Joshua 6:1-5 – Unconditional surrender to God

Jericho was a well-structured, walled city. Apparently, it was well protected by two layers of massive stone walls. The outer wall was about 6 feet thick and 20 feet high and the inner wall was about 12 feet thick and 30 feet high. Built in between the two walls was a guarded walkway. So, the city, in a sense, was impenetrable. The walls posed as two barriers, both a physical as well a psychological barrier, that the children of Israel needed to overcome if they ever hope to penetrate deeper into Canaan. Unless this formidable city was conquered, there was no way they could move deeper into Canaan. It stood between Israel and their promised land.

These two walls are like the deeply entrenched habits we all have that are preventing us from a deeper walk with God. To deal with one bad habit is already difficult enough, what more the many we often have to deal with. Dealing with a habit is tough. When we take the letter “h” from the word “habit” there is still “a bit.” When we take away the letter “a” from “a bit”, there is still the “bit.” When you take away the letter “b” from “bit” there is still the “it”. It is not only until we remove the “I” for the “it” that we come to the “t” or the cross of it. It is only through the cross that we overcome a habit. Each one of us probably needs to deal with more than one habit that will hinder our walk with God. They are the walls that can prevent us from experiencing a victorious walk.

What could be some of the habits in our life that are preventing us from experiencing an inner peace with God? It could be our unwillingness to let go of hurts we have allowed to turn into a bitter root. It could even be an issue of unforgiveness that has become a deep resentment. Our walls could be some attitudes that we have adopted and they are preventing us from have a joyful walk with God. It could even be some “idols” such as our wife, our sweetheart, a special friend, our career, our hobby, and etc that have become bigger than God in our eye. All these could have become strongholds in our lives and we can move no further with God. We need to honestly deal with them. These are just a few the walls of negativism that have become strongholds that need to be overcome. They are like the two walls of Jericho that Joshua needed to bring down.

In Joshua, we see that an absolute surrender and submission to God is the most critical step to experience an overcoming life. Joshua 6:1-5 tell us that there are two things we need to adopt if we are to experience unrivaled victory. Firstly, we need to have an unhindered trust in God. There is a need for absolute abandonment to the Lord. God told Joshua that He had already given Jericho with all her king and the valiant warriors to him. He could either trust what God had said wholeheartedly or doubt all or parts of His words. Like Joshua, if we are to deal with entrenched habits, we need to hear God’s word and then trust that He has the capability to see us through.

Secondly, we need to adopt God’s unusual plan. The goal of the unusual plan of God was to build absolute trust. Look at the instruction given to ensure victory over Jericho. Seven priests with seven trumpets were assigned to walk before the Ark. They would blow the trumpets with the people following quietly behind the ark. The whole entourage was to walk around the city, once a day for six days. On the seventh day, they must walk around the city seven times and at the end of the seventh time, they must all shout out loud. When that took place, God said, the walls would come crumbling down. Such a strategy defies logic and imagination. To overcome the city, military might would be required and not quiet marches. Yet this was God’s unusual plan for them. What God was doing was to develop an absolute trust in Him. The victory is found not so much in the plan but in the absolute trust. What God is asking from us is unconditional surrender. Can we like Joshua, trust God unyieldingly?

Joshua 5:10-12 – Yielding to God

Planning and preparation are critical steps to take to experience success in any undertaking. So, Joshua being a military man knew this well. Hence as they were closed by to Jericho, he went out to scout around and do some reconnaissance so that he could plan his next move. The phrase “lifted up his eyes and looked” could well be an indication that he praying as he looked around. As he did that he saw a man standing opposite him with a drawn sword in His hand. Not knowing that it was God who came to lead them into battle, Joshua boldly asked him to identify his mission. He wanted to know if this man was for them or for their adversaries.

God had often time appeared in human form to His people. This is what is termed, theophany. He appeared to Moses in as a burning bush that was not consumed by the fire, so, he now appeared to Joshua as a man with a drawn sword in His hand. He told Joshua that He came to him as the Captain of the host of the Lord. He was not there not to take a side, but to take over. Like Joshua, we need to know that God wants to lead us in our endeavors to live an overcoming life. He will never leave us alone in any battle we have to do in life. We must learn to cultivate a spirit of dependence and trust. presence is our assurance of success.

We also need to know that if we are to experience success, submission to God’s leading is critical. Like what God asked Moses to do when he appeared to him in the burning bush, he now asked Joshua to do. He was to take off his shoes for he was standing on holy ground. This taking off the shoes is a call to submit. It is a call to yield to His Lordship. We can never experience the leading of the Lord if we will not submit and yield to Him. That was precisely what Joshua did and so must we.  This is another crucial step to the victory in our spiritual journey, that is to relinquish our leadership to the will of God. Bear in mind that we are only His vessels and servant. It behooves us to follow Him in everything and to obey every instruction He gives.

At this point, it must be said that Joshua was under a tremendous weight here. He was leading several millions of people to successfully overcome the dominating forces of the enemy. More than anything, he needed to know that God will be with him in the conquest. He needed to know that what God had promised to be with him is real. He was in effect experiencing the reality of the promise. God here was telling Joshua that he was not fighting the battle alone. He would be with him as the Captain to direct them in the battle. The point is this: in our attempt to lead a victorious life, the issue is never about the presence of God in our battle to live an overcoming life. The issue is our ability to His leadership and obeying Him as He guides us.          

