July 17 / Psalm 105

Posted byFred 1 Comment on July 17 / Psalm 105

Psalm 105

Dear RTB’ers,

The Lord speaking, “To you I will give the land of Canaan as your portion for an inheritance.” (v. 11) Then the outcome: And He gave them the lands of the nations, and they took possession of the fruit of the peoples’ toil… (v. 44) I am not one to question the Lord; He is God, I am not. But I’ve long wondered about the “ethics” of the Israelites taking the Promised Land, in the book of Joshua. There were people living there; the Israelites did battle and conquered them and gained their houses, their livestock, their produce, and subjected the people as servants. It’s how it was back then, and in Joshua we simply read of the battles. But today’s one verse says more than I typically consider: they took possession of the fruit of the peoples’ toil…

I typically don’t spend much time thinking about the subjection of these peoples and of all that they have lived for. But today’s verse stuck out for me. How about you?

Blessings.

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1 Comment

  1. So as I pondered a bit on the “ethics” of God, I resonated with John’s comments in his second 2022 post on Psalm 105.

    It is certainly true that God’s plan held a lot of difficulties for those whom He used for His purposes: Abraham, Moses, Joseph, etc.

    As John pointed out,

    Clearly, things did not always look so rosy as God worked out His purposes. Yet all the “bad” stuff — all the waiting, all the pain, all the silence, all the suffering — was just as much part of the story, just as much part of the plan as the “good” stuff, perhaps even more so. So the next time you are contemplating “glory sightings,” don’t just look for the things that make you feel all warm and fuzzy. Look for all those hard things, those trials that God is using to confirm you to the image of Christ (Rom. 8:29), because that’s the real deal: Christ in you, the hope of glory! (Col. 1:28)

    I am working on trust in all things, especially because I see such a small part of the big picture…

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