A Defeated Army (Josh. 7:2-5)

9/9/2009 7:43 AM

SPIRITUAL DIARY

My Worship Time                                        Focus:  A defeated army

Bible Reading & Meditation                        Reference:  Joshua 7:2-5

            Message of the verses:  “2  Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth-aven, east of Bethel, and said to them, "Go up and spy out the land." So the men went up and spied out Ai. 3  They returned to Joshua and said to him, "Do not let all the people go up; only about two or three thousand men need go up to Ai; do not make all the people toil up there, for they are few." 4  So about three thousand men from the people went up there, but they fled from the men of Ai. 5  The men of Ai struck down about thirty-six of their men, and pursued them from the gate as far as Shebarim and struck them down on the descent, so the hearts of the people melted and became as water.”

            The text above shows that Joshua, like a good commander, was preparing for the battle ahead by sending out some spies.  This is the second time that spies had gotten the nation of Israel into trouble.  In both cases if there would have been a prayer meeting to seek God’s face as to what He wanted them to do then these two tragedies would have been avoided.  You can sense arrogance in this text from the spies, for after all they had just been through a great victory from the Lord and now they were only going up against a much inferior army.  Joshua did not learn from this mistake for latter on he would be tricked by the Gibeonites in just two chapters.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Assuming that something is the Lord’s will for my life is not the wise thing to do, but praying and seeking the Lord’s face about something is the way that I should do things.  God can use mistakes to teach me and to grow me, but these mistakes are painful at times and could probably be avoided if these situations were bathed in prayer to seek God’s will.  God’s will is not always pleasant, for one only need to look at why the Lord Jesus Christ came to this earth and it can be seen that this was not pleasant for Him.  Jesus Christ was in the center of the will of His Father and it was painful, and there are times when I’m in the center of the will of God and it can be painful too, but there are other times when I am not in the center of His will for my life because I have not taken the time to pray for the wisdom and leading of the Lord and that to can be painful, but unnecessarily painful. 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

1.    Seek God’s face before making decisions, and praying about things with Sandy before we make any decisions.

9/9/2009 8:33 AM