As we seek to overcome the trials and temptation encounter in our journey, we can be assured of the presence of the Lord. There is a necessity to acknowledge His leadership in our life. We are never alone in our struggles no matter how huge the circumstance we face may be. Just as He was with Moses and Joshua, God is with us. Didn’t Jesus say, “Lo, I am with you even to the end of the ages”?  Beloved, the battle in our life is not ours to bear alone. He is there to lead us to victory. So just submit and yield to His Leadership. Yielding to God to His Lordship is an important key to victory in life. As Jim Elliot so wisely said, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose.” Let just do it. 

Joshua 5:10-12 – Cultivating a responsible lifestyle

Camping at Gilgal, resting and waiting for their wounds to heal after their circumcision, the people of Israel celebrated the Passover. This was a feast in remembrance of their deliverance from death. This feast would remind them of the night they were delivered from bondage. It commemorates the night the angel of death passed over their houses because of the sacrificial blood of an unblemished lamb smeared on the doorposts and lintel of their houses. They first celebrated this feast on the eve of their departure from Egypt. And the second time they celebrated it, recorded in Numbers 9:1-14, was at Mount Sinai before they left for Kadesh-Barnea. Apart from these two occasions, we see no evidence that they celebrated it again in their wilderness wandering. It was probably because many in this new generation were not circumcised, and circumcision was a requirement for all participant of the Passover. Now in Gilgal, they celebrated it again after a long time.

In verse 12 we are told that the day they partook of the produce of the land, the manna ceased to fall from heaven. What does the manna signify? The manna was God’s provision to sustain them in the journey. The manna reminded them that they had left Egypt. Now that the manna had ceased to fall, it meant that they had to do their part to feed and grow. It was one thing for God to get them out of Egypt, but quite another to get Egypt out of them. They had constantly craved for the meat they had at Egypt. Every time they experienced a little hardship in the journey, they would wish they were back in Egypt. The day manna ceased to fall from heaven, it meant that they had to take responsibility for their own sustenance in this new season of life.

Like them, God had delivered us from the world in Christ Jesus and our appetite for the things of the world must ceased. It is time for us to work in collaboration with God for our own spiritual sustenance. It meant that we have to be disciplined and act responsibly and do our own sowing and harvesting to live the new life.  We are now in a new season of life, we should no longer crave for the things of the world. We must rise up, take the challenge and collaborate with the Lord in our walk with Him. We must put in the effort to cultivate spirituality, walk connectedly with the Lord and grow with Him.            

Joshua 5:1-9 – Living according to divine schedule

The children of Israel had crossed Jordon miraculously. God opened the way for them as He did when He assisted the nation of Israel across the Red Sea from the pursuing Egyptian army of Pharaoh. The crossing of Jordan was so astounding that the kings of the Amorites in the West, as well as the kings of the Canaanites in the immediate vicinity of the sea, became so petrified. Their hearts melted and they were depleted of courage to fight and were absolutely resigned to their situation. Strategically, it would be a perfect time to strike. But God did a few things that were not only strange to their human minds but was also risky. God knows best, though we often would love to rush into action His ways are not always our ways. He has a divine schedule that we will do well to adhere to. Though our life is lived in the physical realm, it has spiritual significance. Hence, our alignment with God is critical if we are to enjoy victory in our journey.

The nation had crossed Jordan and now camped at Gibeath-haaraloth. God instructed Joshua to make flint knives and had the people circumcised. Circumcision was a God given sign of the covenant. Their fathers whom God had a covenant and were circumcised had all died in the wilderness because of disobedience and unbelief. This generation born in the wilderness was uncircumcised indicating that the covenant had been broken and needed to be renewed. Hence, before this group could experience the blessing, they had to renew their covenant with God.  

In circumcision, the foreskin of the male organ would be removed to remind them that they were a marked people. They were no longer their own but a people that belonged to God. Circumcision was also an indication of their total surrender to God. Like them, we too need to be totally surrendered to God and to live a life of faith in Him.  Cutting off a piece of the flesh was an indication that they were done with their life of the flesh. Like them, we too need to deal with our life of flesh so that we can fully surrender to God. Remember that there is only one altar of sacrifice when we put our trust in the Lord, but there will be many altars of rededication and surrender in our journey with Him. There must be a constant cutting away of fleshly things that could hinder a perfect walk with Him.    

At this point, they were rendered helpless because of the circumcision. If the enemies were to attack now, they would be sitting ducks. This would be when they precisely needed to entrust their lives into the hand of God to protect them till they were healed. This required a life of total confidence in the Lord. If they were to experience victory, it had to be from the Lord. Like them, testing will come on our journey with God. The key to being an overcomer is to trust and surrender ourselves unconditionally to Him. It is not enough to have faith but we need to live a life of faith. We need to trust God in the daily moments of our life. We need to yield moment by moment to the Lord in sweet abundant and total surrender.

Here in Gilgal, after their circumcision, God rolled off their reproach. Their forefathers had displayed a spirit of rebelliousness and unbelief throughout their journey. Those attitudes were an issue that preventing them from entering into the promised land. Now at Gilgal, if God did not deal with that, the guilt of the wrong of their fathers would still be hanging over their heads. So, God removed the reproach and dealt with their guilt. Like them, there could be things we have done in our past that could be hanging over our heads with guilt. God wants to roll them away for us as he did this generation of Israelites. So, that they will no longer become an issue for us to experience the new life we have in Christ. Let us put our sinful life behind and press on toward the prize of the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. 

Joshua 4:1-24 – Understand backward but live forward

One strategy to live a progressive life is to understand it backward while living it forward. What do we mean by that? It simply means that we constantly look back at what God had helped us through in our past and use what we have learned to realign and develop a future walking, in alignment with God. This is the purpose of the two heaps of memorial stones recorded for our instruction in Joshua 4.

