Truth in my Travels

Category: Personal Stuff

  • Giving our Battles to God: Joshua 10-12

    When I first read through Joshua and other Old Testament books, I kind of nodded my head as I read, hurrying through the battles, figuring that I would forget most of it. 

    Through the supplemental information in my study Bible, sermons, and devotional readings, the relevance of the Bible to our lives is revealed.

    As I continue through Joshua 10–and beyond—in my second reading of the Old Testament, I praise God for the various ways He brought victories, despite the often impossible odds in battles that only He could win.

     Such is the case in Joshua 10 to 12. Particularly in this passage, we see the creative ways by which God wins battles:

    Joshua 10:8-14 NIV

    •  “The LORD said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid of them; I have given them into your hand. Not one of them will be able to withstand you.” After an all-night march from Gilgal, Joshua took them by surprise. The LORD threw them into confusion before Israel, so Joshua and the Israelites defeated them completely at Gibeon. Israel pursued them along the road going up to Beth Horon and cut them down all the way to Azekah and Makkedah. As they fled before Israel on the road down from Beth Horon to Azekah, the LORD hurled large hailstones down on them, and more of them died from the hail than were killed by the swords of the Israelites.” 

    12 On the day the Lord gave the Amorites over to Israel, Joshua said to the Lord in the presence of Israel:

    “Sun, stand still over Gibeon,
        and you, moon, over the Valley of Aijalon.”
    13 So the sun stood still,
        and the moon stopped,
        till the nation avenged itself on[b] its enemies, as it is written in the Book of Jashar.

    The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day. 14 There has never been a day like it before or since, a day when the Lordlistened to a human being. Surely the Lord was fighting for Israel!”

    Like the Israelites, we have enemies to face and difficulties to conquer. The fear and doubt by human standards prevent us from foreseeing a win. Sometimes the enemy is not the result of choice, like a health problem or a lost job, while other times, it is the discomfort of accepting a challenge that God presents so that our obedience will lead to His good plan for our lives. Doubt and pride are among our internal adversaries, as they were for God’s people long ago. Our worldly response is to reject or modify the challenge, disobeying God in the process.

    It’s easy to miss what God’s victories in the Bible are telling us: Obey God, and trust that He will fight our battles.

    We see this truth throughout the Old Testament. When God’s people are obedient, He hands the enemy over to them. He orchestrates circumstances that give the Israelites victory. Often the leaders were afraid to attack the pagan people that would infect God’s people with their idol worship and practices, or they would fail to destroy all of those people. Fear or laziness kept them from God’s best – it prevented them from moving into a beautiful chapter of life. They forgot, or they were not taught, the miracles that God had done in the past.

    Knowing God requires studying the Bible well. It tells us who He is. Part of knowing Him and hearing from God requires us to consider what the Scriptures are telling us to do in our own lives.

    God’s Victory for Me: The Defeat of Doubt

     Near the end of 2024, with God’s help, I was deciding whether I could retire from my job at a large financial institution. My husband had been retired for seven years at that point, and we wanted to travel with our RV for longer periods of time. I had just turned 62, and my family enjoys longevity, so I worried about our money lasting. Even though I heard God telling me to just trust Him, I was hesitant to make the final decision. Retiring seemed like something too good to be true.

     The enemy wasn’t a group of pagan adversaries; I was battling fear, afraid to march beyond my comfort zone. I imagine that many of you have had similar battles in different situations.

    I had been praying about this, and God answered through sermons and devotional readings. I felt His presence and direction as I sang in worship, “I am fighting a battle You have already won”. Even a Facebook meme felt like His voice:

    “The courage it takes to leave behind what’s not for you anymore is the same courage that will help you find your way to what is.”  

     What I rely on the most is God’s Word. My go-to verse:

    Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight.

     Our financial advisor confirmed that I was good to move on to a new chapter of life, but I thank God that He is the One who threw the final “hailstone” at my fear and doubt (Joshua 10:11).

     What kind of battle can you ask God to conquer for you? How can I pray for you?

  • Breaking Down Walls

    The weather was pleasant enough recently that I got out on my e-bike and pedaled. (Yes, I pedal. I use an assist of 1 or nothing when it’s relatively flat, and the 2 prevents the hip pain that comes from leaning into hill-climbs or wind.)  I cycled past the stands of trees, the fields of corn and soybeans, and the homes spread out along the country road. It was peaceful, with only the songs of birds breaking the silence.

