Jos 6:1-2 Now Jericho was tightly shut up 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. NIVI love the Book of Joshua! I love teaching from it. It is a book of leadership, strength, courage, inheriting promises, battles, victories, and miracles.
God always goes before us in our walk with Him. The victories are planned by Him beforehand. When Joshua was to confront the mighty walls of Jericho, God had already given Him the victory and how to accomplish it. He followed God's plan to the letter and the walls did actually come tumbling down.
Jos 7:4-5
4 So about three thousand men 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 and became like water. NIV
In the battle for the next city Ai, Joshua became a little arrogant and forgot to ask God what His plans were for victory over Ai. They decided to send a smaller group to fight and got their tails kicked! It was only after that defeat that Joshua sought the Lord and allowed Him to tell him how to take the city.
Oh how we try too often to live our lives separately from God and fight our battles our own way. It isn't until we have our tails kicked, tucked, and we're off and running from our battle that we finally get to the place where we cry out to God.
You think we'd learn!
1 comment:
We all know the story of Jericho, but we don't know the story of Ai. Another powerful lesson can be found in Gideon, who succeeded in spite of the small numbers of his forces. So often we try to build big human things which don't really help us.
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