How soon we can forget the way God acts in our lives! This is one of the advantages of keeping a journal. For years I’ve been a huge fan of journals for quiet times, probably way back since I read ‘A Man Called Peter,’ by Catherine Marshall.
I call mine a communuon journal because it records my communion with God, Bible readings, prayers, thoughts and how God speaks to me.
This morning I plucked put one of those old journals and looked at the first page. Like Courtney I’ve been feeling a bit disenchanted with novel writing recently. I was back then too. Like Jacob, I felt I was struggling and struggling but getting nowhere.
Then I read a passage from Joshua – probably one of my favorite Bible heroes, especially after writing an in depth bible study about him, which I did some years later. I learned so much about him and his relationship with God. But that’s another story.
This day the passage was Joshua 5:11-16. It was the day after the Passover, when the Israelites first ate some of the produce of Canaan after their diet of manna, Joshua 5:11-12. At this time Joshua was near Jericho and he looked up and saw ‘a man was standing opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand.’ Naturally Joshua wanted to know whose side this man was on, his or their enemies.
The man replied that he was ‘captain of the host of the Lord.’ Immediately Joshua fell ‘on his face to the earth.’ He recognized who this was and immediately asked ‘What has my Lord to say to his servant?’ Joshua 5:11. So Joshua was ready to listen for the instructions his Lord had for him.
Of course, I couldn’t leave it there and read on into chapter 6 where ‘the Lord said to Joshua, “See I have given Jericho into your hand,” Joshua 6:2. He then goes on to tell Joshua what to do and exactly how this will come about. At this point, I started to wonder could this novel I was writing be my Jericho – the one that would bring the walls into the publishing industry come crumbling down.
The Lord told Joshua to go straight ahead, and go forward believing God had given the city into their hands. The belief in the promise came first. Likewise, I had to go straight ahead, believing God would act similarly for me with the novel I was writing. Further on we find the walls of Jericho fell exactly as God said.
The thing is, until I re-read that journal, I’d forgotten how I was feeling at the time about my writing, forgotten how God answered though the word to Joshua. I realize now that writing I was working on was ‘Chasing After the Wind,’ which was my first published book. That’s why journals are vital to our Christian walk. They help us, often forgetful people, remember exactly how God has answered prayer and what God has done.
Bible verses from the New American Standard Version
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