Archives For victory

Victory: More than Confidence

September 15, 2009 — Leave a comment

57562757_a7e573fb78<image courtesy of unapistim>

In our final discussion of what victory isn’t based on chapters 6 & 7 of Joshua, we find the Israelites engaged in a post-Jericho battle with the people of a little town called Ai:

Joshua 7

2 Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth Aven to the east of Bethel, and told them, “Go up and spy out the region.” So the men went up and spied out Ai.

3 When they returned to Joshua, they said, “Not all the army will have to go up against Ai. Send two or three thousand men to take it and do not weary the whole army, for only a few people live there.” 4 So about three thousand went up; but they were routed by the men of Ai, 5 who killed about thirty-six of them. They chased the Israelites from the city gate as far as the stone quarries and struck them down on the slopes. At this the hearts of the people melted in fear and became like water.

Israel had experienced victory in the midst of impossible odds; but in the face of a seemingly insignificant enemy at an insignificant town they were soundly defeated.  The Israelites were confident.  Brash.  Full of themselves.  But they didn’t look at the obstacle before them with spiritual eyes, and it cost them.  Huge.  There were problems within their own camp that had to be dealt with, but those issues were indiscernible to eyes which were focused simply on the physical realities of battle conquest.

True to form, the Scripture here teaches us something:

Those who serve as our superiors, mentors, trainers, and trusted advisors often seem to indicate that the more confident we are, the more successful we will be.  I definitely think there is some truth to that, but we run the risk of talking ourselves into frenzied activity where we forget we are wholly dependent on God, and that, as great as we think we are, when we become full of ourselves, we destine ourselves for failure.

The battles we’re fighting and obstacles we find ourselves facing must be viewed through spiritual eyes (we forget that the spiritual is far more real than we may be tempted to believe).

The first time I ever went snorkeling, I was amazed to discover a whole different world— just as real as what I had been experiencing on land— thriving under the surface of the water.  Sometimes, even from the land there were some indications of this ‘other’ world: kelp leaves discernable at the surface, tide pools evidencing various treasures, and ‘flying fish’ jumping from the water.  But when we peered under the water, with masks properly secured, a new understanding of ‘ocean life’ came to be mine.  For someone from the desert of Arizona, ‘ocean life’ had always been more an untested theory than a real concept until I experienced it firsthand.

For those of us living in the desert of this present world, the reality of the spiritual may be lost on us because it is sometimes seen only in brief, somewhat confusing glimpses.  But when we view what is occurring with spiritual eyes, we are amazed at what seems to be a whole other world full of vibrant reality.

We must view the battles we are fighting with spiritual eyes, no longer focused only on the obvious or our personal confidence.  We must see our battles as ones with spiritual consequences and even spiritual roots; as the kind of fights which can only be truly won if we are on the side of God, full of his Spirit and transformed by his Word.  Walking by faith rather than what we see isn’t always easy, but it’s particularly important that we battle by faith rather than our confidence in what is seen.

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Victory: More than a Miracle

September 10, 2009 — 1 Comment
fireworks<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.

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Victory…

September 9, 2009 — Leave a comment
bricks<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:

  1. The Israelites march around the city a few times and the wall surrounding the city are supernaturally destroyed.
  2. 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?

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Ready for Battle: Provision

September 3, 2009 — Leave a comment

Medium Corn<image courtesy of Lawrence Op>

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.

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Ready for Battle: Trust

August 31, 2009 — 1 Comment

Trust <image courtesy of powerbooktrance>
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One of the recurring themes throughout Joshua is the need to follow the instructions God gives the people.  The importance of this will become painfully clear later in the story of Israel as the nation endures the consequences of ignoring God’s instruction.  But, here again in Joshua, we see something of a reminder—this time before the army goes to war—about operating within God’s parameters.  It’s a reminder that’s good for us to hear, too, when we’re looking for victory within our own lives:

Joshua 5–

2 At that time the LORD said to Joshua, “Make flint knives and circumcise the Israelites again.”3 So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the Israelites at Gibeath Haaraloth.

4 Now this is why he did so: All those who came out of Egypt—all the men of military age—died in the desert on the way after leaving Egypt. 5 All the people that came out had been circumcised, but all the people born in the desert during the journey from Egypt had not. 6 The Israelites had moved about in the desert forty years until all the men who were of military age when they left Egypt had died, since they had not obeyed the LORD. For the LORD had sworn to them that they would not see the land that he had solemnly promised their fathers to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey. 7 So he raised up their sons in their place, and these were the ones Joshua circumcised. They were still uncircumcised because they had not been circumcised on the way. 8 And after the whole nation had been circumcised, they remained where they were in camp until they were healed.

Ouch.

Think of the ridiculous notion of following this particular instruction—the people are smack in enemy territory; the simple fact of their presence is a declaration of war on the tribes and city-states in the area.  The only means of escape for the people of Israel (crossing the Jordan River) is cut off, and God gives them instruction that will keep them immobile “until they were healed.”  Strong, able-bodied, motivated warriors were needed because the danger and opposition is intense.  But instruction comes to undergo the important, sacred rite of circumcision… but doing so will put all of the fighting men out of commission.  From a tactical, human understanding, this order comes at the worst possible time and doesn’t make any sense.

Once again this is an act which speaks clearly of trusting in God’s strength and power.  Just as the people had already been reminded that God is powerful, now they are forced to trust in that same power to sustain and protect them.  Sometimes for us, just like for the people of Israel all those years ago on the shores of the Jordan River, evidence of relying on God’s power is found in our obedience even when we don’t have all the understanding we would want.

Before we fight our next battle, before we confront the thing causing our tension headaches or deal with the thing keeping us up at night, we are called to recognize and follow God’s instructions, trusting in the power of His Spirit even to be obedient, including:

Each of these can seem untimely, unfair, and uncomfortable—but it’s especially in those difficult moments when our obedience is a testimony of trust and faith in the One who instructs us; a trust His victory is coming.

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