If you are familiar with the story of Joshua you know God made him leader of the Israelites after Moses' time was up. This is where the book of Joshua begins. Joshua must lead the group of Israelites into the promised land - a very large group of people who have wandered in the desert for 40 years. They were totally dependent on God in the wilderness for food - manna came daily in the form of rain - water came from rocks or wherever God chose to give it. Their clothes did not wear out. Now here they are at the door of the land God promised.
There is so much to explore in the details of this story so I might just write a mini series. Whether you want to read it or not is up to you. I felt it helped me to ponder these thoughts myself because of the season we are all living through. The pandemic, the political uncertainties and differences, the ideas of who is right about how we treat each other, the weather has been wild in many places as well. As you know there is a lot going on and it is my habit to look to God's Word and see what way he wants me to face each day in the places he asks me to walk. For those of you who wonder, I am doing well with God as my strength being a widow a third time.
Well back to Joshua, he has already done everything God told him to do when He said it is time to enter the promised land. It involved some things I will write about in my next blog. This time we will jump ahead a bit. Joshua 5:13-15 speaks of an encounter Joshua has. He was near Jericho and I am quite sure he was alone, probably praying and reassuring himself that God would be with him and wondered if he needed to know anything more. Just then a man appears holding a drawn sword! Joshua (I suspect little nervous) and asked, "Are you for us or for our enemies?" Or another way to put it "Whose side are you on?" A reasonable question I think and maybe all that came to his mind at the moment! Ha!
The crazy answer he received was, "Neither, but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come."
The first time I noticed this I was like "SayWhat??" I thought these were the Israelites - God's people. Wasn't God on their side?? But let's continue.....
That made Joshua do a face-plant on the ground and ask, "What message does my Lord have for his servant?" Joshua doesn't seem to worry about the who's side thing.
His answer? "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy." And Joshua did so.
I just want to take a minute with the who's side thing. I think we often want people (and God) to favor us and be on our side. God doesn't work the way we expect; ever. Nope, he never takes sides, but he is always in control. Today all He wants from us is our faith in Him and trusting Him with our lives and hearts. He has a promised land for us, but it will never be gained our way, fighting over who is right, or who's side we are on.
The Bible teaches us to serve as Jesus did. Yes, He gave up everything that we may have life. God always does what we least expect. John 3:16 simply says, "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life."
In marriage, my granddaughter is soon going to be a wife, she will need to learn to serve and love her man as God loves her and not fight about who is right. We all know that we can't give each other too much love and consideration. The home life is filled with peace when there is love, God's love pouring from our hearts. May we all give more love and complain less as we muddle through this difficult time.....
To be continued......
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