Joshua was the great leader of the children of Israel as they entered and conquered the promised land. They took possession of all that God had promised was theirs. Battles had to be fought and won, but the land was theirs for the taking.

In the run up to their crossing the Jordan and beginning the battle God spoke to Joshua. In Joshua 1 verse 8 God commands Joshua not only to be strong and courageous, but to keep His word and meditate on it. This was what would make Joshua prosper in the path that he was taking.

So it is with us. Nothing will prosper us more in our spiritual lives than keeping and meditating on God’s word! It is not just reading, not the daily portion for the sake of being able to say that we have done it, but rather the seeking to know and understand and the reading prayerfully before the Lord. It is the constant keeping (cf. Deut. 6:4-9) of God’s word before us and our families that will bless us. It is this that will make us fruitful people in the Lord (Psalm 1).

We all are good at standing firm for the big causes, you know, the real ‘show stoppers’ that we cannot but do something about. But very often we come down from a victory in the big battle to a defeat in the small things of life.

The ‘man of God’ in I Kings 13 was such a one. He stood before Jereboam and boldly proclaimed God’s judgement. When Jereboam invited him to come home the prophet refused because God had commanded him not to stay. Yet this man of God was deceived by another who called himself a prophet and disobeyed God’s command.

We must beware: the enemy will always seek to bring us down in the small things. We are much too aware of the big issues. We are on the lookout for trouble and determined to do right. But when we come back from the battle, that is where we must trust all the more.

It’s not the size of the stand that God is concerned with, but with the steadfastness of our love for Him in all things great and small.

Where leadership is concerned wisdom is more important than power. Saul, Israel’s first king had the power, but no sense! King David had both power and wisdom, but all too often let his feelings override his sense and dominate his actions.

King Solomon’s glorious reign was promised to him because of his humility in asking for wisdom from the Lord rather than riches or victory over his enemies. But to a great extent it was the fulfillment of Solomon’s request for wisdom itself that brought greatness to the kingdom. Solomon’s wisdom was legendary, and it brought him great respect among kings and subjects alike.
Wisdom brings out the best from all other virtues and tempers our failings. We too should seek it and apply it.