April 15

Joshua 11:1-12:24, Luke 17:11-37, Psalm 84:1-12, Proverbs 13:5-6

Pray: Joshua continues to lead the people of God. The task is not easy. He knows that he has to have spiritual direction beyond himself. So do we. As we pray let's seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit to first enlighten us as we read today’s text and to give us wisdom and insight throughout the day.

Read: Joshua is taking serious ground, the Promised Land to be exact, and he is taking out the kings who have done evil. Meanwhile, Jesus has healed the ten lepers and only one has come back to thank Jesus and this one person is a Samaritan. Yes, this may be a real issue of ingratitude on the part of the other nine lepers. Jesus asks a truly sad question when he says, “only this Samaritan came back to thank me, where are the nine?” In our culture today there would be many who would feel that they are actually entitled to the healing. In fact, they would be asking Jesus, “Hey, what took you so long?” 

Edify: Perhaps it was a case of ingratitude. But, it may have also been a case of “mistaken identity”. Here is why. Lepers were isolated from everyone else due to the fact that they could contaminate others. Thus, they had to constantly yell, “Unclean” when they were walking down a road to warn others. So, if they ever had a change in their leprosy they had to show themselves to the priest at the Temple or Synagogue. It was Jewish Law. But, I believe that when the rest of the nine were heading to the priest to show their new found healing one of them, the Samaritan, suddenly realized, wait a minute, this person who healed me is supernatural. Perhaps this is truly a man of God so I shall go back and thank him for the healing….in other words he recognized the source. All too often we forget the source of any good, any redemptive thing which happens in our life. We often take credit or we give some other person credit instead of giving God credit. I believe the grateful and insightful Samaritan was on the right track.

Practice: Many people say that they are suspicious of the organized religion or the local church. Yet, most people say they like Jesus. But, they tend to like the Jesus they created in their mind, not the one who speaks clearly in scripture of faithful obedience, living the law—not abandoning it. Jesus goes on to speak in Luke 17 that the days will come, like the days of Noah, where people will enjoy partying and wild living right up until the time the door of the Ark was shut and then it was too late. There will be a day when God says, “The door to heaven is shut.” We often think everyone gets a pass, no loving God could allow anyone to be shut out. Yet, what loving God would allow unrepentant murderers, rapists, child molesters into heaven who continue to live as they are the destructive god of their own lives. This would be a major contradiction of the very nature of a just and loving God. So, if you and I have felt the forgiveness of a Holy God, then we should be overwhelmed by His grace and it should flow from our hearts, our voices to encourage and build up others. Today, let’s gratefully serve those around us so they might see the light of Christ.