A Year of the Lord of Hosts-3

Psalm 46:7 “The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.”

            This year will be the year of the Lord of hosts. When we the say that the Lord of hosts is with us, we mean that we are not alone. We have an army of God right beside us. We the children of God will never be afraid of anything that comes against us. We have the Lord of hosts to battle it out for us this year. The Lord of hosts is giving us the divine strength to conquer all the issues in our lives.

The Lord of Hosts is with us

            As a part of today’s meditation we are mediating on the two important things that we receive when we are led by the Lord of hosts.

Changes the opposition

Joshua 1:5 ‘There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.’

            After the period of Moses, the huge responsibility passes on to the servant Joshua. The responsibility of Joshua is very massive and it was new to him. On the above passage, we see the Lord of hosts speaks with Joshua. Our Lord God not only gave him new responsibility but also his grace and divine strength to conquer many things in his way. When Moses passes away, Joshua directly gets a call from the Lord God. This we read in Joshua 1:2 ‘Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel.’ When God started to speak with Joshua directly, he was clearly given a picture of what he has to do. This helped him to inherit new things. The same Lord that led Moses leads Joshua by giving his divine guidance.

            In Numbers 27:18 ‘And the LORD said unto Moses, Take thee Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay thine hand upon him;’ We see Joshua was handpicked by the Lord God himself and not by any man on earth. We read in I Chronicles 28:20 ‘And David said to Solomon his son, Be strong and of good courage, and do it: fear not, nor be dismayed: for the LORD God, even my God, will be with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee, until thou hast finished all the work for the service of the house of the LORD.’ This passage we can notice that the same words that came for Joshua comes to Solomon as well. This shows the unchanging attribute of our Lord of hosts. When we read Joshua 1:8 ‘This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.’ we can understand the success of Joshua. One of the key reasons why Joshua was successful in his life was his daily devotion. Joshua kept reading the words of God day and night. If Joshua who read only 5 books in the Bible can inherit the land of Canaan, we the children of the Lord inherit more blessings by reading the whole Bible.

            We read in Joshua 5:14 ‘And he said, Nay; but as captain of the host of the LORD am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my lord unto his servant?’ Over here in this chapter we can see the city of Jericho was shut completely. But the Lord of hosts descended for his children and tumbles down the walls of Jericho. Even in our lives, when we make it a point to read and act according to the words of God, we will never be put to shame, Our oppositions will change and we will conquer anything in this world.

Strengthens

Isaiah 41:10 ‘Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.’

            When the Lord of hosts is with us, we will be given a divine strength. This year will be year that never puts us down with infirmities. We read in Philippians 4:13 ‘I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.’ Our Lord’s strength will help us to do things which we were struggling to do so far. The divine strength will enable us to conquer many things. In I Chronicles 4:10 ‘And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested.’ The Lord of hosts that was with Jabez will also be with us and will grant all our requests. We read in Isaiah 46:4 ‘And even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.’ The divine strength will carry us even till hoar hairs.

Compassion

Isaiah 43:2 “When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.”

            The Lord of hosts will shower his compassion for his children. We read in Exodus 14:21-22 ‘And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.’ The Lord was so compassionate enough to lead his children through the roughest of times. The Lord was with them when they crossed the rivers of Jordon and Red sea. The same Lord God who was compassionate on the people of Israel will also show his compassion to us.