Next: Victory of the Lord

Introduction

God is sovereign, but do we believe it? Newscaster Paul Harvey told a remarkable story of God's providential care over thousands of allied prisoners during World War II, many of whom were Christians. One of America's mighty bombers took off from the island of Guam headed for Kokura, Japan. Because clouds covered the target area, the shiny B-29 circled for nearly an hour until its fuel supply reached the danger point. The captain and his crew were frustrated because they were right over the primary target, but were not able to fulfill their mission. Finally they decided they had better go for the secondary target. Changing course, they found that the sky was clear. The command, Bombs away, was given, "Bombs away!" and the B-29 headed for its home base. Some time later an officer received some startling information from their intelligence service. Just one week before that bombing mission, the Japanese had transferred one of their largest concentrations of captured Americans to Kokura. Upon reading the intel, the officer replied, "Thank God for that protecting cloud! If the city hadn't been hidden from the bomber, it would have been destroyed and thousands of American boys would have died." God's ways are behind the scenes; but He always moves even when we don’t recognize his work at the time. We have to learn this, and let Him work.

Do we believe that this happens in our life as well? Today we continue our journey through Joshua in the series we are simply calling Next. In Joshua we’ve seen God’s People triumph over their foes as they transition into a new phase of community life. It’s the story of moving into the Promised Land God has for them. As we look at what God has next for the Israelites and for Joshua, we look at what God has next for us. Last week, we learned how God helps us in discernment. We seek the counsel of God, we follow his direct instructions, and we live as men and women of integrity. Moving into this week’s passage, the events of last week have put Joshua in a bind. Nonetheless, Joshua stands by his word. The Amorite kings hear about what Israel has been doing in the other parts of the Promised Land. So they decide to form an alliance, but they’re not going for the big kahuna first. Instead, they decide to pick off Israel’s ally in the Gibeonites before turning against the biggest threat, which is Joshua. In so doing, they put Joshua in the awkward position of deciding whether to go and rescue the Gibeonites from the Canaanite coalition. If we goes, he is being faithful to the covenant that the Gibeonites tricked him into making. On the other hand, if he doesn’t go, well, the Gibeonites are probably going to get what they deserve. Defeat in light of their deception. Biblical scholar John Goldingay puts it like this, “You see, son, when you have promised something, you have to keep your word, even if the other people deceived you, and even if you should never have let yourself be deceived. Who knows, God may bring good out of it.” Joshua had to swallow his pride and decides to go, and as he goes, we learn about how the sovereign power of God impacts Joshua, and how it impacts us. Right before Joshua heads into battle, God tells him in verse 8, “Do not fear them, for I have given them into your hands. Not a man of them shall stand before you.” The sovereign power of God is more powerful than any power in this world. So how does God’s sovereign impact us? The book of Joshua gives us three actions of God that reflect his love for his people.

God defends his people.

Joshua and all the fighting men of Israel attack the Canaanite coalition. Verse 11, says that “as they fled before Israel, while they were going down the ascent of Beth-horon, the Lord threw down large stones from heaven on them as far as Azekah, and they died. There were more who died because of the hailstones than the sons of Israel killed with the sword.” The battle that started out as a result of a poorly done covenant becomes the battle that results in a rout of the Canaanites. God works in spite of the treaty to bring victory to his people. This time, he even sends a storm of hailstones to help the Israelites. The real miracle may not be the storm itself, so much as the fact that the hailstones only land on the Canaanites, not the Israelites. Warren Weirsbe points out that “the mistakes we make embarrass us, especially those mistakes that are caused by our running ahead of the Lord and not seeking His will. But we need to remember that no mistake is final for the dedicated Christian. God can use even our blunders to accomplish His purposes. Somebody defined success as “the art of making your mistakes when nobody’s looking,” but a better definition would be “the art of seeing victory where other people see only defeat.” The point is, God is able to work through both our successes and out failures for victory, and in his sovereign power, he defends his people.

A defendant was on trial for murder. There was strong evidence indicating guilt, but there was no corpse. In the defense’s closing statement the lawyer, knowing that his client would probably be convicted, resorted to a trick: “Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I have a surprise for you all,” the lawyer said as he looked at his watch. “Within one minute, the person presumed dead in this case will walk into this courtroom.” He looked toward the courtroom door. The jurors, somewhat stunned, all looked on eagerly. A minute passed. Nothing happened. Finally the lawyer said, “Actually, I made up the previous statement. But you all looked on with anticipation. I therefore put it to you that there is reasonable doubt in this case as to whether anyone was killed and insist that you return a verdict of not guilty.” The jury, clearly confused, retired to deliberate. A few minutes later, the jury returned and pronounced a verdict of guilty. “But how?” inquired the lawyer. “You must have had some doubt. I saw all of you stare at the door.” The jury foreman replied: “Oh, we looked. But your client didn’t.” Now let’s re-frame this illustration. If God were to tell you that someone would be walking through that door, how sure would you have been that it would happen? Would you have looked? If God told you that he would be defending you if you were in Joshua’s shoes, would you have looked? Christ reigns as our king, and we can know that he will defend us, even if it doesn’t always look the way we want it to. The first action God takes for his people is to defend his people.

