Today’s Reading: Joshua 11 – 22
When the five Amorite kings united in hopes to attack Gibeon and defeat Israel, the Lord confirmed to Joshua that he would give them victory. Not only did God faithfully fulfill His promise by letting Joshua and the army defeat their enemies, God joined them on the battlefield.
Joshua traveled all night from Gilgal and took the Amorite armies by surprise. The Lord threw them into a panic, and the Israelites slaughtered great numbers of them at Gibeon. Then the Israelites chased the enemy along the road to Beth-horon, killing them all along the way to Azekah and Makkedah. As the Amorites retreated down the road from Beth-horon, the Lord destroyed them with a terrible hailstorm from heaven that continued until they reached Azekah. The hail killed more of the enemy than the Israelites killed with the sword. — Joshua 10:9-11
I love this! God was not just watching passively, God was acting on their behalf. Once more, the Lord struck fear in the hearts of their enemies causing them to panic, and it’s hard to win when panic takes over. And even when their opponents were running away from the battle, God caused a hailstorm to wipe the rest of them out. And this is my favorite part — God defeated more of their enemies from above than the Israelites did from below.
GOD DID MORE! GOD DOES MORE! GOD IS MORE!
God did more than they expected Him to do, and He continues to do more than we give Him credit for today. God is more than we will ever need. What is your battlefield today? How is life pressing in and in what ways do you need God to step in and take over. Let go of the fear and the worry, because panic just leads to us running away from the battle. Pray that God will join you in the middle of everything that is going on and trust Him with the results.
Because God was fighting for them, the promised land of Canaan was conquered and divided between the tribes. Joshua knew the source of his victories because he had a relationship with God, the Victor. Joshua did as he was told, carefully obeying all the commands that the Lord had given Moses (11:15). He followed God wholeheartedly (14:8) and, at the end of his life, he had these words of advice for God’s people. Listen carefully for all the words that speak of RELATIONSHIP:
“Love the Lord your God, walk in his ways, obey his commands, hold firmly to him, and serve him with all your heart and all your soul.” – Joshua 22:5b
“Hold tight to God, your God, just as you’ve done up to now.” – Joshua 23:8, The Message
“So be very careful to love the Lord your God…Deep in your hearts you know that every promise of the Lord has come true. Not a single one has failed!” – Joshua 23:11,14
“So fear the Lord and serve him wholeheartedly…Choose today whom you will serve…But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.” – Joshua 24:14-15
Choose today to serve God with your whole heart. Stand firm in your relationship with the Lord and declare your allegiance to the One who gave His life for you. Love Him! Obey Him! Submit to all He is calling you to do and allow Him to fight your battles for you.
One of the last things Joshua told the people was to turn their hearts to the Lord, yielding to Him (24:23). Or, as The Message interprets it: “Say an unqualified Yes to God!” Unqualified. Not “Yes, IF…” Not “Yes, BUT…” Not “Yes, PROBABLY…” Not, “Yes, I MIGHT…” Simply say “Yes” to God today.
God, we thank you for your faithfulness and your daily presence in our lives — for this incredible opportunity to live in relationship with you. Lord, cause our love for you to grow so that our hearts naturally desire to obey you, to trust you, and to follow you. Help us to be content with what you have provided, and help us to call on you when the enemy is pressing in. We pray that you fight our battles for us, and today we choose to serve you and you only. Today we say an unqualified YES to you!