Remember in the last chapter in verse 12, Joshua stationed twelve men, one from each tribe but we were not told what their function was. Here in Joshua 4, we get a clearer picture of what their assignments were. Joshua knew that when the feet of the Ark bearing priests stepped into the Jordan, the water that flowed in that river would stand in one heap, creating a dry ground for the people to cross into Canaan. These twelve men were supposed to pick up a stone each to build a memorial at the West bank of Jordan. That was exactly what they did. Obediently, they picked up a stone each and carried it to the resting place and built a memorial on that day. This memorial stood at Gilgal.

Then in verse 9, we are told that Joshua himself built a memorial in the riverbed of Jordan with twelve stones. This would be the second memorial. These two heaps of twelve rocks, each stood in their places to remind the Israelites of God’s goodness to them. The first heap erected in Canaan would remind the subsequent generations that God had faithfully by His power acted on their behalf and brought them victoriously into the promised land. The second heap was to remind them that it was their faith in God that had enabled them to collaborate with Him and brought them safely over Jordan to experience the victory.  

The first pile would be a visible sign and it would prompt questions from future generations. It would stand to show them that the God they worship is a faithful God. The second pile would be covered by the water of Jordan, to remind them that their past was buried in the midst of the sea. It was something hidden from their physical eye but not God’s. It will be a monument to their faith in God. It would help them in the future when faced with tough circumstances, that they would be challenged to have faith and trust in God to act on their behalf again.

What are some of the things that God had seen us through that we have put on record so that we can go back every now and then to be reminded of God’s faithfulness? What are some things that we may not make known to others but can be a constant reminder to us that we need to have faith in God? Be challenged to keep some experiences as a memento to remind us of God’s faithfulness. Do have a private journal where we record all the encounters with God, where we can constantly refer to and find strength in trying circumstances.     

Joshua 3:7-17 – Don’t just confess faith, live it!

Joshua had obediently and dutifully discharged his responsibility as instructed. He was faithful as Moses’ assistant. He kept all instructions given to him and did not renege on any of them. In so doing he had proven himself to be the rightful person to success Moses. The people had avowed to follow and obey him as they did Moses. And the moment had arrived and God was about to fully authenticate him as the leader.  More than any approval, it’s the approval of God that counts. The promise of His presence is the best validati0n and endorsement to a leader’s call into the role. Remember it is God who qualifies the call. It’s never about our educational qualification. The success of a leader depends much on the presence of God, his own diligence, faithfulness, and humility. Joshua was such a one and he had mirrored for us what a true leader looks like. There can be no true leadership without submission and obedience.  

Faith demands that we trust God fully. The opening of Jordan would just be an indicator of what God would do for the people afterward. Notice how Joshua revealed God’s plan to the people. He began by helping them to focus on G0d, assuring them of the presence of the living God in their midst. He made them see the victory they would be experiencing. He wanted them to know that with God’s help, they would surely overcome all the enemy forces found in the promised land. The issue is not about getting across River Jordan, the issue was about dealing successfully with the enemies they would encounter. It is one thing to cross the Jordan and quite another to confront the enemies. Similarly, it is one thing to acknowledge the Lordship of Christ in our life, but quite another to deal with temptation and trials we will surely encounter in our Christian journey. To say the sinner’s prayer and make Christ our Lord is just the first part. It’s the working out of our salvation with fear and trembling that demands our co-operation and collaboration with our Lord.   

As important as getting across the Jordan was, it would only be the first step. As with the opening of the Red Sea, the parting of Jordan River would also be God’s part. He would definitely do the opening, but it was the Ark bearing priests that must make the first move by faith. The critical lesson here is not so much in the crossing but in the dealing with the enemy forces across the Jordan. The lesson here is about diligently working out our daily walk that will determine the success of our journey with God. It’s more important to focus on the goal than the process.

It is one thing to be a Christian and quite another to live the Christian life. The goal of being a Christian is to be Christlike. Bear in mind that going to heaven is our destination and not our goal. The truth is this; salvation is not a point. It is a journey. It is not just about getting over to the Jordan. It is about how to live in the promised land. It is about dealing with the forces that can prevent us from possessing the abundant life.  

As it was for the people of Israel, it will be for us too in our Christian journey. The Living God in the person of the Holy Spirit is among us. The enemy forces in life as a Christian need to be dealt with. Our focus must be to become more like Christ as we conquer the forces that we would encounter in our daily walk.    

Joshua 3:5-6 – Living a consecrated life

The people of Israel had waited three days at the bank of Jordan. They were prepared by the officers who went among them and commanded them what they must do. When the people were ready, Joshua then called upon them to consecrate themselves. The words consecration, sanctification and holy, come from the same root word that means to be set apart.  Joshua was in effect calling on them to set themselves apart for God. If God is to do great things in our life, He requires a consecrated vessel. Consecration is the key to unleash effectiveness into our life.  

Setting oneself apart for God’s service is the moral responsibility of all disciples. The call to consecrate oneself is a call to cleanse and dedicate one’s life to the Lord. It is a summon for us to prepare ourselves by prayer and meditation. Consecration begins with our volition. For without a firm decision, there will be no follow-up action. It’s an act that requires us to live an uncluttered life, so as not to be needlessly distracted by the attraction of the world. If we are to experience the work of God, we need to live a consecrated life. Every one of us can be a candidate for greatness when we choose to live a life set apart for the glory of God.

