“And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessings and the cursings, according to all that is written in the Book of the Law.” Joshua 8:34
“There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded which Joshua did not read before all the congregation of Israel, with the women, the little ones, and the strangers who were living among them.” Joshua 8:35
Joshua read all the words. He didn’t leave out the parts he thought might offend, or bore, or be misconstrued.
Lord, I thank You for Your word and desire to read it all . . .not just the parts that are easiest for me. And here’s a simple poem . . .
All Has Meaning
All the words were written
in another time, in another place
for all of us to hear
by His wisdom, by His grace
for this season, for this moment
when we need truth, when we need light
for His word all has meaning
all has breath, all has life.
Deb's Blog 
“And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey” (Rev. 10:9)
There are parts of the Book that will taste as sweet as honey, and there are parts that will make our bellys bitter. But we are to eat it all up, just as Joshua did; just as John did in Revelation. May we never be satisfied eating just the parts that taste sweet to us.
Thanks, Deb, for not being afraid to “eat it all up” and for sharing your insights from all parts of His Word 🙂
Loren
Thank you, Deb 🙂
Your post reminds me of Linda’s Ancient Words post yesterday. All parts are relevant indeed.
“Lord, I thank You for Your word and desire to read it all . . .not just the parts that are easiest for me.”
I so pray!
As a babe in Christ, I was excited to read from the NT over and over and over but I didn’t have that love for the OT. The years have changed that and as the Holy Spirit gives understanding, I’m learning otherwise.
What Loren said about sharing your insights. Cool! 🙂
I am very thankful for you and for the way you make the Scriptures come alive in your ‘simple’ poems. Grazie 🙂
Blessings,
ann
Deb, What a wonderfully important message! If there are parts of the Bible that we don’t understand or are difficult to read, we should seek God’s wisdom to understand rather than avoid those parts. This reminds me of John 6 when some of His disciples (not the 12) walk away because Jesus’ teaching is too hard. So often people either walk away because they think the Bible is too hard to understand, or they just decide they think those parts that they don’t like don’t matter.
“But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:14-17 (NIV)
I love your poem, too! 🙂 Peace, Linda
I love studying the word, but I’ve been known to skip over the “begats” in 1 Chronicles just because my brain rebels against the monotony of the verses. Yet, a book, “The Prayer of Jabez,” was written from one of these mundane verses.
So, like you said, “His word all has meaning…”
Ya . . .what am I going to do when I get there? ha! Borrow from Bruce? And now I’m working ahead of what I post and am in the chapters of Joshua where the land is divided and the cities and areas all named . . .Will have to remind myself of this over and over!
God bless you Larry, and your love of His word!
I get to parts I want to skim or think I know . . .but what if there is something in there that He wants to show me? Best for me to read it all. ha!
Thank you so much for adding 2 Timothy 3:14-17 here! I love your grasp of His word and His heart toward us. 🙂
God bless you and your understanding of His word!
I’m very thankful for you and your excitement that helps me stay excited! 🙂 I used to think that I just wasn’t smart enough to read His word . . .that I had to have someone else to tell me what it meant. And I’m not smart enough . .. teehee! But, He is so faithful if we really want to know Him and His word, He will help us with that! It was really one thing I wondered about starting this blog, that I was not schooled or educated. Everyone is so gracious and I get to keep learning from all of you!
God bless you, Ann full of grace, and how you let His word live in you!
I loved your comment , Loren, and did not think about that verse with this! Thank you!!! Now you have me considering all the word in a new way . . .a “dietary need”. 🙂
God bless you and thank you for teaching us from His word!!!
Lovely poem Debbie! It can be such a temptation sometimes to leave out the parts that we think will be hard to swallow. Blessings!
This is such a great poem and post. I am glad that you remind us of that very important truth. 🙂
Love,
Theresa
Oh I know! I always have to take deep breaths when I get to the parts about what women should and shouldn’t do. ha!
