Wisdom International Devotionals

by Seth Davey

  Cause and Effect Joshua 6:27 So the LORD was with Joshua, and his fame was in all the land.   Consider how differently this sentence would read if the two adjacent statements of Joshua 6:27 were written in reverse: “And Joshua’s fame was in all the land, so the LORD was with him.” Imagine if God’s nearness to Joshua was predicated on Joshua’s charisma or success or notoriety, as if God looked down from heaven, seeking someone to promote and advance, and found this enterprising man brimming with pedigree and accomplishment and potential. And what about us? What if God waited till we had something worthwhile to offer Him before stamping our lives with the ineffable seal of His favor? Oh but the opposite is true! The LORD has been  with Joshua  all along the way, hasn’t He? Ever since childhood. Even when Joshua was anonymous and unknown and unimpressive. Joshua’s fame in the land is merely an effect of God’s nearness to Him, not the cause.    “Lo, I am with...

  Leaving the City Dump Behind Joshua 6:26a Joshua laid an oath on them at that time, saying, “Cursed before the LORD be the man who rises up and rebuilds this city, Jericho.”   A basic principle we can immediately ascertain from this Joshua 6:26 curse is simply this: don’t build back what God has torn down.   For religious leaders in Christ’s day, it was the merchandizing of holy sacrament. For converts in the early church, it was rabbinical traditions and pagan rituals. For churches during the Reformation, it was indulgences and a works-based salvation. For many churches today, it’s the nomination of practicing homosexuals and transvestites into clerical positions, undermining the sacred family unit established by God at the beginning of time. You could also add to the list the unitarian universalist doctrine that all paths lead to God which contradicts Christ’s plain teaching that “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life—no one comes to the Father but through Me.”  ...

  A Story All Its Own Joshua 6:22 & 25b But to the two men who had spied out the land, Joshua said, “Go into the prostitute’s house and bring out from there the woman and all who belong to her, as you swore to her.” … And she has lived in Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.   The Author of history has given us everything we need for life and godliness in these sixty-six books, but there’s no doubt He’s reserved some of the most personal chapters for heaven’s vast library. To think that every thought, word, and deed has been meticulously chronicled. That all the quiet prayers offered in prison cells and emergency rooms and battlefields and orphanages have been collected in their entirety. That all the lonely laments and pitiful cries that started out with some form of the plea, “God, why have You forsake me?”, but ended in the consoling triumph of hope relieved, “Why are you downcast O my soul? Hope in God—I will yet prais...

  Sixes and Sevens Joshua 6:2-5a And the LORD said to Joshua, “… You shall march around the city, all the men of war going around the city once. Thus shall you do for six days. Seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark. On the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. And … when you hear the sound of the trumpet, then all the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city will fall down flat.”   The obvious and most striking aspect to me of the LORD’s battleplan here is His reiteration of those enormously significant symbols in biblical teleology that seem to represent the gospel in numerical terms: six representing the toil and flux of the human struggle, and seven representing the Sabbath rest of divine completion. Yet, because I’m a dunce when it comes to numbers, I can only recognize the shimmering arithmetical strands without being able to unravel them. In other words, I s...

  Sabbath Psalm (“Kingdom Rising,” from my new album  Kingdom Rising )   A Seed is carried on unfeeling winds Through water, earth, and air and fire Back and forth between the elements That all seem to conspire Thirsty, offered only sour drink Bitter as the fateful wounds Cries of 'God, have You forsaken me?' Drowned out by darkest noon   But peace, be still A Kingdom's rising Peace, be still A Kingdom's rising here   Scarlet cords have been Your only clothes Fallen threads align the rocks Stripped away by all Your friends turned foes Who mock and cast their lots A Seed is lost in anonymity Beneath the ground it fades from view A cold world moves on apathetically But Love will change it too!   The Sower became the Seed That all of us trampled down But over our blasphemies A word of forgiveness resounds Love is the Giving Tree Who Lays down His life for all And rises eternally But always starts off so small

  Rubble Rousers Joshua 6:1 Now Jericho was shut up inside and outside because of the people of Israel. None went out, and none came in.   Well, that’s one way of putting it—one side of the story, that is—but far from the whole of it. Yes, the king and his entourage have absolutely locked down society in their terror over the advance of Jehovah. No question these majestic gates are barred ‘because of the people of Israel.’ But had the Spirit led him to do so, Joshua could’ve written the Scripture from the other side: “Now Jericho was shut up inside and outside because of the unrepenting, unrelenting, demon-following rebellion of the people. None went out, and none came in as much because of human unwillingness to surrender to God.” And isn’t this a tragic picture of how far our pride will go to eradicate God from our lives?! Even when we’ve recognized His miraculous power, even when He’s right outside our door, knocking on the walls of our conscience, even when the only choice...

