Author: Woodrow Kroll
Source: Lessons on Living From Joshua
Scripture: Joshua 8:1-25 Matthew 24:35
Solid As the Rock
Joshua 8:1
Then the Lord said to Joshua: "Do not be afraid, nor be dismayed; take all the people of war with you, and arise, go up to Ai. See, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land."
Solid As the Rock
Gibraltar is a small peninsula of the southern coast of Spain near the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea. Covering most of this peninsula is an enormous mass of limestone 1,398 feet high. This rocky mass has become a symbol of stability and certainty, and from which we get our _expression, "Solid as the Rock of Gibraltar."
Yet God's word is just as solid--and even more so. Three times God spoke to Joshua of future events that were as good as done. In chapter 6, God said of Jericho, "See! I have given Jericho into your hand, its king and the might men of valor" (v. 2). And that's what happened. In chapter 8, He said to Joshua concerning Ai, "See, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land" (v. 1). Sure enough, it came about (vv. 18-25). Then in chapter 10, God promised Joshua victory over the Amorites, saying, "Do not fear them, for I have delivered them into your hand" (v. 8). Again, God came through on His word (vv. 10-11).
While the Rock of Gibraltar will some day crumble, God's words never will. Jesus promised, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away" (Matt. 24:35). In a day of instability and change, we can be confident that what God says, He will do. What He declares, He will perform.
If you are feeling bewildered by upheaval in your life, look to the Rock--not the rock of Gibraltar, but the Rock of Jesus. Take Him at His word; He will never change.
Don't settle for the rock when you can have the Rock.
Author: Woodrow Kroll
Source: Lessons on Living From Esther
Scripture: Psalm 30:5 Esther 9:20-22
Joy Comes in the Morning
Esther 9:20-22
"And Mordecai wrote these things and sent letters to all the Jews . . . to establish among them that they should celebrate yearly the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar, . . . as the month which was turned from sorrow to joy for them, and from mourning to a holiday."
Joy Comes in the Morning
Life is filled with horror and tragedies. On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland and began a systematic annihilation of the Jewish people. During the years of the Holocaust, approximately 65 to 70 percent of all European Jews perished. In 1975 a group of rebels called the Khmer Rouge took control in Cambodia. Tens of thousands died under their harsh treatment. In 1994 the Rwandan president died in a plane crash under mysterious circumstances. Within a month an estimated 200,000 people in Rwanda died from violence unleashed by racial hatred.
The Jewish people in Esther's time were faced with tragedy as well. As Haman's plan for ethnic cleansing was proclaimed throughout the empire, grief enveloped the land. God's people responded with tears and cries of sorrow. What they didn't know was that even as they lamented, God was in the process of engineering their deliverance. In the midst of their darkest night, God was preparing a joyous morning.
Christians are not immune from such tragedies. Brian O'Connell, director of the Religious Liberty Commission of the World Evangelical Fellowship, claims, "More Christians have been martyred in the twentieth century than in the previous nineteen combined." This is horrifying, but our comfort comes from knowing there will be a joyous morning.
If you are experiencing a great sorrow, rest assured that God is preparing a time of joyous celebration. The psalmist says, "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning" (Ps. 30:5). When the morning of Christ's return breaks, sadness will be swallowed up by an everlasting joy.
God's dawn always follows grief's darkness.