Eden, your photography for Him is amazing. So special . . .it blesses me! Thank you!
God bless you and all that He is in you!
God bless you and your love for His word! I try to picture that huge congregation gathered and listening to all of the words to be read. It boggles me with my limited patience and attention span.
love you, my wonderful woman of the Word!
I don’t remember this part of Joshua and love that he had courage to share.
Oh Tammy . . .it would take courage to stand before that kind of crowd and read all those words . . .some of which foretold what would happen when they turned away from God. Thank you for pointing that out. 🙂
God bless you and the words you bring to us, full of wisdom and grace.
Interesting point, that he (Joshua) read all the blessings, and the cursings; I would think he would want to skip over the bad parts to make himself look good…or popular…to the crowd.
No one really wants to hear what will happen if they disobey God…it is commonplace for people today to disregard God’s Word, and I cannot imagine they were much different way back in Biblical times.
Thanks for an interesting blog today, my deb. Got me thinking…
Love & hugs,
Bee
Debbie, your writing here is a gift in more ways than one, but one in particular stands out to me tonight. A couple of years ago…several….I encountered a severely fundamentalist group, a Christian group. The rigid legalism of their teachings coupled with my inescapable link to them caused me to suffer quite a bit. I became unable to even read the bible for several years. When I did, I only heard the toxic voices of that church and its people. I am still not over it but am gradually inching closer. i can peek in the pages sometimes and not feel PTSD remnants….seriously. I also had to stop going to churches for a while for a similar reason. I have not yet begun a new church search.
As I read your post just now, I realized one of the reasons I love reading here is the way you reword without changing the meaning of passages in the bible. And, your rewriting takes the toxins completely out of the text!!!!! I am overjoyed by this discovery even though it may only make sense to me. Debbie, I wish you could write a paraphrase or translation of the WHOLE bible! Girl, I would sooooo buy it!
Stop with my excitement yet I am so excited about this. You have a very, very safe way of writing, and it is even true for the tough messages. you don’t shy away from them but somehow you Jesus-ize all the condemnation out of them and only leave the good stuff-godly words of conviction, encouragement, understanding, enlightenment, wisdom, praise, etc. There are still serious topics here but you take the abusiveness out of them, that I don’t think was ever supposed to be there. it is just part of the ‘voices’, and toxic ones at that, that became an overlay over all the bible for me because of the experience I mentioned. I am sorry this is so long, but I am so grateful for you. your writing is a gentle yet true and needed balm to the wounded who still need and want to hear the bible’s messages.
It is truly your gift because all your writing is saturated and permeated with this healing flavor. There are no exceptions. Many, many thanks to you, Debbie.
Thank you so much for your comment, Bee! With him reading it all, then they couldn’t say that they hadn’t heard, didn’t know, could they? And neither can I, when I read His word. It brings with it a responsibility to share what we know and to act on what we believe is true. 🙂
God bless you ,Bee, and all your thoughts of Jesus!
love you too!
Angel A . . .I don’t know what to say. Crying because of what you went through and are still going through because of it. There is so much that goes on out there that I don’t have a clue about. And you . . .you are such a messenger of His love and peace! Even after that. A . ..you didn’t turn away from Him. That grabs me. I’m so thankful for you, for what you bring here each time you come. You have suffered and are still suffering and there is something about that, because He suffered too, that ministers to others. That is precious to Him and to us.
What you wrote about these simple poems and devotions . . .we know that is Him. And I’m so grateful. You know those negative voices we’ve been talking about at Craig’s? You just put a big blocker up against them for me. 🙂 And what you said about that the abusiveness is taken away… God is using that A to reveal something to me! I am so blessed that you took the time and energy to convey all of this to me!!!!
God bless you, A, and your heart’s cry for Him and His love. He will not let you go. You are in Him and He is in you . . .and He loves you with a mighty love!
I love you too, A, and am praying with you for healing and healthy fellowship!