Today’s scripture: Joshua 1:1-9 (ESV-text and audio) (KJV) (The Message)
As you read, consider: What might God be saying to me? Summarize your thoughts in a sentence or two.
My thoughts (Keith Phillips):
It was thirty plus years ago, but I remember it as though it were yesterday. I’d hitched a ride with a friend from college who was going to Seattle. Two months earlier we’d both graduated from college in Massachusetts. He dropped me off, with all my worldly possessions, in Richmond, Indiana, where I’d been accepted to seminary, having never even seen the campus. I got there two weeks early. I knew no one, but it didn’t matter; no one else was around.
In those days a few single students were housed on the second floor of the classroom building. Through the attic was a cupola which I quickly discovered to be a wonderful place to talk with God; and, quite frankly, to express my loneliness, my fears about being in a strange land (you may not believe it, but Indiana can be pretty strange for those of us from New England), and my questions about seminary and my call to ministry. I felt like I was in a desert. I’d been uprooted. I was young, I was gay, I was a Deadhead, and now I was in a midwest seminary; and I had no idea what, in the early 70s, all that might mean for me. I felt scared, I felt alone, I felt abandoned.
One afternoon I had my Bible with me in that cupola, and by chance, or by the grace of God, I opened it to the first chapter of Joshua. I read the ninth verse: “Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.” It was as though God were speaking those words directly to me. God was speaking those words to me! And as if I were passing through a gate into another world, a sense of serenity came over me, and I knew that everything would be all right.
Since that time, I have paraphrased that verse as a continual reminder: “Don’t be afraid, Keith; stand by the Lord, and the Lord will walk with you.” The journey certainly has had some wandering and been full of detours and not a few battles, much like Joshua’s journey into the Promised Land. But the Lord’s promise has been true, and I have no regrets. I have done my best to stand by the Lord, and the Lord has been with me all along the way.
Thought for the day: Be assured that, whether you sense the Lord’s presence or not, the Lord is with you, today and always.
We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to get started, consider the guidelines on the How to Pray page.