Have I Not Commanded Thee?

 My quiet time from one morning turned into the next morning and I wanted to share a second part.
Joshua 1:9 says:

 Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.

Matthew Henry's commentary had this to say and it really reached me in my own life.
Read this with your role as a homemaker in mind and all it entails... the roles, purpose, duties, and more.

Joshua was humble and low in his own eyes, not distrustful of God, and his power, and promise, but diffident of himself, and of his own wisdom, and strength, and sufficiency for the work, especially coming after so great a man as Moses;

and therefore God repeats this so often, “Be strong and of a good courage; let not the sense of thy own infirmities dishearten thee;

God is all-sufficient. Have not I commanded thee?”

[1.] “I have commanded the work to be done, and therefore it shall be done, how invincible soever the difficulties may seem that lie in the way.” Nay,

[2.] “I have commanded, called, and commissioned, thee to do it, and therefore will be sure to own thee, and strengthen thee, and bear thee out in. it.”

Note, When we are in the way of our duty we have reason to be strong and very courageous; and it will help very much to animate and embolden us if we keep our eye upon the divine warrant, hear God saying,

“Have not I commanded thee? I will therefore help thee, succeed thee, accept thee, reward thee.” Our Lord Jesus, as Joshua here, was borne up under his sufferings by a regard to the will of God and the commandment he had received from his Father, Joh_10:18.

When God Commands. . .

 Have we been called by God to be homemakers? 

Have we been commanded to be keepers of our homes? 

I believe so. 

Each home has a calling and each homemaker has a command unto it in one form or another.

My Bible reading this morning was Joshua 1:1-24 and it encouraged me in my calling as a homemaker and in what I am experiencing in my life right now. It isn't an instant feel good moment but life isn't made up of those and especially not so when we grow up. 

Things get hard. Sometimes, they seem so difficult that we do not want to continue another step in them or we feel overwhelmed, burdened excessively and more. 

Still, we are called. We are commanded to carry on. 

The thing to remember is ... that we are never, ever called to carry on in or with our own strength. 

My 21 year old son is on a few day visit from his college four hours away. 

We ended up in a conversation about a lot of things and one thing he said was... that all of his life he has seen me try to do too much and that he is seeing it now. His point was that we are supposed to look to God for all of our strength and not push ourselves to withstand the weight of whatever we are carrying. 

Today's quiet time confirmed this. 

When we feel like we cannot carry on another thing, give up and give in finding the way out, up, over or above . . . we are wiser. We were never meant to tackle even one of those things on our own. 

We are not all sufficient no matter how mightily we try to be. Only God is all sufficient and we can handle what He places in our pathways when we are strong and of good courage. It doesn't come from us but comes from Him. 

The ability and strength to carry on ... day after day and week after week and month after month is not something we have to make it through alone. Even if and when we feel alone in it all... He is ever and always with us and "those that go where God sends them shall have Him with them wherever they go and they need desire no more to make them easy and prosperous." Quote by Matthew Henry.

Joshua was humble and low in his own eyes, not distrustful of God, and his power, and promise, but diffident of himself, and of his own wisdom, and strength, and sufficiency for the work, especially coming after so great a man as Moses; and therefore God repeats this so often, “Be strong and of a good courage; let not the sense of thy own infirmities dishearten thee; God is all-sufficient. Have not I commanded thee?” [1.] “I have commanded the work to be done, and therefore it shall be done, how invincible so ever the difficulties may seem that lie in the way.” Nay, [2.] “I have commanded, called, and commissioned, thee to do it, and therefore will be sure to own thee, and strengthen thee, and bear thee out in. it.” Note, When we are in the way of our duty we have reason to be strong and very courageous; and it will help very much to animate and embolden us if we keep our eye upon the divine warrant, hear God saying, “Have not I commanded thee? I will therefore help thee, succeed thee, accept thee, reward thee.” Our Lord Jesus, as Joshua here, was borne up under his sufferings by a regard to the will of God and the commandment he had received from his Father, Joh_10:18.

Matthew Henry Commentary on Joshua 1:1-24

If you are weary or your path seems scattered with more obstacles than level ground... the One who called you to this very place goes before you to clear the way and He is with you. One day, the forest will not be so thick and dark and stormy and you will be able to see the marvelous light of His rewards. Here on earth and in heaven. 

Twelve Crafts Till Christmas

I am highlighting blogs, books and so on as I shared either here or somewhere else lately (yes, it is one of those times) and today's is a delight all the way around ;)

I have had a lot of fun seeing the many creative ideas from this blogger who wanted to do a craft per month by Christmas of this year! Lots of step by step directions and more. I love it.