    Most of this summer has been oppressively hot—more so than usual for southwestern Illinois. It has kept me inside. I hadn’t been getting out of the house for nonessential things, like my normal enjoyment of the outdoors.

    I had been feeling almost depressed, closed in by the walls of my home that God, in His kind provision, had figuratively removed through the perfect weather on that day.

    It reminded me of other instances when God removed walls. The destruction of Jericho in Joshua 6 tells the story, and like so much of the Bible, when we relate the stories to our own Christian lives, our eyes open to great life lessons.

    The lesson in Joshua 6 is that God eliminates walls when we humbly obey Him. And in a metaphorical way, He does so in the New Testament.

    Leading the Israelites into the Promised Land, Joshua trusted God and took direction from Him. Every town in the land they were about to occupy was full of paganism, idolatry, and wickedness, so everything in them had to be destroyed completely. This was necessary to avoid the contamination and temptation of sinful cultures.

    The first town was Jericho, which was a fortress considered to be impenetrable. The walls stood 25 feet high and 20 feet thick in places. By God’s miraculous power and the Israelites’ obedience of God’s specific instructions, the walls of Jericho were destroyed.

    Joshua, his armed men, and the priests marched around the city once for each of six days. Some of the priests carried the Ark of the Covenant, while seven priests walking around it each had a trumpet that they blew as they marched.

    On the seventh day, they marched around Jericho seven times, blowing the trumpets, and at the last, long blast:

    Joshua 6:20 ‘When the trumpets sounded, the army shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the men gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so everyone charged straight in, and they took the city. ‘

    For the complete story of Jericho’s destruction:

    Joshua 6 | NIV Bible – Bible App

    Every living thing was destroyed, but a woman named Rahab was saved, along with her family.

    We read in Joshua 2 that Joshua had sent two of his men to scope out Jericho before the plan to enter it was implemented. These men stayed with Rahab, a prostitute whose house was in a strategic location in the wall of the city. When some men of Jericho came looking to kill them, she hid the spies and sent the pursuers in the wrong direction. Rahab had heard of God’s power, and she had enough reverence to help Joshua’s men and to ask for God’s kindness:

    Joshua 2:11-13  ‘When we heard of it (God’s power), our hearts melted in fear and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below. “Now then, please swear to me by the Lord that you will show kindness to my family, because I have shown kindness to you. Give me a sure sign that you will spare the lives of my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them—and that you will save us from death.” ‘

    Rahab’s full story:

    Joshua 2 | NIV Bible – Bible App.

    Hebrews 11:31 “By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.”

    Rahab became an ancestor of Jesus!

    A Lesson:

    There has always been a wall that separates God’s presence from people. It is not made of stone or wood, but of sin. He loves each of us very dearly, and He wants us to know Him and feel Him near both on earth and in Heaven, so God made a way to remove the wall. He sacrificed His Son on the cross to pay the debt for our sins. Our “shout”, our “trumpet blast”, is admitting that we have sinned, turning away from it, and declaring Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Like Rahab, we can be saved.

    John 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

    John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that      whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

    Romans 10:9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

    We know there are other types of walls–barriers between ourselves and what is good–including pride, selfishness, comfort, and fear. I pray that we all look to God to destroy our walls.

  • Sharing Jesus

    If your future self could send you one sentence, what do you hope it would say?

    In sharing with others the difference that Jesus has made in both your earthly and eternal life, and that accepting Him as Lord and Savior can transform them, too, you planted a seed that led them to joy and salvation in Jesus.

  • Letters to God: A New Chapter

    Dear God,

    As this first year of retirement wraps up, I am filled with gratitude for Your guidance to another new chapter in the book of my life. I thought I knew what I was supposed to be doing, but for the most part, I think my motives were off, and I was not serving others enough. The next pages leading to the right ending were written by You, the Author of life, of my life. I need only to ask for your direction, and I trust that the reveal of only one sentence or paragraph at a time is enough. I know that You will do “immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine” (Ephesians 3:20).

    As we were singing in worship at church in early October, the young woman next to me touched my shoulder and said that You had spoken to her heart that I needed prayer. I was both amazed and taken aback at first, and I replied that I had been asking You for direction in the use of my time and talents in my retirement. Jenna prayed quietly for me amidst the music in the room. I thanked her and returned to singing in worship.

