3.141 Get Thee Up

In Matthew 5, Jesus calls us the salt of the earth and the light of the world, reminding us that our lives are meant to preserve, illuminate, and point others to Him. This season on Savory Salt, we'll walk through the Old Testament, one verse and one thought each day. Perhaps these moments will add greater savor and brighter light to our lives as we seek to truly live as savory salt.

Hello, my friends. It's a new day with new opportunities. Choose you this day whom you will serve.

You ever been down and out with a mistake you've made, and you're sure that this one's the mistake you're not going to be able to recover from? What perhaps would the Lord say to you in that time? We are continuing our readings in the book of Joshua.

So much is happening in here, so I hope you take the time to read it. Welcome to "Read These Stories". These are some classic stories we've seen since primary days, and yet other ones that aren't so well known.

I want to take a look at our verse for today, here inside this concept of making a mistake and feeling down and sorry for yourself. Maybe having a bit of pity, maybe even a pity party as it's been known to be called. In that moment, Joshua's experiencing this a little bit as they've come through.

They had great success with the city of Jericho and everything that happens there. But then comes the secret. And the secret is some of them did not follow the commands of the Lord, and they took objects they should not have taken.

Then all of Israel suffers, not just those that made the mistake. And it's here that Joshua is like on his knees. He's fallen down.

He's crying. He's rent his clothes. Joshua 7, verse 10.

The Lord said unto Joshua, "Get thee up, wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face?" Direct translation according to Allen would be something like, "Get up! What are you doing laying there?" Perhaps oversimplifying the situation, because the following verses are very important, but the Lord's counsel is: Stop with the pity party! Get up!

Let's get going! And if I could sneak just a few words of verse 13, the Lord says: "Up, sanctify the people, and say, sanctify yourselves." My friends, when we're down and out, when we've made mistakes and we feel bad about them, it's easy to just go in the bedroom, close the door and hide from the world. But that's not what the Lord would encourage us to do.

Get up, face the mistake, sanctify yourself, ask for repentance and forgiveness, whether that's of others because of the mistake you've made. And it's difficult. But I can tell you this: I have found that my solution to those times is to be in action serving others.

It's to be praying for the Lord's help. It's to be in motion. It's getting up, going out, doing the thing.

My friends, I hope that as you experience these challenging times in your life, if they cripple you, if they put you down on your knees, that you may at that time on your knees pray to the Lord and then turn around and get thee up. The Lord will be with you and will strengthen you, will lift you up, and you will find success again. That I can bear testimony of.

That's all for today, my friends. You and I have come here for such a time as. Step forward in faith, and let's be savory salt. We will be here tomorrow, and we hope you are too.