Trust God and Do Not Fear the World
Scripture Passage: Joshua 10:22-27 (NASB)
22 Then Joshua said, “Open the mouth of the cave and bring these five kings out to me from the cave.” 23 They did so, and brought these five kings out to him from the cave: the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon. 24 When they brought these kings out to Joshua, Joshua called for all the men of Israel, and said to the leaders of the men of war who had gone with him, “Come forward, put your feet on the necks of these kings.” So they came forward and put their feet on their necks. 25 Joshua then said to them, “Do not fear or be dismayed! Be strong and courageous, for the Lord will do this to all your enemies with whom you fight.” 26 So afterward Joshua struck them and put them to death, and he hanged them on five trees; and they were hung on the trees until evening. 27 Then it came about at sunset that Joshua gave the command, and they took them down from the trees and threw them into the cave where they had hidden themselves, and put large stones over the mouth of the cave, to this very day.
SUMMARY
Five kings (king of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish and Eglon) from the southern Canaan region hid themselves in the cave of Makkedah, as their army fled from the people of Israel. Joshua commanded that they be brought out and have the leaders of Israel put their feet on the necks of these kings. He reminded them that this is what will happen to all their enemies, and thus to be strong and courageous. Joshua struck them and hung them on the trees til evening and later placed them back in the caves with stones to cover the mouth of the cave.
REFLECTION
The Israelites just witnessed the miracle of Victory with Jericho, people of Ai and now, with the 5 southern Canaan kings. They won all these battles because they obeyed the instructions of the Lord. Whether they walked around the walls of Jericho, created an ambush for Ai, or a supernatural hailstorm and holding of the daylight to finish the battle, God was in the midst of His people doing the work. Size of the army, strength of the people, and unbreakable fortresses were not a match for God’s power. He promised to lead His people to Canaan, a land flowing with milk and honey, and He will fulfill His promise. Each battle needed God’s intervention, every one of them different than the other. They could not have prepared for it nor thought the strategy through. All their victory lied in the balance of their trust and obedience to God. I believe even today, He reminds us to be strong and courageous because He will lead us into victory when we trust and obey Him. There is no principalities, powers and dominions that we can not crush when God is on our side.
APPLICATION
When trials come my way, my first reaction is fear and doubt. But as a follower of Jesus Christ, I want to be fastidious in His promises that He is with me, He is training me to increase and stretch my faith and growing me in a deeper relationship with Him. So before I start wondering and wandering, I will set my heart to pray and ask the Holy Spirit to grant wisdom to discern His will and to know what He wants to teach me through this.
In John 16:33, Jesus said,
“I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
Just as He overcame for Joshua and His people, He continues to do that in my life. Because He overcame, I can live out my victories in and through Him. This way I learn to seek His face and hear His voice as His sheep, while He gets all the glory, honor and praise. May our enemy become His footstool, as we celebrate on that great day once and for all.
PRAYER
Father, thank You that nothing is hard for You. You remain to be our strong fortress, our shield and the lifter of our heads. In You, we find courage and strength to face another day. We really don’t know what’s ahead of us, we can not see what the enemy plans for us, but how comforting it is to know that Your plan for us is good, to give us a hope and a future. We want to listen to Your instructions on a daily basis. We want to taste victory once again as we align ourselves to Your ways and Your will. We delight in Your ways and we delight in You. You are our true source of hope and joy. Forgive us for not trusting You and for our lack of faith. Increase our faith, increase our depth of knowing You. Help us to put to death the sins that hinder us from being more like You. Refine us Lord, however painful that may be. There’s nothing else we desire more, besides You.
In Jesus name, amen.
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