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“They did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.” (Joshua 5:12).
We have each traveled a long and laborious pathway during these past few years as the World and the Church have both undergone unprecedented challenge and change. It seems that everything that can be shaken is being shaken, and ultimately only those things that are unshakable will remain.
O, to us may grace be given to stand in the unshakable Kingdom.
Sadly, some have not made the journey. Having been turned aside by the lure of lesser things, or backed down by the threat of difficult things, or held captive by the hollow hope of nostalgic things -- not all who started out on this trek have made it this far. We look around and they are gone.
“Demas hath forsaken me,” wrote the apostle Paul, “having loved this present world” (2 Tim.4:10).
But not all who are gone from us have fallen. There are those happy souls who have finished their race with joy and been transported to the City, whose builder and maker is God; and we rejoice with them as we hope for heaven ourselves. And our hope is not in vain, nor will our longings be left unrewarded. For we are neither lethargic nor nostalgic; we are full of life and filled with dreams.
Today belongs to those who live by a faith that sees beyond the limitations of human reason and effort; a faith that trusts in the unfailing love of the Faithful God who alone has brought us safe thus far; and who alone will carry us all the way to our Hope of Glory.
Joshua serves as a splendid example of those who survive and prevail by placing their faith in the Faithful God....
And we will look at him in detail tomorrow.
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