Notice how positive Joshua was. He had no doubt whatsoever in his mind that God would perform what He had promised. Positive faith is needed if we are to inspire others to act. We speak and act with full conviction when our trust in God is unadulterated. We enthuse and stir confidence in others when we unwaveringly trust the Lord. This was what Joshua did. Sensing that the moment had arrived, Joshua then commanded the priests saying, “Take up the ark of the covenant and cross over ahead of the people.” And the priest acted with obedience and “took up the ark of the covenant and went ahead of the people.”

The priest had to take the lead carrying the Ark, the visual representation of God. They acted in good faith and took the first step. There was absolutely no doubt in them concerning what God had promised. Today, like the priests, we are bearers of the Christ. He is the Ark of God we are bearing. And as priests of Christ, we must set the godly examples for others to emulate. If we will not bear the marks of Christ in our life, we cannot expect others to be inspired. He has called us to live a self-denying life, to take up our own cross and emulate Him, and in so doing we become a candidate for greatness.  

May our prayers echo the words of Frances R. Havergal, who said:

Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee.
Take my moments and my days, let them flow in endless praise.

Take my hands and let them move at the impulse of Thy love.
Take my feet and let them be swift and beautiful for Thee.

Take my voice and let me sing, always, only for my King.
Take my lips and let them be filled with messages from Thee.

Take my silver and my gold, not a mite would I withhold.
Take my intellect and use every pow’r as Thou shalt choose.

Take my will and make it Thine, it shall be no longer mine.
Take my heart, it is Thine own, it shall be Thy royal throne.

Take my love, my Lord, I pour at Thy feet its treasure store.
Take myself and I will be ever, only, all for Thee.

Amen!

Joshua 3:1-4 – Fixing our focus on Christ

At this juncture, Joshua and the people were about to cross the Jordan into the promised land. More than forty long years had passed them by. They were prepared for this moment. The past generation had died in the wilderness due to their disobedience. The new generation which arose was about to be led across the Jordan into the promised land. They had seen the faithfulness and power of God demonstrated through many wonders. They were now expected to trust God and put their total allegiance in Him. Why did God give them so many miraculous and victorious experiences? The truth is this, God does not expect us to trust Him completely without giving us some clear indicators of His worthiness. He will go through great length to help us to confront our fears, deal with our struggles, experience the reality of His presence and to emerge victoriously.

The footprints of His handiworks are left in virtually every victory that the children of Israel had experienced. In the first two chapters of the book, He had assured Joshua of His presence and encouraged Him to be strong and courageous. God even assured him through the words of Rahab, who told him how petrified the people of Canaan were. They were inundated by accounts of how God had miraculously delivered His people throughout their journey. From Joshua 2, we also learned that God does expect us to act responsibly if we are to appropriate His promises. Every victory, to be experienced by us believers, has to be a divine-human effort. God will give the instruction and we are to act upon His Word obediently. Obedience is a very crucial component of any victorious experience in life.

In these verses, we are told that Joshua rose early the next morning. He must have heard the reports from the spies who went to recce the land. So, it is easy to surmise that he rose early to process the reports and evaluating how he should approach the conquest. Of course, we can expect him to spend a large portion of those rising moment to consult God on the next move. Early rising tells us that he was one who was earnest about the task ahead and his estimate of the importance of the task. His heart was on the assignment given. Know it or not, early rising often gives God’s servant the moment to hear the voice of God more clearly. The Gospels tell us that Jesus our Lord would often rise “a great while before dawn” and seek the face of the Father. It’s a great habit to be up early and commune with the Lord. However, this is not to assume that people who are more accustomed to working nocturnally are ineffective. It does, however, encourage us to fully exploit whatever available moment to cultivate the habit of staying connected to God.  

Verse 1 hinted that Joshua and the people had already moved from Shittim to the edge of the Jordan and were poised to cross the river. However, the crossing did not take place until three days later. Why did they pause here? The crossing was not as straightforward as it seems. The preparation was needed to move this massive amount of people across the river. Keep in mind that there wasn’t a bridge or a viaduct where they could simply walk across. They needed to depend on God to create a way for them to get across the Jordan. Clear instruction had to be received and given to move such a massive amount of people smoothly across. It took three days to get everything organized. Though not spoken, we know that Joshua probably gathered the officers together and prepared them on what to do. A clear guide must be given for effectiveness. And on the third day, the officers then go among the people and clearly commanded them what to do. The word “command” is understandable. To move the people, they could not afford to have different options. Everyone must embrace a single common direction. Hence, a command was needed. It was not a time for opinions. 

In the desert, the children of Israel had the pillar of fire by night and the cloud by day to guide them in their movement. What the children of Israel were about to experience was a new way. There was a need to unify everyone in the journey. The Ark was to be the visual representation of God to unify the people’s walk. Everyone needed to take their alignment from the Ark. Hence, each person was required to keep their eye on the Ark. To enable everyone to see the Ark, a certain visual distance needed to be kept. For us today, the Ark speaks of Christ, the visible presence of God. If we are to have an effective spiritual journey, we need to keep our eyes on Christ. We take our alignment from Him.  The instruction for us from the book of Hebrews is to “fix our eyes on Jesus, the author, and finisher of our faith.” We must come to Him daily and interact with Him through The Word. He wants to instruct us and shows us the way to an effective and abundant life. Do make the time and close up our distance with Christ so that we can hear the specific direction to take. Yes, we must fix our eyes on Jesus, our Lord!

