Praise
the Lord!!
"Circumcise
yourselves to the Lord, circumcise your hearts, you men of Judah and people of
Jerusalem, .." (Jeremiah 4:4)
Under
Joshua's leadership and by miraculous intervention of God, the Israelites
crossed the Jordan and camped at Gilgal. On hearing this, the morale of the
people of Canaan utterly collapsed. They had already heard two terrifying news
of how the Lord dried up the water of the Red sea when the Israelites came out
of Egypt and how they defeated the two powerful Amorite kings Sihon and Og at
the east of Jordan. (Joshua 2:10) Now they heard of how Lord Jehovah dried up
the waters of Jordan river so that they could cross over into their land,
Canaan. (Joshua 5:1) Fear gripped their hearts. At this point, the military
leaders of Israel might have thought that it was the best time to strike a
paralyzing blow on the Canaanites and to bring down their strongholds. But this
was not God's plan. He is never in a hurry though His children often are. From
God's point of view, Israel was not yet ready to fight on Canaan's soil. There
was some unfinished business and it was spiritual- Consecration must precede
conquest. Before God would lead Israel into the Canaan, He wanted to consecrate
them. So the Lord said to Joshua, "Make flint knives and circumcise the
Israelites again". Joshua obeyed the Lord, even though it must have been
difficult for him as a military commander to incapacitate his entire army in
that hostile environment. Why was circumcision so important? Because it was a
covenant of the Lord, a contract guaranteeing the everlasting continuation of
Abraham's seed and their everlasting possession of the Lord! All the men of
Israel were circumcised before they left Egypt, but they all died in the
wilderness and hence their sons born during the wilderness wanderings were not
circumcised. Therefore God insisted that this sacred rite should be performed
before the new generation entered the Promised Land.
Dear
friends, before we venture to defeat the enemy, and before we take possession
of the land, let us be careful to renew our covenant with the Lord. Then surely
the victory will be ours.
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, as I grow in
spiritual journey, let me pause at Gilgal and take time to circumcise my heart
before I enter into Canaan. Let me renew my covenant with you. Cleanse me by
the blood of Jesus and grant me victory over the devil in the name of Jesus.
Amen.
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