I (Jason) am going to try something new this year.  And that new thing is to occasionally blog about what I’m learning in a particular book of the Bible as I read in God’s word throughout this year.  I think it will be interesting, challenging, and hopefully beneficial to us all.  It is good to share what God is teaching us with others to encourage and convict.  Think of this as an occasional journal entry that you can read and reflect on with me.

To begin this year I started way back in the book of Joshua.  Now, many of you may think that is an incredibly odd place to start your Bible reading in the new year.  And you’d probably be right in asking that question.  Why not start with Proverbs? Or be encouraged by the Psalms at the beginning of the new year?  Or why not read a Pauline letter in the new testament because those are so applicable to daily living?  All good questions but I would answer them with 2 Tim 3:16.  Every bit of the scripture is profitable and useful.  There is not one book or section of the Bible that is more profitable or more revealing about the nature of God then another.  God reveals himself and reveals who we are in every word, chapter, and book.

You may say yeah, yeah, yeah. I know that but still, Joshua?  Well, let me tell you a little about why I chose to start my Bible reading in this particular book.

• Joshua is a book about a new beginning and each new year is a new beginning.  At the beginning of this book, the Israelites have finally ended their wandering in the desert.  Recall, that they made it out of Egypt and came to the promised land but did not obey the Lord because 10 of the 12 spies said that they in no way could take the land.  The people there were too big and the cities were too strong.  Only Caleb, and…yes, Joshua believed the Lord, but the people continued to not believe and doubt so the Lord made them wander in the desert for 40 more years until that unbelieving generation died.  In Joshua, the wandering has ended and they are finally at the doorstep of a new beginning. What should they do? What will it be like? How should they act? What is going through their mind?  I’m excited to see what God’s word has to say.

• Joshua was a dynamic leader in a new endeavor and I am a leader in my family endeavors this year.  Joshua is widely considered to be one of the great leaders in history.  He had the monumental task of filling in for Moses after Moses’ death and leading the Israelite nation into a new place, with new people, on a new mission.  And I think that is where I am at with leading my family.  It’s a new year and I don’t know what will happen or what mission we will be given but I must lead in those situations.  So what was Joshua’s posturing in leadership? How did he communicate? I think this book will give some clues to lead in a new year.  

• Joshua is a book of the old testament and I think it is good to read and study the old testament to understand the full measure of God and his story.  This is similar to the point I made earlier.  All of the Bible is valuable.  It reveals us to the character of God.  It teaches us about his holiness.  It shows us the reality of our human heart with all of it’s ups and downs.  It gives us a comprehensive understanding of history.  I know there are valuable lessons stored up in this book if we take the time to study and extract them.  So I am excited to learn more about the nature of God in Joshua; the nature of our responsibility before Him, and about the encouragement which He gives to those on the cusp of something new and unknown.

All that to say, I hope you enjoy “What I am learning in the Bible: Joshua Edition” and I hope that you will be challenged as I have been in the study and lessons learned from this book. So let’s journey through Joshua!