Letting God in Every Part of Our Lives and in Every Battle
Scripture Passage: Joshua 12:1-24 (v. 9-23 omitted)
1 Now these are the kings of the land whom the sons of Israel defeated, and they took possession of their land beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise, from the Valley of the Arnon as far as Mount Hermon, and all the Arabah to the east: 2 Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon and ruled from Aroer, which is on the edge of the Valley of the Arnon, both the middle of the valley and half of Gilead, even as far as the brook Jabbok, the border of the sons of Ammon; 3 and the Arabah as far as the Sea of Chinneroth toward the east, and as far as the Sea of the Arabah, that is, the Salt Sea, eastward toward Beth-jeshimoth, and on the south, at the foot of the slopes of Pisgah; 4 and the territory of Og king of Bashan, one of the remnant of Rephaim, who lived at Ashtaroth and at Edrei, 5 and ruled over Mount Hermon, Salecah, and all Bashan, as far as the border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites, and half of Gilead, as far as the border of Sihon king of Heshbon. 6 Moses the servant of the Lord and the sons of Israel defeated them; and Moses the servant of the Lord gave it to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh as a possession.
7 Now these are the kings of the land whom Joshua and the sons of Israel defeated beyond the Jordan toward the west, from Baal-gad in the Valley of Lebanon even as far as Mount Halak, which rises toward Seir; and Joshua gave it to the tribes of Israel as a possession according to their divisions, 8 in the hill country, in the lowland, in the Arabah, on the slopes, in the wilderness, and in the Negev; the Hittite, the Amorite and the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite:
(v. 9-23 omitted)
24 the king of Tirzah, one: in all, thirty-one kings.
SUMMARY
This passage lists the kings of the land that Israel defeated during its conquest of Canaan. It lists each king individually, the land that they ruled, and how the king’s lands were divided up amongst the tribes of Israel after the conquest. In all, Israel conquered the lands of thirty-one separate kings, each of whom is listed in this passage.
REFLECTION
This passage underlines the inevitability of God’s victory. Listing each and every king the Israelites defeated in this passage shows how God keeps His promises to His people . He does not let one detail drop. And God’s power is infinite. He overwhelms each and every opponent. There is no enemy too big to escape God’s power or too small to escape God’s attention. If the enemy stands in the way of God’s promise or His intentions, that enemy will be destroyed.
APPLICATION
I too often put God into a certain corner. I think that He has the power to do certain things – encourage, perhaps fix certain things in my life. But then there are aspects of my life where I simply do not think about God, or just assume that He is unwilling or unable to act. At work, for example, I often feel very far away from God. Work feels like a place where I go to be alone, do my work alone, and then come home and return to God. Everything I accomplish at work feels like it was done through my strength and thinking alone. But the reality is, there is no place where God is absent. What I do at work, how I interact with my co-workers, the success or failure that I have at work – God is present in every part of it. Just as God destroyed every enemy of the Israelites listed in this passage, God is present in every battle I face against my sins, no matter where. The question is – am I going to rely on God? When I am stressed about a project that I need to complete, when I am tempted to become angry with a co-worker, when I feel like being lazy, when I am tempted to ignore my family or drop my quiet time with the Lord just to get more work done or selfishly advance at work, am I going to God? Am I accepting His power, or am I ignoring Him?
In our QT groups, Deacon Jung talked about how he prays every day in the car traveling to work, and I see the impact that it has on his day and on God’s presence in his life. Before I begin work, I commit to praying. It might be a short prayer, but each day I will simply pray that God will be with me in my workplace and that I will follow Him.
PRAYER
Heavenly Father,
Thank You for always being there, in every place I am, in every decision I must make, in every battle I fight against sin. I reach out to You Lord for help because without You, my decisions are aimless and I wallow in my sinfulness, my arrogance, my hypocrisy, my laziness. Especially at work, where I exclude you from my life, Lord enter my workplace and shine Your light on everything I do. Open my heart and the hearts of my co-workers, that I may be kind, bold and brave in sharing Your love and that they may see Your love and Your righteousness through me.
In Jesus’s name I pray. Amen.
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