Joshua 2:15-24 – Appropriating the promises of God

Rahab’s faith in Jehovah was inspired by the accounts of what He had done for His people since they left Egypt. Faith inspiring stories about what God has done in one’s life have a way of inspiring trust in Him. This should encourage us to boldly testify of the good things God had done in our life. There are always people out there just like Rahab whom God wants to save. They are waiting to hear a truthful and powerful account of what God had done so that they will be inspired to put their faith in God.

Believing that God would deliver the land of Canaan into the hand of the children of Israel, Rahab renounced her country, her sordid past and her pagan gods. She chose to embrace Jehovah and trust Him. A break with our past is needed if we are to wholly follow God. We need to look with anticipation to the new journey we embark upon to experience the adventure with God. We should deal with our past be done with it if we to walk victoriously in the new journey.

Like Rahab, we too must embrace Jehovah, the God of heaven above and the earth beneath and be fully convinced that He has the power to save. She revealed to the spies that the Canaanites were too petrified to engender any effective resistance. She was fully convinced that God not only had the power to save but also the mercy to offer to those who would willingly put their trust in Him.  So, she came up to the spies and made a deal with them. She was prepared to risk her life to assist the Israelites in their mission if they in return would spare hers and the lives of her household. She was promised that her life and those of her family would be spared on the condition that she remained faithful and loyal to them.

Rahab agreed to three conditions to save herself and her household. Firstly, she must keep her promise not to reveal the whereabouts of the spies. Secondly, she must tie a scarlet cord on the window of her house for identification. And thirdly, she and every member of her household must be in the house during the day of the attack. With those agreements, the spies were let down from the wall to go and hide in the mountain for three days till it was safe for them to return to their camp east of Jordan. The agreement between Rahab and the spies speaks of the need to exercise responsibility. While the promise of the many blessings of God is there to be received, we need to respond appropriately to make them sure. God’s many promises can be discovered from His Word, but we can only enter into them by obediently and responsibly appropriating them.

Divine protection is always available to us just like it was granted to the spies, but like them, caution must be exercised. And just as their journey into the promised land is a divine-human collaboration, our claim to the abundant life requires that we responsibly collaborate with God and rightly appropriate them. It takes two hands to clap.    

Joshua 2:8-14 – God’s favor demands faith

Joshua 2:8-14 is a narration of God’s grace. It is a story of God extending His arm of grace to a heathen. It tells us that God’s grace can reach anyone regardless of a person’s sordid past. Hailed from a heathen race, Rahab was a Canaanite and a harlot by profession. She probably would be the most unlikely candidate for salvation. There was nothing about her that should commend her to God, yet the mercy of God reached down to her and changed the course of her life altogether. She was granted a place of honor in the history of redemption. Like her, none of us has anything in us that should attract the grace of God, yet in His mercy, God reaches out to us. This is a divine privilege. O, how marvelous to be a candidate of His grace!

It seems quite clear that the grace of God was working in Rahab’s life prior to the arrival of the spies. She had hidden the two spies in the attic of her house and had them covered with flax. Then she sent the men who came searching for the spies away in the wrong direction. She now went up to where the two spies from Israel were and revealed to them the condition of the land. The power of God demonstrated in the deliverance of the people of Israel was known, and it had brought great fear to everyone living in Canaan. They had heard of how God had delivered His people from the bondage of Egypt and even cut a dry path in the Red Sea for them to get away from the pursuing army of Pharaoh. God not only did that marvellous miracle but also enabled them to utterly defeat the strong forces of two Amorite kings beyond the Jordan. The people of Canaan were now engulfed by fear and every heart had melted. It underscores for us that fear can drive people away but it can also drive people to God. So, we see in Rahab, who while fearful like the rest of the Canaanites, was driven to faith in Jehovah God. She saw God’s hand in all the miracles which He had demonstrated in the life of His people. And from all she had heard, she could only conclude that Israel’s God is truly the Lord of heaven above and earth.

Being divinely inspired, her faith in God was quickened and she took a positive step to align herself with Him. She knew that the only way she and her family could be preserved would be to align their hearts with God. So, she came to the spies to cut a deal for the preservation of her life and that of her family. From her actions, we see faith in action. Faith always initiates in positive actions. To believe and do nothing is not faith. It is merely giving mental assent to what we believe. True faith always results in us taking positive steps to draw near to God. That was precisely what Rahab did. From her actions, we can detect true faith in Jehovah. She was sure that the land of Canaan would be Israel’s because of God. So, she made the spies swear to her in the name of the Lord to save her and her family from destruction when they conquered the land. In this, we can also see that true faith requires total abandonment. She was willing to risk everything she had just to be accepted. Doesn’t this ring a bell? Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow after me.”

Finally, in the bargain that the spies had with Rahab, we can see that faith demands that we be willing to give something in exchange for the favor of God. We must be willing to abide and flow with God’s plan so that we can receive divine favor. The pledge the spies made her give was to ensure that she would be willing to flow with the plan and purpose of God. Like Rahab, if we are to be the recipient of God’s favor, we need to have faith and then flow with His plan and purpose.    

Joshua 2:2-7 – Daring faith

The two spies on their reconnaissance mission had now come into the land of Canaan. They went and dwelt in the house of Rahab, who was described as a harlot. Though it was their choice to go to Rahab’s house, it was God who had guided their footsteps. Remember that the steps of a good man are ordered of the Lord. Bear in mind that Christian journey is a divine-human collaboration. God had a design to save Rahab. At this point, she must have already stopped plying her former, immoral trade. The spies being led to the house of a harlot reminds us that God is no respecter of man. His love for everyone, even a harlot is highlighted. The fact that Rahab was eventually saved and even listed in the ancestry of the Lord Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew, reveals to us that our God is truly a God of grace.  

