeared! Mine for her didn’t though… in fact I always thought that we would get back together, so I waited and waited and waited and waited!
I was sometimes annoyingly dotting on her, sometimes distant, sometimes wondering when on earth God was going to bring us back together! But most of all I kept waiting!
Application: In chapter 7 of Joshua we saw Achan take some of the loot from Jericho, when everyone was specifically told not to – and he and his family were destroyed. Here in chapter 8 we see that the Israelites who had been obedient and didn’t take any of the loot from Jericho were given permission by God to, this time, take something for themselves from Ai.
Often I think God will test us to see how faithful we are to Him. And the incredible thing is that God always has our best at heart and wants to bless us with good things.
These things might not always be the things we had our hearts and minds set on (eg. loot from Jericho), but they will still satisfy and bless us abundantly (eg. loot from Ai).
Prayer: Dear God, help me to have my heart set on things of You. To trust your commands, and trust that You always have the best in store for me, Amen.
What do you need to release to God’s care today?
This article was written by Clayton Bjelan