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Victory: More than Conquest

September 12, 2009 — Leave a comment

In discussing a couple of specific battles found in the book of Joshua, as God leads his people into the land promised to their ancestors, we’re focusing on where victory wasn’t found for the people as they began to move. We’ve already watched as they were prepared for these battles by some less-than-conventional means (like here, for example). And as we’ve watched the battle of Jericho unfold in Joshua 6, we’ve also seen that victory wasn’t found in the miraculous event of the city’s fortified walls collapsing.

Neither was victory found in conquest.

Now, you may find yourself thinking, “Isn’t that what they DID? Didn’t the Israelites conquer Jericho by crushing the military protecting the city and destroying the town?”

Not necessarily.

Joshua 6

¹⁵ On the seventh day, they got up at daybreak and marched around the city seven times in the same manner, except that on that day they circled the city seven times. ¹⁶ The seventh time around, when the priests sounded the trumpet blast, Joshua commanded the army, “Shout! For the LORD has given you the city! ¹⁷ The city and all that is in it are to be devoted to the LORD. Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall be spared, because she hid the spies we sent. ¹⁸ But keep away from the devoted things, so that you will not bring about your own destruction by taking any of them. Otherwise you will make the camp of Israel liable to destruction and bring trouble on it. ¹⁹ All the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron are sacred to the LORD and must go into his treasury.”

The proof of conquest for the people of Joshua’s day was walking away with the possessions of the conquered people; in many ways, the aim of conquest was to assimilate the good and powerful aspects of a civilization into your own. The conquering people would proudly display the valuable, often sacred artifacts of the conquered party as a badge of honor and evidence of the victorious army’s great strength. By destroying everything about the town and preserving precious metals in the Temple treasury, the Israelites are giving up evidence of their conquest and, thus, of their superiority.

In my understanding, God is again calling his people to be humble: by having the Israelites operate in this way, they would be unable to brag of what they had done. It’s as if God is again reminding them that they were not the ones responsible for the victory enjoyed.

I wonder how many times we have wanted some area in my life ‘conquered’ so that we would be able to build up our own name. Admittedly, I have not always faced the difficulties and obstacles in my life with humility, but hoped to overcome them so others would see how great Jeremiah Gómez really is.

How often have we wanted to win the next battle at work and climb the corporate ladder so others will finally see how smart we are and how much work we do? To overcome family issues so others will recognize how much of a ‘good’ spouse, parent, sibling, or child we really are? Or to find financial freedom so we can have all the stuff that better demonstrates our success?

The Israelites, it seems, needed to learn and practice humility in the face of obstacles. It’s a tough lesson that we need, too, but it’s one that will bring us to a place of greater confidence in the God Who Never Fails and less in our own design or desire.

In Joshua faith, history, Joshua, Scripture

Victory: More than a Miracle

September 10, 2009 — 1 Comment

<image courtesy of Image*After>

After the Israelites have crossed into enemy territory and prepared themselves for battle in some pretty interesting ways, it’s time to overcome the obstacle of Jericho—a fortified city with some strategic importance. If you’re at all familiar with the story of the Battle of Jericho, you know the ‘highlight’ is when the walls collapse, leaving a once impregnable fortress ready for the taking. It’s an incredible picture of God demonstrating his divine power over the human effort of the people of Jericho. But this ‘flashy move’ of God isn’t where the Israelites find victory. In fact, far from it:

Josh 6:1-5

¹ Now the gates of Jericho were securely barred because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in.

² Then the LORD said to Joshua, “See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. ³ March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. ⁴Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. ⁵ When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have the whole army give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the army will go up, everyone straight in.”

Even after the wall was destroyed, the Israelites still had to quickly move in to fight so that the people of Jericho wouldn’t escape and the Israelite army wouldn’t be routed. Even though God had moved in an unmistakable way, there was still danger involved for Joshua and his people: as said before, Jericho knew the Israelites were coming, so they were prepared and anxious for a fight.

In our own lives, we often look for a miraculous, overwhelming, shock-and-awe end to our struggle. We wish God would just *zap* our enemies and troubles away. We forget that most of the time, however, when God shows his miraculous power or performs a miracle of such incredible wonder there is no doubt it has been his hand at work, you and I still have a part to play. Even when God does something huge which demonstrates he is with us, that he has already made a way, that he is for us rather than against us… the ‘us’ factor still remains in the equation: for the Israelites it’s seen in the fact that the power of God destroying the walls of Jericho did not mitigate the responsibility of military to move in and overtake the city.

In the areas of our lives where we are crying out for victory, it’s important to question if we have simply asked God to *zap* our problems away, or if we have asked to be equipped to face the challenges at hand in his way so we can be prepared for the next part of our journey without avoiding this part of our journey. The difference here is profound:

“God, fix my family.” Vs. “God, help me to love my family the way you love them and transform us by your Spirit to being more like you.”
“God, give me a better boss.” Vs. “God, help me to honor you and my leadership as an employee.”
“God, fix my finances.” Vs. “God, please teach me the way to be the kind of money-manager you call me to be.”