Obviously, the exodus of the children of Israel and their 40 years of wilderness wandering must have been known to all the people in that region. Since their camping at Shittim located opposite Jericho, the king of that city must have been observing their movements. Soon he was alerted of the spies from Israel who had crossed over to recce the land. He was even aware that they had lodged themselves at Rahab's house. So, he sent word to her demanding that she surrenders them to him. The action of the king of Jericho speaks to us of the opposition we will face when we are on a mission with God. Christians should expect resistance as we seek to reach the goal of our journey. Trails and temptation are part and parcel of a Christian’s journey to attain the promise of God. He had permitted them so that we will learn to rely on Him and His grace to provide the wisdom we need. James in his letter gives us a very sound advice on how we ought to respond to trials. He said that we should face trials with joy and wisdom. For when trials are endured with joy and wisdom, we will be brought to a place of completeness and maturity, lacking nothing. Hence, we should seek the wisdom of God when facing the trials of life.

Another matter to take note is this: unlike the first spying mission of the 12 spies, recorded in Numbers 13, this one has not been kept a secret. God allowed the mission of the two spies to be uncovered. We are reminded that God works differently in all situations. He does not have a uniform way of dealing with us, even when the encounters may seem similar. He varies His methods to help us deal with our encounters in life. This will ensure that we rely on Him totally throughout our mission to possess the abundant life. The truth about Rahab’s response to the king's demand tells us that God has stationed people along the way to help us achieve our goal. Anyone, even the least expected, can be God's instrument to assist us in the mission. And when God has set before us an open door no one can prevent us from entering in. Why? It’s because God will use different means to help us accomplish our mission in life. Thus, wisdom dictates that we should commit all our ways to Him and trust Him to see us through.

The account of Rahab’s defiance of the king’s demands can be troubling. A quick scan of the situation can pose difficulty for us trying to reconcile the call to obey all civil authorities. Was Rahab right to do what she did? This depends on which angle we are looking at. We have the privilege of hindsight which Rahab clearly did not have. She did what her faith demanded. Her goal was to align herself with the true God, whom she must have heard so much about. Her defiance is best seen in this light - trusting God requires that one takes risks. Rahab's situation was not a case of disobeying civil authority but rather about taking a bold risk to trust God with her life. The question is, do we dare to trust God so wholeheartedly as Rahab did in accomplishing the goal of knowing God? This is the type of faith that God expected of all who believe in Him. We must demonstrate the “bold and courageous” faith which God demanded of Joshua to adopt, which Rahab here so clearly mirrors it for us! 

Joshua 2:1 – “Search me, O God”

Joshua chapter 2 contains an inexhaustible amount of divine principles on how to attain victory in our journey with God. In our reflection, we will seek the direction of the Holy Spirit to guide us into the critical ones for our immediate application. Let us reflect carefully and identify what God is saying to us for our present journey with Him. In verse 1, we see Joshua sending two spies to recce the place. Why did he do that?  Why was it needful? Bear in mind that while the land was theirs for the taking, there were enemy forces that had dominated it for years and would not yield their land so easily and willingly. Besides, Joshua dared not presume that the people of Canaan would give up their land without a fight. He needed to know their strength and identify the strongholds he needed to overcome so that he could strategize appropriate measures to ensure success. Sending out the two spies helped him to evaluate the enemy, evaluate his own capacity and then to decide where he should begin. 

Sun Tzu in his Art of War said: “Know yourself, know your enemy, a thousand battles, a thousand victories.” For believers, we have one more indispensable component we must add, that is “Know your God.” For us, the axiom should read like this - “Know your God, know yourself, know your enemy, a thousand battles, a thousand victories.”  How can we ever have a knowledge of God, of self and of our enemy, if we do not take time to discover them? For Joshua, knowing God and what was installed for him and his people were taken care of. God virtually revealed Himself and His plan for them to him. When God told him to “be bold and courageous,” He was revealing to him his nature. It was something Joshua needed to know about himself. Joshua wasn’t confronting his reticence. It was something that he would not face.  So, when God told him to “be bold and courageous,” He was signalling to him that it was time for him to overcome his reluctance and reticence. What’s left then was for him to explore the strength of the enemy. And he sent the two spies to do just that. This was a needful step to victory.         

We have said that the abundant life is promised to us by the Lord. Applying what we have just said, would mean that we need to connect with God. We need to know Him better and to know who we are in Him. That would then open up the avenue for us to fully lay hold of our life, the promised land of God to us. Consciously, we need to identify the predominant negative habits we have that can prevent us from living a disciplined life. If we are to build a God-honouring life, we will need first to do a private and personal recce of our life. We need to identify areas, and the kind of spiritual disciplines, we must inculcate to lay hold of our life for God. We need to look at our life with honesty and truthfulness. Why don’t we ask the Holy Spirit to help us do a personal recce? Like David who prayed in Psalm 139:23-24, may our prayer also be, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way.”  

Joshua 1:12-18 – Keeping promises

In Numbers 32, we read of the account of the request that the two and a half tribes of Israel, namely, the tribes of Reuben, Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh, made to Moses. These tribes owned a huge stock of cattle between them. On seeing that the kingdom of the Amorites and Bashan, which Israel had just conquered, was good for rearing cattle, they requested that these lands be apportioned to them. At first, Moses was not pleased with their request. For it showed their unbelief and unwillingness to help in the conquest of Canaan. But he eventually consented and allowed them to build sheepfolds for their cattle and dwelling for their children. For they had promised to help the rest of the tribes in the conquest of Canaan before they return to settle down in these trans-Jordanian lands apportioned to them. Here in verses 12-15, Joshua reminded the two and a half tribes of their obligation to help in the conquest of Canaan.