  The Question of the Ages Joshua 5:14-15 And he said, “No; but I am the commander of the army of the LORD. Now I have come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshipped and said to him, “What does my lord say to his servant?” And the commander of the LORD’s army said to Joshua, “Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.   It isn’t clear whether this heavenly stranger is a pre-incarnate form of Christ Himself, or whether he’s an archangel from the highest echelons of heavenly authorities, but his words have that same crimson hue to them. Notice how they turn Joshua’s seemingly pointed question on its head, exposing in a single line the potential flaw in Joshua’s understanding of this pilgrimage. And only God can confound human wisdom with a word like this.    Remember when those Pharisees tried to corner Jesus with an impossible, lose-lose situation in Mark 12:14, by asking, “Is it lawful to pa...

  Fight or Flight Joshua 5:13 When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us, or for our adversaries?”   The more a saint seeks after the face of God the more he’s able to look his enemies dead in the eye without fear.    Joshua doesn’t tell us whether he charged at this stranger with his own sword drawn, expecting to meet steel with steel, assuming this to be the first fray in an impending battle, or whether he walked forward nonchalantly, disregarding the stranger’s threatening stance, unmoved by the flash of steel. But we can still glean from this exchange the fact that Joshua goes immediately on the offensive rather than the defensive. His piercing question to this armed stranger is sharper than any blade forged in the fires of men, and it effectively adds up to the quintessential choice of human existence: “Have you c...

  Same Old, Same New Joshua 5:10-12a While the people of Israel were encamped at Gilgal, they kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month in the evening on the plains of Jericho. And the day after the Passover, on that very day, they ate the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain. And the manna ceased …”   One thing’s been true ever since the Spirit hovered over the chasm of darkness in that infinite gulf before Genesis 1:2, and it’s the fact that we’ll never get His redemptive work down to a science. Cartographers can’t map out the boundaries of His cosmic advancement. Meteorologists can’t predict the movements of His thunderings. Philosophers can’t grasp even the bottom rung of that Jacobian ladder into the sacred mysteries. Mathematicians can’t crack the overt numerological codes imbedded into nature and expressed throughout Scripture. We’re all just little kids playing around in the sandbox of divine wonder. In fact, think of it, friend: how well ...

  Are You For Me or Against Me? Joshua 5:1 As soon as all the kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan to the west, and all the kings of the Canaanites who were by the sea, heard that the LORD had dried up the waters of the Jordan for the people of Israel until they had crossed over, their hearts melted and there was no longer any spirit in them because of the people of Israel.   As the Creator of heaven and earth crosses over this Jordan with His pilgrim band and reveals His uniquely divine authority over nature’s forces, even if the kings of the surrounding nations immediately begin a propaganda mission through their media apparatchiks and gaslight their citizens and spread false narratives and perhaps even send out sorcerers to the Jordan River to mimic the miracle, they still recognize genuine Sovereignty when they see it. Outwardly, they’ll put on a charade in an attempt to consolidate power, but inwardly, they feel the fragility of their position. The thundering ...

  Sabbath Psalm (“Processions,” from Seth Davey’s album,  Kingdom Rising )   Does darkness rule or does the light? Or are they stuck in a truce? And what's the substance: death or life? Is one a lie and one the truth?   The chaos and order  We claim for a fact It's either a battle or a balancing act But what is that pulse that's humming under all that? A Timpani in the toil A symphony in the soil   The strummers strum The drummers drum Love's rhythms through all things The minor rifts The major lifts Processions of our King   The chaos and order The fictions and facts We think it's a battle or a balancing act But listen! Redemption's so much deeper than that! Timpanis in the toil Symphonies in the soil

  Oath Keepers Joshua 4:12-13 The sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh passed over armed before the people of Israel, as Moses had told them. About 40,000 ready for war passed over before the LORD for battle, to the plains of Jericho.   If we hadn’t just made our way through the Pentateuch before arriving at the book of Joshua, I might’ve passed over the names of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh and found nothing especially insightful about their leading this charge, but memory of why they’re out in front provides a deeply encouraging sign of progress in the spiritual fervor of this commonwealth.    Go back in your Bible to Numbers 32 and re-read Moses’ account of events. To summarize, as the pilgrim band made their way through the conquered terrain of Gilead and Jazer, tribal leaders from Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh saw that the region was a perfect habitat for their numerous livestock and pleaded with Moses to allot it as their inheritance. Of c...

