We know that 2 Timothy 3:16 tells us that all Scripture is God-breathed and profitable. We know that every single verse of the Bible is inspired by God. But we also know that some profit is easier to find than others.
Take for example the book of Joshua. We get pretty excited about the whole conquest of the land stuff. God parts the Jordan River to let the nation cross. God knocks down the walls of Jericho. God judges the nation when they are disobedient. Caleb is a man!
But then things shift. We get chapter after chapter of boundaries and borders. WE get chapters about the doling out of the land. Yes, from time to time we see that one of the 12 tribes is faithless and will not drive out the people from the part of the land they have been promised. But, for the most part, for several pages, all we see are names and places we do not recognize. How is that profitable?
Joshua 21:43-45 – 43 Thus the Lord gave to Israel all the land that he swore to give to their fathers. And they took possession of it, and they settled there. 44 And the Lord gave them rest on every side just as he had sworn to their fathers. Not one of all their enemies had withstood them, for the Lord had given all their enemies into their hands. 45 Not one word of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass.
How those chapters are profitable is summed up right here. God is faithful. Not one word of all God promised the people failed to come to pass. God said he would do it. God did it. And here, Joshua lets us know he did it.
If you were of the people of God in ancient times, perhaps living under the judges or even the early kings, how great would the book of Joshua be to you? How wonderful would it have been to have read to you the real word of God allotting your particular tribe the inheritance that God promised? In honesty, though the first half of Joshua would make a better movie, what would make you celebrate is hearing about God giving your people their land.
And even when we live in a foreign land, oceans away from those boundaries, we should be able to recognize the teaching of the word of God. God is faithful. God makes promises and keeps promises. The word of God, whether law, prophets, or writings, whether gospels, Acts, epistles, or Revelation, all of the word of God is true and trustworthy. What God promises, God does. God is able to do the seemingly impossible. God is faithful to keep his word.
Pastor Travis Peterson 