The reminder was needful because Moses who consented to their request was dead, and it was time for them to fulfill their promise. As a judicious leader, Joshua did not take things for granted that these two and a half tribes would fulfill their agreement made with Moses. He made sure that they kept their promise. Making sure that members keep their promises to the Lord is part of a leader’s responsibility. So here we see Joshua discharging his duty by reminding the Reubenites, the Gadites and the people of the half tribe of Manasseh of their obligation to the rest of Israel. This reminds us that we must always think corporate. The larger agenda is always more important than our individual agenda. The truth is that we need to be considerate people if we are to make an impact as a family. Being a member of a fellowship demands responsibility and accountability.  

The key word is found in verse 13. It’s the word “Remember.” It’s a reminder to fulfill one’s promise. It is a call to obedience. Promises made must be kept. Responsible people let their words be their bond. They say what they mean and mean what they say. And such people we must be. We can only elicit trust when we have proven ourselves to be trustworthy. In this regard, every one of us needs to exercise personal integrity if we expect people to trust us. We cannot say one thing and then do another and expect people to believe us. We must let our yes be yes and our no be no. Anything beyond that will cause us to stumble others. 

The two and a half tribes in question could have appealed to the fact that their promise was made to Moses. And since he is now dead, the contractual agreement is over. People do find all sort of reasons to cancel any agreement. But as people of honor, we must keep our word, like what we see in verses 16-18. The leaders of these two and a half tribes said to Joshua, “All that you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go. Just as we obeyed Moses in all things, so we will obey you; only may the Lord your God be with you as He was with Moses. Anyone who rebels against your command and does not obey your words in all that you command him shall be put to death; only be strong and courageous.” We must tuck this thought somewhere in our heart. People with good intention make promises, but only people with good character keep the promises they make. 

Joshua 1:10-11 – Developing a spiritual replenishment strategy

Assured that the Lord would be with him, Joshua acted immediately. This is a good example to emulate, once we are clear and sure that God had spoken to us, we should not hesitate but act immediately. Any delay to follow the clear direction can cause us to become reluctant to attend to God’s instruction and become disobedient. We must strike while the iron is hot. The truth is this: the longer we procrastinate in obeying God, the more we will be unconcerned about His plan and glory. Notice Joshua did not postulate how difficult the task would be. Neither did he show any trepidation for what was ahead. Because faith is an act, he made no excuse but promptly obeyed and acted on God’s Word.    

Like any important task, preparation is important. So here we see Joshua instructing the people to prepare for the journey into the promised land. He envisaged that it would take three days for them to cross the Jordan into Canaan. He did not ask for any consensus from the people. It was not a rule by the majority. No option was given. He just rightly exercised his authority as a leader and took command. The principle in leadership is this: A leader must lead and followers must follow. If anyone refuses to lead or follow, he should get out of the way and not be a hindrance.

A word that stands out is the word “command.” It tells us that Joshua took command just as God had commanded him. We can see that chains of command are needed in the fulfillment of God’s plan. God commanded Joshua, and he, in turn, commanded the officers who then commanded the people. If success is to be experienced, the divine chain of command must not be broken. If we are to be effective in the work, there is a necessity to take authority when we are given authority. God requires that leader should take the lead and followers be found obedient. Discipline must be a clear feature in the family of God.

Anticipating the campaign to possess the promised land to be rigorous, Joshua told them to prepare provision. Physically, they needed the strength for the journey. The parallel truth about spiritual life is this: to sustain our spiritual journey with God and attain our goal, we will need to be nourished with spiritual food. All of us need to find a spiritual replenishment strategy. Our daily devotion, our regular study of God’s Word and prayer are indispensable exercises to help us sustain our spiritual life. It is difficult to sustain our spiritual life just on one sermon a Sunday.

There wasn’t a bridge or a viaduct where they could walk across the Jordan. The more obvious need for them to get across the Jordan into the promised land would be boats and not food. Yet Joshua didn’t say “prepare boats” but “prepare provision.” He didn’t deem it necessary to prepare vessels to ferry them across. He must have remembered how they had crossed the Red Sea on a dry path opened up by God while the army of Egypt was pursuing them. How could he forget a miracle of God of such magnitude? We take heart and learn from God’s past deliverances. He will always make a way when we are at our wit's end.  

Another significant truth in verse 11 is the mention of “three days.” Remember the Lord Jesus rose from death on the third day. We all crossed from our old life into the new by the bridge of the cross of Calvary. If we are to fully experience the victory Christ had secured for us we must be prepared to exercise the resurrected power of Christ. This is what Ephesians 1:18-21 tell us. Paul prayed, “…that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know… the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe… in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion….”  We must prepare ourselves and cultivate a spiritual replenishment strategy, and as we do, learn to live and find victory in the power of our resurrected Lord. 

Joshua 1:6-9 – Faith, courage, and obedience

God knew that if what He said to Joshua should make an impact in his life, it would require him to poise himself to receive the word. Every success in any accomplishment must first begin with one’s attitude. He helped Joshua first to look at the magnitude of the promise that he and the people of Israel would inherit. The purpose was to enable him to see the goal of the mission. God wanted him to envisage the plan He had for His people. It was a land much larger than what they could ever conceive. God was casting the vision for Joshua. Like him, we too need a life vision and mission larger than ourselves. God wants to help us to attain a life that is much bigger than our small thinking can conceive. Our limited thinking is, quite frankly, often the barrier to our accomplishments in life. Remember that every accomplishment in life is created twice. Once in the mind and in the attitude before it can become a reality. How large a plan we hope to accomplish must first be seen in our mind before they can be realized. So, God helped Joshua to frame the vision before he embarked on the mission. Herein lies a principle for success. We need to know our goal if we are to accomplish our plan.

