Author: Megan Langan

Re:Verse passage – Judges 16:15-21 (day four)

Samson is a truly unique character. We know that the Lord is with him, but he seems to have an ego and a careless attitude. You almost don’t want to root for him. If nothing else, though, he’s relatable. I’ve always gotten a chuckle out of v. 16, “his soul was annoyed to death.” We’ve all been there!

But his biggest mistake is even more relatable: he didn’t take the holiness of God seriously. Samson made a vow with the God, but he broke that vow over and over again. Here in his exchange with Delilah, he put his trust in his own wit and his own strength, forgetting that God was the source of his strength all along. It didn’t go well for him. How often do we do the same? When we rely on our own strength, we always come up short.

Contrast this with the apostle Paul: “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).

Let us commit to this way of living: “Yet not I, but through Christ in me.”

 

Re:Verse passage – Joshua 7:6-12, 20-21 (day four)

We live in a very individualistic culture here in the West. It’s easy for us to think of sin as mainly personal. “No one knows the sinful thought I had this morning,” we think, “it’s not impacting anyone else.” “Surely no one will be hurt if I take a few things for myself when no one is looking,” Achan probably thought.

But I don’t think the Kingdom of God shares this individualistic culture. Passages like this remind us that even private sins have corporate consequences. Living in genuine, Christian community with one another means that the sin of one person impacts the whole, just as the faith of one person impacts the whole. There are real people on the other side of our obedience.

As we look towards Good Friday, we can be grateful that the passion of Christ was big enough to cover us, both personally and collectively.

Re:Verse passage – Joshua 5:13-15; 6:1-5 (day four)

Heaven and earth can seem like they are infinitely far apart. This world can be so cruel that heaven sounds like a fairytale, totally separate from our reality. But passages like this remind us that there is only a thin, permeable veil that separates our world from heaven.

The “captain of the host of the Lord” appears, just like a man, in front of Joshua, and instructs him in how to overtake Jericho. The instructions he gave didn’t have normal military strategy, or even normal logic, yet they accomplished exactly what the Lord had promised.

These kinds of moments happen frequently throughout Scripture, where heaven suddenly feels very near. But that kind of thing doesn’t only exist in the past. When we have the Holy Spirit in us, we have heaven nearer to us than this mysterious man was to Joshua. What might be different if we lived like heaven was near? If we traded earthly strategy for heavenly logic? If history is any indication, walls will fall.

Re:Verse passage – Joshua 2:1-21 (day four)

It is strange enough that women are listed at all in the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1. But these five women (Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba, and Mary) have something else in common – they all have some form of sexual scandal in their history. Rahab herself was an outsider to the people of Israel. That in addition to her profession gave her two reasons to be killed by these men. Yet God found her faithful, and used her to bring about triumph for Israel, and eventually the Messiah himself. Rahab’s story, and Jesus’ family tree, make it clear – God’s plan includes all people.

Rahab saw the majesty and power of God, even with limited knowledge of him, and her faith caused her to act. Later, in the epistle from James, he uses Rahab as an example of faith lived out, “In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead” (James 2:25-26). 

May our faith always lead us to action, following the example of God’s unexpected servant Rahab.

Re:Verse passage – Genesis 50:15-20 (day four)

I’ve always thought of Joseph as one of the most earnest characters in the Bible. He is sincere in his walk with the Lord, and you can count on him to say exactly what he means (with varying degrees of tact). He is serious and purposeful as he goes about the Lord’s business.

His brothers, on the other hand, are manipulative and jealous. They’ll lie and cheat to get what they want. Because of them, Joseph’s life was riddled with bitter trials. But for every trial, God turned that situation around into a blessing for Joseph. Because Joseph remained faithful to God and walked in obedience, he saw the restorative power of God’s hand. When Joseph looked back on his life, he saw the blessings and faithfulness of God, rather than the trials and unfairness of his family.

When the time came, Joseph was able to forgive his family. God had shown him his restorative power his entire life, so how could he not choose restoration now? This kind of grace is only possible when we walk closely with the Lord, the One who promises to restore the years the locusts have eaten.

Re:Verse passage – Genesis 22:1-18 (day four)

Can you imagine what was going through Abraham’s mind when God asks this of him? We don’t know all of Abraham’s thoughts here, or how he came to terms with this command from God, but we do know that he came to a place of faithful resolve. Look at the language he uses –

In verse 5, Abraham states in faith that Isaac will return, “Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go over there; and we will worship and return to you.” Again in verse 8, Abraham has faith that God will provide, “Abraham said, “God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.”

Abraham was fully prepared to obey the Lord, and equally full of assurance that God would provide. Abraham had walked with God and knew these things to be true: God is faithful, trustworthy, and good. He had faith that somehow, this command from God would further testify to these truths.

How is God calling you to obey? You can do it in faith knowing that he is faithful, trustworthy, and good.

Re:Verse passage – Genesis 6:5-22 (day four)

Stories like this often make us think of the anger and wrath of God, and understandably so. But when we read the story of Noah in light of New Testament, it’s the compassion of God and the love he has for his people that really shines through. The people on earth were hurtling themselves towards destruction, and God intervened.

John 15 says this, “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit…As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me…If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.”

God didn’t just trim a branch in this story of Noah, he uprooted the whole tree, so to speak. But we know that God is always dealing compassionately with his people, even when they’re hurting themselves through sin. Noah abided in the Lord, and he withstood the painful, difficult pruning. We, too, can abide in the Lord, knowing he’ll tend to us compassionately.