Tuesday, August 5, 2025
Scripture Readings
- Primary Reading: Joshua 11-13
- Secondary Reading: Psalms 90
Key Verse
Joshua 12:18 — “The king of Aphek, one; the king of Lasharon, one;”
Devotional Thought
The northern campaign begins with a coalition of kings gathering at the waters of Merom, “much people, even as the sand that is upon the sea shore in multitude, with horses and chariots very many.” Jabin of Hazor, once the head of all those kingdoms, summons the Canaanite, the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite, and the Hivite to stand against Israel. Against such numbers, Joshua might well have trembled. Yet the LORD speaks plainly: “Be not afraid because of them: for to morrow about this time will I deliver them up all slain before Israel.” Joshua goes suddenly, falls upon them, and the LORD delivers them into his hand. He houghs the horses and burns the chariots, exactly as commanded. Chapter eleven closes with the sweetest sentence in the book: “And the land rested from war.” Then chapter twelve lays out, king by king, the whole tally—thirty and one—so that no one forgets what God accomplished.
But chapter thirteen turns a corner. Joshua is “old and stricken in years,” and the LORD tells him there remains “yet very much land to be possessed.” The great general who saw the sun stand still at Gibeon now faces the quieter reality of unfinished work. The Philistine coast, the Sidonian country, Lebanon—still unconquered. The Anakims, those giants that had terrified the spies forty years earlier, are cut off from the mountains, yet remnants linger in Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod. Even the tribes east of Jordan fail to expel the Geshurites and Maachathites, who dwell among Israel “until this day.” And the Levites receive no land at all—only the LORD Himself as their inheritance.
Psalm 90, the prayer of Moses, the man of God, fits this moment like a glove. “Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations,” he begins, and then measures human frailty against divine eternity: a thousand years are but “a watch in the night,” and our threescore years and ten are “soon cut off, and we fly away.” Moses, who watched a whole generation die in the wilderness, prays, “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.” Joshua, numbering his own days, is told to finish the work of dividing the land while he still can.
We read this in the warm, slow days of August, when summer itself seems to be numbering its days. Perhaps you are in a season of rest after long labor—or a season of realizing that much remains undone. Both belong here. God gives victories complete and final; He also gives unfinished maps and aging hands. The same LORD who said “be not afraid” to Joshua still says it to us, and the same Moses who prayed for a wise heart teaches us to ask for one too.
Reflection
- Joshua 11:15 says he “left nothing undone of all that the LORD commanded Moses,” yet Joshua 13:1 says much land remained. How do you distinguish faithful obedience from the illusion that you must finish everything yourself?
- Moses asks God to “teach us to number our days.” If you honestly numbered the days and strength you have left, what unfinished work would God have you take up—or release?
Prayer
O Lord, Thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations, and before the mountains were brought forth, Thou art God. We confess that our days are as grass that flourisheth in the morning and withereth in the evening, yet Thou remainest from everlasting to everlasting. Teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. Give us courage like Joshua before the multitude of our fears, and humility like aged Joshua to finish what is given us and trust Thee for what remains. Satisfy us early with Thy mercy, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days, and establish Thou the work of our hands. Amen.
Psalm Verse
Psalms 90:1 — “Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations.”