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Day 65, or March the 6th. God has kept all his

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promises. Our thought today is rooted in Joshua

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21, verse 43. So the Lord gave Israel all the

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land he had sworn to give their ancestors, and

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they took possession of it and settled there.

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First, the big picture surrounding this verse.

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Joshua now puts the brilliant concept of refuge

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cities into operation. They were originally an

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idea that God put into the mind of Moses in Numbers

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chapter 35. They were to be places of refuge

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and safety to be administered by the Levites.

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They were designated as cities of refuge to which

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people could flee if they killed someone accidentally.

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In a world where a killer could be hounded by

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friends and relatives of the one murdered until

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he was found and executed, this was an idea that

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could only come from a loving and forgiving God.

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The fact that they were manned by Levitical priests,

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whose role it was to serve God in the tabernacle,

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confirmed that this was close to God's heart.

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A new era was dawning for the children of Israel.

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And now our action step. God told Moses and Joshua

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what was expected of the people, and in return

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what they could expect from him. He honoured

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all his promises, and the people now found themselves

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settled in a fertile land. However, a covenant

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only works when both sides keep it. The people

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said that they would keep it, but they didn't.

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God said that he would keep it, and he did. It

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was now lopsided and was destined to fracture.

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When God speaks to you and me and we respond

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with promises, if we fail to fulfil them, the

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covenant is broken, but God never gives up on

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us. He constantly forgives and reinstates the

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covenant which was ultimately fulfilled in Christ.

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Are you struggling today because you've broken

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your side of your covenant with God? It could

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be something major or relatively minor, but a

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break is a break. Repairing your covenant with

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God is the only way to peace and productivity

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in Christ. All the alternatives are dry cul -de

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-sacs.