It’s a difference between a ‘genie-in-a-bottle’ kind of God and the God of the Universe who is able to work all things (including the battles we face, and the dark aspects of our journey) for his glory and the praise of his Great Name.

Would the Israelites have won the Jericho battle without God’s miraculous hand at work? Absolutely not. Would they have won if they refused to their part? Nope.

In Joshua Encouragement, faith, history, Joshua, Scripture, victory

Victory…

September 9, 2009 — Leave a comment

<image courtesy of Dano>

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The last few posts on the book of Joshua focused a little on the battles faced by the Israelites, and how God prepared them to find and find victory as they began their conquest of the land they had been led to as well as some things we can take from their pre-battle lessons.

Now in the story (chapters 6 and 7 of Joshua), we’ll follow the Israelites as they battle at Jericho (which is a well-fortified city whose residents/leadership had seen Joshua’s army coming from afar—so they are very, very ready for a fight) and at another town called Ai. If you’re familiar with the story at all, you might have in mind that the battle went something like this:

The Israelites march around the city a few times and the wall surrounding the city are supernaturally destroyed.
The Israelites claim victory and move on.

But there’s a great deal more to the story; and there’s a great deal more for us to learn about where victory was found in these particular battles. Starting tomorrow, we’ll begin by looking at where victory in battle wasn’t found (you might be surprised to learn that the walls collapsing wasn’t the mark of victory in this battle; neither was ‘conquering’ the town; and the assurance of victory wasn’t in the confidence of the people) before we look at what really brought victory for the people of Israel.

But even this little conversation makes me wonder if, in the areas of life that are uphill and otherwise difficult right now, I have been looking for a ‘win’ that really isn’t a win at all but my simple, wrongheaded definition of victory. How do you define ‘victory’ or a ‘win’ in your circumstance right now?

In Joshua history, Joshua, Scripture, victory

Labor Day Reminder

September 7, 2009 — 1 Comment

1 Corinthians 15:

⁵⁵ “Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?”

⁵⁶ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. ⁵⁷ But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁵⁸ Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

In Scripture Encouragement, faith, Scripture

Ready for Battle: Provision

September 3, 2009 — Leave a comment

We all face moments during life’s many battles when we come to the incontrovertible realization that we just do not have what it takes to push through:

…the obstacles are too big
…circumstaces are too hard
…finances are too tight
…we’re sorely outnumbered
…and, most disconcerting of all, hope seems too far gone.

God knew the people of Israel would face these same things as they went about the impossible business of conquering the land they had been promised and later began the process of nation building. So, it’s interesting that before they fight the battle for the strategically significant city-state of Jericho, the Israelites find themselves being reminded of God’s power, and are in a situation where they must trust God’s plan of action even though it couldn’t have made too much sense at the time when this happens:

Joshua 5:
¹⁰ On the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, while camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, the Israelites celebrated the Passover. ¹¹ The day after the Passover, that very day, they ate some of the produce of the land: unleavened bread and roasted grain. ¹² The manna stopped the day after they ate this food from the land; there was no longer any manna for the Israelites, but that year they ate of the produce of Canaan. (TNIV)

The Passover was a celebration of God’s provision of rescue, safety, and leadership. Then for the first time, after this importrant celebration, the people eat of the land around them. THIS IS INCREDIBLY SIGNIFICANT—for forty years, the people had eaten strange breadlike stuff called “What Is It?” (manna) as God daily provided for every detail including food and clothing-—daily provision which served as a daily reminder that God and no one else was actually doing the providing.

But here’s the deal:

Something happens when we have experienced God’s provision—we expect the next time his provision comes, it will be in the same manner of before. So, we do the same things, pray the same prayers, and try to break God’s provision and grace down into a formula of words and activity. Yet that simply isn’t what we see, nor what we should expect.

What if the Israelites had waited for manna in the new land?

THEY WOULD HAVE STARVED.

Instead, God provided now for the Israelites from this new land itself. Don’t be mistaken; though the provision came off the land, God was just as much providing animals for meat, and plants for harvest as much as he sent manna like rain and quail like an invading horde in the desert.

I don’t know what battles you’re facing today… and I don’t know in what ways you are crying out to heaven for provision. But I do know this as I fight and wait with you: God is our provider. He has granted provision and will continue to do so simply because he loves us; but we must recognize he will not always provide in the way we expect, desire, or have seen before.

Provision and rescue are coming. We just need to be cautious that we aren’t looking for manna and quail when God is giving us a new way. Remember how God has provided in the past, and anticipate his movement… in his much-higher-than-ours way.

In Joshua Encouragement, faith, Joshua, Scripture, victory