Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Does More Stuff Equal a Better Life? | The Life of Joshua | Joshua 10:29-11:23

Episode Date: August 25, 2021

If you had everything you ever wanted, would you feel validated and secure? Would it ever be enough? In today's episode, Tanya examines how although Israel didn't have the equipment or army to beat the cities they came up against in battle, their trust in God led them to victory. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our https://www.thecrossingchurch.com/ (website) and follow us on https://www.facebook.com/TenMinuteBibleTalks (Facebook), https://www.instagram.com/thecrossingcomo/ (Instagram), and https://twitter.com/tmbtpodcast (Twitter) @TheCrossingCOMO and @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Social Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TenMinuteBibleTalks (https://www.facebook.com/TenMinuteBibleTalks) Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecrossingcomo/ (https://www.instagram.com/thecrossingcomo/) Twitter: https://twitter.com/tmbtpodcast (https://twitter.com/tmbtpodcast) Passages https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Joshua%2010%3A29-11%3A23&version=NIV (Joshua 10:29-11:23) Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now.

Welcome to 10-minute Bible talks where we connect the Bible to your life in the time it takes to get to work. I'm Keith Simon. I'm Tanya Wilmuth. And I'm Patrick Miller. Right now, we're going through the book of Joshua. Also, if you want to connect with us, follow us on Twitter at TMBT podcast. You can also check out our hashtag, hashtag, AskT, TMBT, where you can ask us anything, and we'd love to connect with you. If you were living in the ancient world, the ability and status of your king meant a great deal.

The size of your army meant a great deal, and the strength of your borders? Well, it meant a great deal. And if you were a well-established or a wealthy city, you might even have a wall for protection and horses and chariots for your army. And those things, they would have meant a great, great deal to you. Unless you were Israel in Joshua's time. And if you were Israel, you didn't have a physical king to guide and protect you, at least not yet. and you didn't have a city that was yours to call home,

and you didn't have a wall to keep you safe inside, and you didn't have chariots and horses, or a big fortified army yet either. You didn't have an earthly king on a throne, but you had the king of the universe, that part of the water, and then stopped the flow of the Jordan. And you didn't have a city that was yours,

but you had countries and territories that were promised to you and your descendants. You didn't have a wall to keep you safe, but you had God's laws to protect your heart from the enemy. You didn't have chariots and horses or a big fortified army, but you had the commander of all armies to guide and lead you. You had every reason to feel safe and secure and significant, but it didn't look like what everyone else had.

I wonder if not having a king sometimes made Israel feel weak. And I wonder if not having a city with a wall, sometimes made them feel vulnerable. I wonder if not having a home base could have made them feel insecure. This summer, the USA got its classic Olympic heartwarming moment when underdog Lydia Jacoby, a 17-year-old, came from out of nowhere to beat the veteran American and Australian swimmers that were supposed to win the 100-meter breaststroke.

Our family happened to be watching it live, and because the commentators spent so much time on the other American swimmer that was supposed to win, we didn't even realize Jacobi was in the race. So as the swimmers made the turn for the last 50 meters, the announcers, well, they were still optimistic that things would go as planned. But when the swimmers touched the wall, two American flags came up on the screen in separate lanes, and the first place finish was a name that we hadn't even heard of before the race. Lydia Jacoby, first Alaskan to win gold in the Olympics. She was just out of high school, and she'd done all of her training in a 25-meter pool

because there's only one full 50-meter Olympic-sized pool in the entire state of Alaska. She didn't have the age, experience, or equipment to win. Israel didn't have the experience or the equipment to defeat the armies and cities and kings they came up against. By all human standards and especially the standards of the ancient world, they would have been a perpetual underdog. But listen to how the conquest of Israel over the southern territories is summarized in Joshua 1042.

And Joshua captures all these kings and their land at one time because the Lord God of Israel fought for Israel. The ultimate cause of Israel's success was that the Lord God was with them. See, the ancient world had built an ideology that having things

like kings and walls and armies and horses and chariots provided status and security. And God could have given Israel all those things as well, but he didn't. God was debunking this idea that having better things made a better life. Israel wasn't supposed to secure its own future on this pattern of the ancient world that they were moving into. Rather, they were to trust God to overcome their enemies. and trust God to provide for them. And that would mean that any victory Joshua had

would point not to a king or a wall or an army, but to the living God that provided the victory. Yeah, there would be a time later where Israel would have its own king and fortified strongholds. In fact, it wouldn't be long before they were asking God for this king. Truth be told, they might have even wished they had him when they were marching through Canaan. as believers we want to have the things too because they tell the world something about us and they make us feel validated and secure

and having the things like success or wealth or power or whatever it is well that's not bad at all but having them can make us more foolish like the people of canaan having everything can make us feel more validated and secure in our own strength and make us less reliant and dependent on God. When the rich man came to Jesus to ask about eternal life, Mark tells us Jesus looked at him, loved him, and said, you lack one thing. Go. Sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and come follow me. Jesus doesn't want this man to be poor and needy for the sake of being poor. But he wants him to find the one thing he lacks.

Jesus knows that everything that makes a man wealthy and secure and powerful is keeping him from trusting and following Jesus. All this man's earthly treasures are making him poor in his love for Jesus. And because the man couldn't see himself outside of these things, he walked away from the conversation disheartened and sad. When they don't make a sports team or get invited for a lake weekend or whatever disappointment it may be, my heart is simultaneously sad and hopeful for my kids. I'm sad because they're sad.

I think this is a way we image Jesus as well, like how Mark said Jesus looked at this man and loved him. But I also have hope when these things happen, because I hope that it will help them find the one thing. I know that God works through the disappointment of not having status, not being included, and not feeling known. And it's not my job to fix these feelings for them, but I can't show them what it's like to bring our doubts and our disappointment to Jesus and ask him to reorient our thoughts and desires for him.

I see it in myself when I walk away from a conversation or a job and wonder what people are thinking or stew on what I wish I would or wouldn't have said. That tells me that I'm thinking far too much about myself and what I have. I don't think Jesus wants us to feel poor or weak or vulnerable for the sake of feeling that way. But he does want us to find our wealth and our strength and our security in him. Not having everything the culture had was good news for Israel because it made them dependent on God. It made them more able to see how God was with them. What do you not have right now that could actually grow your wisdom and contentment in the Lord? What are you not able to do right now that might actually grow your dependence on the Lord? What could you choose to not have

or do that would make you less foolish and more wise in the things of God? God's people aren't defined by what we've built or bought or created, but we are defined by the character of our living God who promises to always be with us. For an Israel who was weak and minor in power, this was good news. And it continues to be good news for you and me today. Thanks for listening. If you've enjoyed this content, please subscribe and give us a rating. That helps others find this podcast more easily. Also ask yourself who you could share this podcast with, texting an episode to a or family member is a great way to help them grow spiritually. If you want to go deeper, check out our show notes for book recommendations.