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Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
It’s October and in much of the world above the equator that means cooler weather, changing leaf colors, harvest season, the start of what normally is the busiest business quarter of the calendar year, and of course soon the holidays and winter not far behind.
But this October, our world is facing great turmoil in this autumn season. Do you know anyone whose job has been lost to the COVID effects, in almost every segment of society? Do you know anyone who has lost a family member due to COVID related health care challenges? How much has changed where you live, as you compare this October to October 2019?
How many people do you know who need HOPE, ENCOURAGEMENT, STRENGTH just to make it through the day this October? For these next 30 days, it is my request of God that HE will lead me to great Spiritual truth that I can share with you, so ALL of us are alert to the needs of people around us, and we Respond to what God shows us with the HELP and HOPE of Jesus!
This is Monday, and for many people, that’s the most difficult day of the week, right? So I have three Scriptures I feel led by the Spirit to help us link together. Psalm 1, Jeremiah 17 and Joshua 1. Look closely, do you see yourself in these powerful statements from God?
“Blessed is the person who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but instead, whose delight is in the law of the LORD and who medicates on God’s Truth day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither – whatever they do prospers…” (Psalm 1:1-3)
Now my friends, link this power statement with Jeremiah 17:7,8 “Blessed is the person who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in HIM. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes, it’s leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and it never fails to bear fruit…”
I don’t know who wrote Psalm 1, but I presume it was written during the time 1100bc – 900bc, when most of the other Psalms were written by David and others. But, I do know Jeremiah, sometimes called ‘the weeping prophet’, wrote the book which bears his name, in the some of the saddest years of Israel’s history, leading up to King Nebuchadnezzar’s final invasion, and the destruction of Jerusalem and the great Temple in 586bc. I would imagine God led Jeremiah to study Psalm 1 and write a fresh warning from God, at a time when the kings of Israel were depending on alliances with other nations like Egypt, to protect them from the biggest global power of that era, the Babylonian Empire. If you wanted to look more deeply at this very difficult season in Biblical history, consider 2 Kings 22-25 and 2 Chronicles 34-36.
Now what do you notice about the HOPE and HELP the tree (person) planted near the water offers? Shade from the blazing sun, fruit for the hungry, even in a season of drought! Do you see why my friends? ROOTS which have worked their way through hard ground to a reliable water source! Can we make the application to your life my friends? No matter how hard life is for you, wherever you live around the world, has your tap root found a reliable water source?
Have you noticed EVERY tree has a tap root, and EVERY tap root looks for water, but some trees wither in hot season, because their tap root has settled for a small, unreliable water source. Now what are some of the things people put their ‘tap root’ in for hope, joy, strength, fulfillment… but in tough times, they find that source unable to sustain them? It should not be difficult for us to make a long list of those unreliable sources.
Do you see God calls us to dig our tap root deeply into Him and His living WORD, the Bible? It means we go there very regularly, and we drink deeply from God’s Truth, God’s instruction in His Word, which the Holy Spirit will then APPLY directly to our life situations. Have you found that to be true my friends? And here’s another truth… the more difficult life becomes, the more powerful God’s Word will become to strengthen and instruct and guide you and me as we live our lives in challenging, stormy, hard times.
Here’s a powerful third Scripture to link with these first two. Look at how God instructed Joshua to face his new leadership challenge after Moses died. Joshua was faced with leading more than 1 million people who had been born or grown up in the 40 years of desert wandering. He was to lead them across the flooded Jordan river into a land filled with 7 nations of well established people, living in large, well defended cities with high, strong walls. Jericho was the first city they would face. Do you remember God’s challenging instructions to Joshua, as he took the reigns of leadership? “Moses My servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land… as I promised Moses… As I was with Moses, so I will be with you…Be strong and courageous. Be careful to obey the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left…Keep it on your lips, meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be successful…” (Joshua 1:1-9)
My friends, this story of the people and Joshua following God’s lead across that Jordan river, and over the next years, conquering the “promised land”, is another reason why I call this daily journey ‘Walking with Jesus’. Do you see the importance for Joshua, of ROOTING his life in God’s Word and listening DAILY to God’s guidance so he could effectively lead 1 million people in successfully conquering and settling in the land God has promised them? Is your life or mine, in October 2020, more complicated, more difficult than that? Do you agree it would be very wise for us to live the pattern all three of these Scriptures given us?
Now in closing, it’s important we look at the alternative… because you and I know there will be times in these next 30 days when you and I feel we can do it on our own, without God’s help, or we feel we see a better path than the one God is leading us to follow through His Word. So, we need to look closely at Jeremiah 17:5,6 “This is what the LORD says: ‘Cursed is the person who trusts in themselves or mankind…whose heart turns away from the LORD. That person will be like a bush in the wastelands… they will dwell in the parched places…”.
So my friends, you and I will face hourly challenges and choices over these next few weeks, as we navigate the increasingly turbulent waters of October 2020, leading up to the American election, while trying to survive the COVID-19 effects on every part of our societies. Which type of person will you be as described in Psalm 1, Jeremiah 17 and Joshua 1? Will your family and friends find you reliably strong, providing hope (shade) and help (fruit) because your roots are tapped into Jesus and His Word, or will you be like a ‘tumbleweed in the wasteland’, unable to be of any help to anyone, and overwhelmed by the harshness and unpredictability of our world in these turbulent days?
Oh my friends, may I invite you to worship Jesus with a powerful song I have found for you. It will help you look forward, into whatever is ahead of you in days to come, confident “Jesus will Hold you Fast”:
Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Click to read today’s chapter: Psalm 1:1-3; Jeremiah 17:5-8; Joshua 1:1-9. (At the top you can choose a different translation.)
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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