God listens to prayer

Verses 11-12 tell us, “there were more who died because of the hailstones than the sons of Israel killed with the sword. At that time Joshua spoke to the Lord in the day when the Lord gave the Amorites over to the sons of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, ‘Sun, stand still at Gibeon, and moon, in the Valley of Aijalon.” Joshua and the Israelites have the Canaanites in full retreat, but they need to continue on and follow up on their great victory. The bad news is that they are running out of daylight, and if they only had more time, they could end their campaign in Canaan. So in the heat of the moment, at the climax of a great victory, what does Joshua do? He looks to God and says, “Sun, stand still at Gibeon, and moon, in the Valley of Aijalon.” When the the situation required the impossible for success, Joshua had faith that God would come through with the impossible. Because Joshua had faith, because Joshua had been promised victory by God, and because Joshua knew that God hears the prayers of his people, Joshua asked for the impossible, and God did the impossible.

Did you know that for a brief time, you could send your prayers to God via a website? New prayer.com said, “Simply click on the Pray button and transmit your prayer to the only known location of God.” The site claims it can send prayers via a radio transmitter to God’s last known location, which is supposedly the star cluster M13, believed to be one of the oldest in the universe. Crandall Stone, fifty, a Cambridge, Massachusetts, engineer and freelance consultant, set up the site after a winter’s night of sipping brandy and philosophizing with friends in Vermont. The conversation turned to Big Bang theories of creation. Someone suggested that if everything was in one place at the time of the explosion, God must have been there too. “It’s the one place where we could be sure he was,” Stone said. “We thought that if we could find that location and had a radio transmitter, we could send a message to God.” After consulting with NASA scientists, the friends settled on the star cluster, M13 as the likely location. They chipped in about $20,000 to build a radio wave-transmitting website. New prayer.com transmits about 50,000 prayers a week from seekers around the globe. Or should I say, new prayer.com wasted $20,000 building something that God had already provided. We know that God is all knowing. Therefore, he doesn’t need us to send our prayers to his last supposed location in the universe in order to hear and answer those prayers. Instead, he has sent Jesus Christ to die and to rise again that we no longer need an intercessor, we no longer need a priest to stand between us and God. Christ has broken down the barrier.

Therefore, what kind of prayers do we pray? Do we pray safe prayers? Prayers that are already answered by the way that they are phrased? Or, do we pray the kinds of prayers of Joshua? Do we pray for God to show up in ways that seem impossible? As believers, let’s commit bold prayers for God to move. The second action God takes for his people is to listen to the prayers of his people, even the boldest of requests.

God provides victory

Verses 13-14 tells us, “the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, until the nation took vengeance on their enemies. Is this not written in the Book of Jashar? The sun stopped in the midst of heaven and did not hurry to set for about a whole day. There has been no day like it before or since, when the Lord heeded the voice of a man, for the Lord fought for Israel.” When Joshua prayed his bold prayer, it felt like his only hope for completing his victory over the Amorites. Or should I say, God’s victory since God has been at the center of his entire campaign for the Promised Land. Once again, we see that the victory if the Lord’s, not ours. Joshua may never have crossed the Jordan way back at the beginning of Joshua if God had not come to him and told him to be strong and courageous. Joshua and the Israelites may have never gone into the Land that God had promised them if God had not committed to be on their side. Joshua and the Israelites may have never continued their mission if God had not once again come to them and told them, “do not fear them, for I have given them into your hands.” Ultimately, trust in god comes back to trust in the love and the sovereign power of our God. As R.C. Sproul says, “if there is one single molecule in this universe running around loose, totally free of God’s sovereignty, then we have no guarantee that a single promise of God will ever be fulfilled.” We trust in the promises of our God because every molecule in the universe is under the sovereign control of our God.

Lou Nichole shares a story about the legendary missionary, David Livingstone, of the famous “Dr. Livingstone I presume” quote. Livingstone went to a deep part of Africa as a lone missionary. After some time his missions agency wrote to him saying, “Some people would like to join you. What’s the easiest road to get where you are?” He replied, “If they’re looking for the easiest road, tell them to stay in England. I want people who will come, even if there’s no road at all!” Sometimes the pathway of the Christian life appears to change from a smooth-surfaced road to a stony track or peter out altogether. Regardless of whether the path today is easy or difficult, straight forward or confusing, or, as in Joshua’s case, seems to require the impossible, we can trust in God, knowing that he made all things, and he is sovereign over all things, even time itself. So what about you? Does victory over the hurdle you face today feeling impossible? Does the victory of Christ feel distant and not real? Our God has the power over all things, yet he is gentle and humble in heart. We can trust in his power and in his care for his people. The final action God takes for his people is to care for them with his sovereign power and love.

Conclusion

To recap, God defends his people. God listens to our requests, even the boldest of prayer requests. Finally, God works through his sovereign power to care for his people. J. C. Ryle says, “of all the doctrines of the Bible none is so offensive to human nature as the doctrine of God’s sovereignty. To be told that God is great, and just, and holy, and pure, man can bear. But to be told that ‘He has mercy on whom He will have mercy’—that He “gives no account of His matters,” that it is ‘not of him that wills, nor of him that runs, but of God that shows mercy’—these are truths that natural man cannot stand.” The sovereign power of God is more powerful than any power of this world. Therefore, let us live as those who live each day in sovereign power of Almighty god.