Diggin' a little deeper with #WriteTheWord

Hope you're staying warm and safe during all of these Polar Vortex conditions we are having!

What better time to #writetheword than now?!

So, let's dig a little deeper now...

I'll start with my typical #writetheword style for Joshua Chapter 5.

First of all, I want to point out here that in much of my first few chapters of writing The Word through the book of Joshua, I didn't always write verbatim, but would write a summary of what each verse was stating by pulling out the high points in each verse. This is another way to #writetheword as it forces you to focus on leaning on God's Spirit to help you comprehend it right then as you write. It often helps it make more sense to you. However, I later began to write the chapters more verbatim. That way is great as well, since many things (that you would have breezed over and missed before) jump out at you in ways they may not otherwise do.

Now, on to some of what and how I learned in Joshua 5.

From these initial writings/reading, these are the points of interest that stood out to me the most.

1. v.1 - Another mention of "their hearts melted" (I'll come back to this one in a bit.)
2. v.7 - "So He raised up their sons in their place..." - If you read the chapter, you will see that all of the disobedient, whiny generation of Israelites who were delivered from Egypt died as they all wandered through the desert on the way to the Promised Land since God said none of them would be able to enter it. Now, in this verse it is pointed out that their offspring have been raised up by God in their place to now inherit the land.
• My takeaway from that: He will raise up our offspring in our place if we are disobedient and unfaithful.
3. v.8 - "...they remained where they were in camp until they were healed." - 
• My takeaway from that: God allows time to heal before moving us on to the next part of the journey.
4. v.9-10 - God "rolled away (their) reproach" and called the place they camped "Gilgal." (I'll come back to that in a bit as well.)
5. v.11 - God provided the produce of the land the day after their first passover in the Promised Land, and then... 
6. v.12 - ...the manna stopped...the day after they ate the food from the land (that was provided by God.)
7. v.13 - repeated references to looking & going UP.
8. v.14-15 - God showed up!
• As we celebrate God's past and present goodness, He not only provides more but He shows up!

So, there you have it. Some of what jumped out to me, just by writing The Word.

Then I took it a step further...

...dug a little deeper, if you will.

First, I opened my Bible (because up to this point I was using my digital Bible).

This Bible I use most often is one I have had since high school and often take notes directly in it.

As I skimmed Joshua 5 in that Bible, I noticed several notes from past sermons and individual studies. Even a sermon from Johnny Booty, a Shreveport pastor and coach for many years. (Yes, one of his sons is Josh Booty.)

It's always neat and enlightening to look back over past things I have heard and learned about portions of God's Word.

Now, after reviewing past notes, I also dug a little deeper with some of what was standing out to my now.

Basically, what I did first was did a little keyword search on BibleGateway.com on "hearts melted" since that phrase was standing out to me a lot throughout Joshua. Then I wrote the verses it showed up in.

Additionally, as you see on the bottom of that page, I looked up the definition of Gilgal (in Easton's Bible Dictionary on BibleGateway.com). I then wrote the definition (which is "rolling") and a couple of other things mentioned about Gilgal in that dictionary.

Finally, I looked up the definition of "reproach" online and went with my favorite go-to online dictionary, Merriam-Webster. (Easton's didn't have this definition, which is why I googled it.)

If you can read my writing, I will let you gather insight from what I wrote and learned. Also, feel free to do the same kind of searches that I did. You can search parts of Joshua or whatever else you are writing and learning right now.

I look forward to hearing more of what you are learning! 

I am loving this journey with you!

:)

Please share!!!