  In Haste, not Hesitancy Joshua 4:10b The people passed over in haste.   Generally speaking, we don’t do things hastily without some extenuating reason, do we? My son doesn’t race through his math homework just because multiplication is second nature to him, but because his Lego set is sitting unfinished in the corner of the living room. I didn’t drive 20 mph over the speed limit on I-40 for nothing, but because I’d just exhausted my energies performing a concert in Virginia, and it was already 1 a.m., and I was falling asleep at the wheel (the cop gave me a ticket anyway). Beach-bathers on a pacific coastline don’t run around the sandy beach screaming at the top of their lungs for fun, but because someone calls out ‘Tidal wave!’ Think of that as you reflect on Joshua 4:10. Let’s not be too hasty ourselves in passing over a phrase that might hold great significance to the narrative.    Why are the people passing over in haste? Why the rush, that is? Are they afraid ...

  Memories Fade—Memorials Last Joshua 4:4-6 & 7b Then Joshua called the twelve men from the people of Israel. … And Joshua said to them, “Pass on before the ark of the LORD your God into the midst of the Jordan, and take up each of you a stone upon his shoulder … that this may be a sign among you. When your children ask in time to come, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’… these stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever.”   I still retain fond childhood memories of outgrowing our church building in Cary, North Carolina and breaking ground on a new spot a couple of miles up the road. I remember my dad driving us kids to the construction site as the new buildings were being built: we’d climb through the foundation pipes, play hide-and-seek in the uncovered, bare structural walls, and collect loose nails and screws and whatever other ‘treasures’ we could find. In fact, right now, thirty years later, I’m currently sitting in a quiet upstairs room in the childr...

  Reciprocal Meaning Joshua 3:17a Now the priests bearing the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firmly on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan, …   Far more important than the fact that the priests stood  on  dry ground in the midst of the Jordan is the fact that they stood  firmly . What a world of difference that little adverb makes.   Perhaps this adverb is a description of the stalwartness of these priests’ hearts in the face of imminent danger. We could read Joshua’s statement as a commendation to mark the manner in which they stood. To signify that even with a wall of water rising higher and higher beside them, casting perhaps a menacing shadow over them, they remained firm in their obedience, unnerved by the waves. That is, they didn’t straddle one foot on the shore and lightly dip the other into the pool. They didn’t tread cautiously or trepidatiously, walking on their toes in case they needed to make a sudden break for it. No. In spite of thei...

  This is God’s Earth Joshua 3: 11 & 13 “Behold, the ark of a covenant of the Lord of all the earth is passing before you into the Jordan. … And when the soles of the feet of the priests bearing the ark of the LORD, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, … the waters coming down from above shall stand in one heap.”   Whenever our steps of faith usher us into unknown, uncomfortable, unforeseeable terrain, the thought that God is with us isn’t consolation enough; we need to know that He’s already blazed the trail. In other words, it’s a comforting truth that our Shepherd-King walks beside us through this human travail. But it’s a crucial truth that He ever goes before us.    Can’t you feel the unwritten trepidation in the hearts of these thousands of pilgrims as Joshua leads them to the banks of the Jordan? Joshua woke up this morning in earnest, eager to advance; but not everyone shares his courage. Not all men are as manly as Joshua. A...

  Sabbath Psalm (“In the Hearts of the Small,” from Seth Davey’s album  Kingdom Rising )   Right here  Right now  Even in the chaos  Even through the conflict Love is a calm wind  From God  Breathed out  Sweeping through the crevices  Sowing in the barrenness a garden  I know some have said that 'God is dead'  But is that the word that still resounds?  We don't claim a little seed is lost When it's rising underground    It's still a sacred scroll even with pages torn  It's still a blooming rose even when crowned with thorns  It's still a masterpiece even with fraying strands  It's still the touch of God even through calloused hands    Is faith just a sigh that we heave in resistance?  The cry of a soul in a soulless existence?  Is hope just an opioid dulling the sadness?  And heaven a dream we construct in our madness?  Oh the thundrings of Marx and the lightnings of F...

  Necessities verse Niceties  Joshua 3:7 The LORD said to Joshua, “Today I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you.”   How uplifting to think of Providence sifting through the tribes of earth, with omniscient eyes that unveil every hidden ambition and impure motive, with voice that calls out in rhetorical test, “Whom shall I send?”, and finding men and women, who, though covering their own eyes in contrite recognition of their wretched condition, nevertheless rise to respond, “Here am I, LORD, send me!” God once asked the devil, “Have you considered my servant, Job, a man blameless in all his ways?”, and I wonder: has He ever said that of us? Christ asked Peter, “Do you love Me? Feed my sheep.” I wonder: did we bring mere words to the feast of faith today or food for others? Remember the proverb: “He who humbles himself will be exalted, but he who exalts himself will be humbled.” And, elsewher...

