A Moment with Joshua

So, I was spending some time with Joshua from the Bible this week and felt I had to share a thought with you all.

Read: Joshua 5:13-15

These few verses are literally the defining moments in Joshua's journey with Christ.

He is on the verge of going to battle with Jericho. They are getting ready to take over the Promised Land. Joshua is a newly appointed leader of Israel. And then out of nowhere comes this man with a sword drawn ready for action. Joshua walks up to him (notice how Joshua has no fear of a man with a sword drawn?) and asks him: "Are you for US or for our enemies?"

Check out what happens next.

The man replies, "Neither".

Now if you are Joshua, you have to be thinking..."Um...wait...what? Neither? Who else is there?" Joshua had it all wrong.

The man also says, "but as commander of the Lord I have now come."

Joshua falls down on his face, prostrate on the ground, as low as he can get. And Joshua asks what message the Lord has for his servant. You see Joshua realizes he has made a near fatal mistake. He hasn't put himself on the Lords side. He hasn't aligned himself with God. He has Israel against everyone else. He falls down to the ground in reverence and then sees what the Lord has for him.

The man of God replies, "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is Holy". Joshua immediately takes off his sandals, again out of reverence.

We all know the rest of the story. God helps Israel defeat Jericho because they align themselves with Him.

My question is this. Where have you placed your allegiance this week? Have you put yourself in the position to be on the Lords side or your own? So often we say, we have the Lord on our side, when we need to be saying, I have chosen to choose what is right, by following the Lord and what he has for me.

So, what will you choose this week?

Benjamin

"All of life comes down to one thing: to know HIM and make HIM known."