Joshua 11:15

"Handfuls of Purpose"

For All Gleaners

"He left nothing undone of all that the Lord commanded Moses." Jos 11:15

A easy sentence, but a most difficult process. First of all, here is an assumption that Joshua was a student. How did he know what the Lord had commanded Moses, except by diligent inquiry and stud)? Not only was Joshua a student, he was a minute or critical student. He did not take a merely general view of divine commandment, but went into particularity; "he left nothing undone of all that the Lord commanded Moses;" the word "all" is the critical point. Here is a process of enumeration, weighing, balancing, and allotment: some things are to be done by day and some by night; some things were essentially and others relatively important; Joshua had to study the perspective of the moral outlook, and not to commit folly by the transposition of persons or events. Not only was Joshua a student, and a critical student, he was a man of active obedience. His life was a process of doing. He found enough to do from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same. God has left no vacant hours in all the day. God has made benevolent preparation for sleep or rest, but he has also made abundant arrangements for industry and service. Not only was Joshua a student, a critical student, and a man of active obedience, but he was inspired by the thought that all he did was done under the direction and for the glory of God. It is something to know that we are working, for what master we are acting, and in view of what reward. The strength is often found in the motive. Far behind all outward instrumentality, we find our power in spiritual philosophy, thought, and confidence. Herein is the supreme value of prayer: it shuts us up in close communion with God; it leads us to the very fountain of power; it clothes us with ineffable dignity. A blessed thing it is to realise that our whole life-plan is laid down for us. In the matter of moral purity and action we have nothing to invent; the commandments are all written, and will all be understood by the heart that really wishes to know their meaning. It is a sign of a false life when a man hesitates on the ground that he really does not know what his duty is. Duty is perfectly and continually plain to the man whose motive is simple. "What doth the Lord thy God require of thee?" "What is written in the law?" "How readest thou?" There can only be bewilderment in the matter of detail; there can never be any confusion as to the distinction between right and wrong, noble and ignoble, upward and downward.