    Minutes later, You whispered to my heart, “Substitute teaching.”  Responding to my internal protest, You provided further confirmations:

    1. As Pastor Seth later wrapped up his message, he challenged us that following You, Jesus, often involves getting uncomfortable. Comfort is a tool of the Enemy. If You prompt us to do something difficult, we should do it, or we miss out on Your best.
    2. Four days later, Numbers 13 of Your Word spoke to me as I was reminded of the consequences of fear. The Israelites were prevented from entering the Promised Land due to their own fear of giants and fortified cities. (Only Joshua and Caleb wanted to proceed.) All the people wandered the wilderness for forty years. I get it! Faith over fear!

    An additional prompt: It’s been forty years since I was a teacher.

    I trust in Your plans and that You will work in ways at which I can only guess. You will overcome my concerns. God, You got me devoted to taking the steps to teach in a small local school district, and to find resources to help me make it a good day, an encouraging and educational day for students, when I fill in for their teacher.

    I plan on subbing just a couple of days a week, and with travels that will take me away at times, my availability is sometimes limited, but any difference You want me to make, anyone with whom You want me to connect, anything You want me to teach or to learn, Your timing will be perfect. I can see some “giants”, but even if Your purpose is for me to encourage one kid on one day, it will be enough. I trust You that in this new chapter, I don’t need to know the reason or what is on the next page.

    Proverbs 3:5-6. “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”

    ****************************

    Friends and readers, my new format of writing to God–instead of about God–is something that He drew me to in my writing, after weeks of not writing anything. I have been focused on preparing to teach, all the while wondering why I had lost my desire to write.

    My previous motivation to write was wrong. I got discouraged by low views and nearly zero likes in the blog. I meant to glorify God through developing my ideas, and He did help me along with my words, but feeling like I was wasting my time without many readers was really about myself.

    Writing to the One who blessed me with the gift of words and ideas prevents me (prayerfully) from writing and posting for the wrong reasons. I have also turned off the viewing of statistics.

    All that matters is glorifying God and enjoying what He has given me. Period.

    Have a blessed New Year!

  • Learning, Growing, Changing

    Even as a lifetime crafter of words, I find that creating a blog is more challenging than I anticipated. I am waiting to publish the next post while I determine potential changes, and then make them, in an effort to focus more fully on the purpose of God’s writing gift for me and to improve on general elements of the blog.

    My years of dreaming to be a travel writer can distract me from the purpose God has for me–to share how the Bible and my joy in Jesus are relevant to our everyday lives and to all that we see and experience when we travel. So, though I have a third post nearly ready in the series about Door County, I’ve stopped and been assessing. I want to set constants in the way I do things.

    God ultimately answers my prayers to get me on the right track; He reminded last night that my title’s reference to “travels” does not confine me to physical destinations. Our travels are also through life, through the Bible, as we go to the “distant and unfamiliar places” referenced in a Merriam-Webster’s definition of travel. This has led to the change in the subtitle for the blog.

    Being more general, I can be freer to write shorter posts about God working in my ordinary life. He is just so good! I want to share some of the God moments at home. I love how He provides what we need when we need it. He changes our plans for the better. He speaks often, through the theme of a devotional I am reading or the sermon given at church. Or through the words of bloggers, like Anna of http://creativelyunfilteredgrace.com/ , who reminded me to strive less and be still.

    The pastor in yesterday’s church message used a roadmap approach as we followed the outline; it conveys what is ahead in the sermon. I plan to use the same approach for the first three lines of my posts, for example, a thought for my next Door County post: Plentiful Shipwrecks, Acts 27-28, and Jesus Against the Waters of Destruction.

    My husband, the dogs, and I are preparing for an RV road trip from our home in Illinois to South Dakota and Devil’s Tower in Wyoming. I will finalize and publish my next writing when I get a chance.

    I appreciate the patience.

  • Starting with God

    What strategies do you use to maintain your health and well-being?

    I begin my day with exercise, but more significantly and eternally, I begin with God. 

    As I warm up on my stationary bike, I read several Christian devotionals that convey what I need to hear, comfort me, help me make a decision, or just remind me of God’s love.

    I wrap up my fitness routine with prayer on a short walk outside. I express my appreciation to God for the nature around me and for many other blessings, like the ability to move my body and eat healthy foods.

    God is in control. At all times, when I release my anxieties and concerns to him and remind myself of all the ways that he has guided me and blessed me, and when I read his Word, I am filled with peace. And peace is necessary for well-being.