DONNIE DAILY GEMS FOR FRIDAY MARCH 12:
WORD OF WISDOM
When Satan is knocking at your door, simply say, 'Jesus, could you get that
for me?'
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DAILY DEVOTION
Patient Waiting
"I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.
He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set
my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. And he hath put a new song
in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and
shall trust in the LORD."
Psalm 40:1-3
When Hudson Taylor went to China, he made the voyage on a sailing vessel. As
it neared the channel between the southern Malay Peninsula and the island of
Sumatra, the missionary heard an urgent knock on his stateroom door. He
opened it, and there stood the captain of the ship. "Mr. Taylor," he said,
"we have no wind. We are drifting toward an island where the people are
heathen, and I fear they are cannibals."
Taylor agreed to pray for wind. He wrote later that after a few minutes of
praying he was so certain of the answer that he thought there was no need to
pray any longer. So Taylor went up to the deck of the ship. He told the
first mate to let down the sails. When the man protested that there was no
wind, Taylor told him it was coming. The man reluctantly gave the order, and
in moments the wind began to blow and stayed with them until they reached
their destination.
When we ask God for His help, it is important that our faith remains firm.
Whether the answer comes quickly or after the passage of time, we must trust
that God knows not only what we need but also when we need it. He is never
late according to His timetable. Since He is God and we are not, we must
remain patient if He does not work quickly. And even before the wind begins
to blow, you can be confident in His answer.
As you pray, remember to trust God both for the answer and for His timing
for the answer.
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DAILY BIBLE READING
Joshua
Joshua 4 Easy-to-Read Version (ERV)
Rocks to Remind the People
4 After all the people had crossed the Jordan River, the Lord said to
Joshua, 2 "Choose twelve men, one from each tribe. 3 Tell them to look in
the river where the priests were standing and get twelve rocks from that
place. Carry these rocks with you and put them where you stay tonight."
4 So Joshua chose one man from each tribe. Then he called the twelve men
together. 5 He said to them, "Go out into the river where the Holy Box of
the Lord your God is. Each of you must find one rock. There will be one rock
for each of the twelve tribes of Israel. Carry that rock on your shoulder. 6
These rocks will be a sign for you. In the future, your children will ask
you, 'What do these rocks mean?' 7 You will tell them that the Lord stopped
the water from flowing in the Jordan River. When the Holy Box of the Lord's
Agreement crossed the river, the water stopped flowing. These rocks will
help the Israelites remember this forever."
8 So the Israelites obeyed Joshua. They carried twelve rocks from the middle
of the Jordan River. There was one rock for each of the twelve tribes of
Israel. They did this as the Lord had commanded Joshua. The men carried the
rocks with them. Then they put the rocks at the place where they made their
camp. 9 Joshua also put twelve rocks in the middle of the Jordan River. He
put them at the place where the priests had stood while carrying the Holy
Box. These rocks are still there today.
10 The Lord had commanded Joshua to tell the people what to do. This is what
Moses had said Joshua must do. So the priests carrying the Holy Box stood in
the middle of the river until everything was done. Meanwhile, the people
hurried across the river. 11 After the people finished crossing the river,
the priests carried the Lord's Holy Box to the front of the people.
12 The men from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh
obeyed Moses. These men crossed the river in front of the other people.
These men were prepared for war. They were going to help the rest of the
Israelites take the land God had promised to give them. 13 About 40,000
soldiers, prepared for war, passed before the Lord. They were marching
toward the plains of Jericho.
14 That day the Lord made Joshua a great man to all the Israelites. From
that time on, they respected Joshua just as they had Moses.
15 Then the Lord said to Joshua, 16 "Command the priests carrying the Box
that holds the Agreement[a] to come out of the river."
17 So Joshua commanded the priests, "Come out of the Jordan River."
18 The priests obeyed Joshua. They carried the Box of the Lord's Agreement
with them and came out of the river. When their feet touched the land on the
other side of the river, the water in the river began flowing again. The
water again overflowed its banks just as it had before the people crossed.
19 The people crossed the Jordan River on the tenth day of the first month
and camped at Gilgal, east of Jericho. 20 They carried with them the twelve
rocks that they had taken from the Jordan River, and Joshua set them up at
Gilgal. 21 Then Joshua told the Israelites, "In the future your children
will ask you, 'What do these rocks mean?' 22 Tell them, 'These rocks help us
remember the way the people of Israel crossed the Jordan River on dry land.'
23 The Lord your God caused the water in the Jordan River to stop flowing so
that you could cross it on dry land-just as the Lord had stopped the water
at the Red Sea so that we could cross it on dry land. 24 The Lord did this
so that all the people in this country would know that he is very powerful.
Then they will always be afraid of the Lord your God."
Footnotes:
Joshua 4:16 Box that holds the Agreement Literally, "Testimony." See
"Agreement" in the Word List.