  Awaken the Dawn Joshua 3:1 Then Joshua rose early in the morning and they set out from Shittim. And they came to the Jordan, he and all the people of Israel, and lodged there before they passed over.   Remember that thrill of expectancy that filled your heart as a child, on Christmas Eve, when you measured those gifts under the tree from every angle, inspecting them one by one, noting their size and weight, listening to the sounds they made when you shook the boxes? Remember how you rolled around in bed throughout the night, peering at the hands of a clock that seemed indifferent to the holiday cheer, waiting for the first chirp of a morning dove or the first thin ray of dawn to slip through your windowsill?! Fast forward to the night before your wedding or the night before the big move out of state or the night before your deployment or the night before your baby’s due date or the night before your heart surgery. Nights like these are often sleepless, restless nights, aren’...

  Passover, Pt.2 (An Angel of Life) Joshua 2:18 & 21 “Behold, when we come into the land, you shall tie this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and you shall gather into your house your father and mother, your brothers, and all your father’s household.” … And she said, “According to your words, so be it.” Then she sent them away, and they departed. And she tied the scarlet cord in the window.   Remember when the Angel of Death swept through Egyptian provinces during the Passover and killed all the firstborn sons of those who’d refused to paint the sacramental scarlet cords of lamb’s blood on their doorposts? Well, here in Jericho, that same Angel of Death is passing over again, and only those whose walls have been draped in the scarlet threads of faith will be rescued from judgment. Rahab has never tasted a Passover meal in her life. She knows nothing of Levitical instructions for holy ceremony. She’s never once, in her entire life in Jericho, offere...

  Rahab’s Confession Joshua 2:8-10a & 11b Before the men lay down, she came up to them on the roof and said to the men, “I know that the LORD has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you. For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, … for the LORD your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath.”   To all the skeptics of Christianity who claim that Israel’s advance into Canaan was a genocidal crime against humanity, who falsely imagine that these affluent peoples suddenly, without warning, were mercilessly overtaken by the wrecking ball of divine fury the way, say, those people of Pompeii were instantly petrified during the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, Rahab’s voice cries out from the other side of the wall as it were, telling the harder truth of the matter. And the truth from her eyewitness account is that from the...

  One in a Million Joshua 2:1b & 3-4a And they went and came into the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab and lodged there. … Then the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, “Bring out the men who have come to you, who entered your house, for they have come to search out all the land.” But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them.   Before we dive into the depths of Rahab’s testimony, a life so transformed by divine mercy that it reads like a Shakespearian love story and a Hans Christian Anderson fable and a Tom Clancy novel all rolled into one, with all the improbable, spell-binding narrative turns that modern tale-spinners try to emulate, let’s take a pause to ponder the even more spell-binding grandeur of Providence that gives stories like Rahab’s such bravado.    Consider the plight these two spies find themselves in. Dramatize it in your mind for a moment. Where can they hide in this dangerous city when enemies lurk around every bend? How can t...

  Sabbath Psalm (“Broken, Beautiful,” from Seth Davey’s album  Kingdom Rising )     Though the mountains fall into the heart of the sea  I will be still  Though the waters roar and thunder around me  I will be still  Though my enemy attacks me from all sides  I will be still  Though the devil keeps on whispering his lies  I will be still  Though my way is dark and I can't see Your face  I will be still  Though this world can seem a God-forsaken place  I will be still  And know  that You are in control  You'll make the broken beautiful

  Do As I Have Done Joshua 2:1a And Joshua the son of Nun sent two men secretly from Shittim as spies, saying, “Go, view the land, especially Jericho.”   There’s a fail-proof principle for mentorship apparent in Joshua’s opening act as patriarch and it’s this: pass down the experience of your own spiritual successes, because example is your strongest form of exhortation.   I don’t think we can overstate the significance of Joshua’s first move here. Moses is gone, which means that Joshua has to find his feet quickly, without the luxury of months and years of training. He’ll either succeed or fail, crash or land—there’s no middle way. And no advisor can give him the wisdom he needs most of all—experience—because no one else has come this far. What lies around the bend he doesn’t know. What enemy legions may already be gearing up for battle he has no means to surveil. The chronic weaknesses in his disposition and in the dispositions of his men he doesn’t yet perceive. But he...