Knowing God’s promise is just the first step. Accomplishing it requires faith, courage, and obedience. Three times in these four verses God told Joshua to “be bold and courageous.” Believing the word of God requires action. It meant that he must act on his belief. Otherwise, it is merely giving mental assent to the word. The call of God to Joshua, as well as us, is found in the phrase “Be bold and courageous.” Being bold is a call to trust without reservation. It is a call to have confidence in God to fulfill what He has promised. Joshua must believe that he has the capacity to lead the people of Israel to inherit what God had promised. He must show the courage and have a fearless confidence in God, who had promised to be with him. And then all that must be translated into action.

To do so successfully, Joshua was also required to keep the instruction of God stipulated in the law of Moses. He was to stay focused on the instruction and not be side-tracked. Verse 8 categorically prescribes what he must do. It says, “This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success.” Like Joshua, we are also called to meditate on the Word of God incessantly, whether by day or by night. Not only that, but we must also be careful to act on what we have mused and then live out God’s truth. That’s the only way to guarantee success in life. 

Meditating and acting on the Word of God is an indispensable action if we are to find success in life. There are many ways to row a boat, but the only the way to row successfully to shore is to row it God’s way. It is specified in His Word. Traveling together with God in life requires that we adopt the disposition of faith, courage, and obedience. To entertain apprehension and fear tantamount to unbelief. Remember without faith it is impossible to please God. To please Him we must believe that He exists and that He is the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.      

Joshua 1:3-5 – God’s promise and His presence

We often imagine Joshua to be a young man when God commissioned him to take the people into the promised land. A quick mental calculation will reveal that he was much older than we have thought him to be. He would be approximately an elderly man of 80 plus years old at that point. His age plus his past experiences with the people of Israel would cause him to be somewhat apprehensive about succeeding Moses. It would take a unique personal encounter with God to pacify his fear and take away his jitters. Up to this time, the only person God had spoken to was Moses. Joshua only played a very secondary role. The situation was about to change. His confidence needed to be bolstered so God appeared to him and spoke to him just as he had spoken to Moses in the past.  

The Lord began first by encouraging Joshua to take on the leadership. He assured him that the plan for them as a people to possess Canaan had not changed even though Moses was dead. Joshua should take the people across the Jordan into the promised land. It is interesting to note that the pronoun “you” in verse 3 is in the second person plural. This is to tell us that the promise that they would possess the land was not made to Joshua only but to all the people of Israel. The assurance of verses 3-4 was for the people as much as it was for Joshua. Take a moment and imagine the magnitude of the promise: “Every place on which the sole of your foot treads, I have given it to you, just as I spoke to Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon, even as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and as far as the Great Sea toward the setting of the sun will be your territory.” Now take a moment and consider your own life. Remember the Lord Jesus’s words, that in possession, we ought to possess our life. It is God’s promised land to us. And age, physical or spiritual, is no barrier to us becoming an overcomer for God.

Then in verse 5, the Lord returned specifically to Joshua and promised Him that no one will be able to stand against him in the land. The people of Canaan would certainly not stand idly by and watch their land being taken. They would surely try to defend their land. However, the promise to Joshua was that none would be able to withstand what God was going to do through him. The Lord assured Joshua that he could count on His presence and assistance as he conquered the land. This was the Lord’s plan for Joshua long before this moment. During the wilderness journey, Moses called Joshua to him and in Deuteronomy 31:7-8 we have a record of what Moses said to him. He told him, “Be strong and courageous, for you shall go with this people into the land which the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall give it to them as an inheritance. The Lord is the one who goes ahead of you; He will be with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.” So, the words of Joshua 1:5 is only a re-iteration of the promise made known to him earlier. Only this time it came from God personally and directly to Joshua.    

It was impossible for Joshua to fail since the Lord would be with him in this expedition. The presence of God and his past would attest to it. In his tenure with Moses, Joshua had literally seen the countless times God had intervened and brought them success after success. God’s presence was a precious promise to Joshua and so it is to us too. The one experience most needed in any expedition in life is the presence of the Lord.  Every person God had used in time past had His promised presence. In the same way that Joshua was to possess the promised land, God wants us to possess our life, His promised land to us. The total dominion of the promised land was God’s promise to Joshua, so the total control of our life is God’s promise to us. Like Joshua who needed the presence of God as he went about the conquest, so also will we need the presence of God as we seek to take hold of our life. Every resistance can be overcome when we have the presence of God. It is possible to experience the perpetual presence of God every moment in our life. What we need is to take time and be still before God and listen attentively to the clear words He will speak within our heart. So, take time to be still and know that He is God!  

Joshua 1:1-2 - Arise

Joshua first emerged as Moses’ aide. He was introduced in Exodus 17:9 when God told Moses to tell Joshua to choose men and go out and fight the Amalekites. Over time, his roles as a slave evolved, he became Moses’ servant. And from a servant, he became one of the 12 spies sent secretly to evaluate the land of Canaan. From being a spy, he transited into being a warrior, a commander in Joshua 1-12. Then he became an administrator in chapters 13-22 and took charge of the division of the land after the successful military campaigns. In the final two chapters of the book, he became an orator, powerfully persuading the people to stay on God’s side and serve Him.

In the opening verses of the book, we see the commissioning of Joshua who would soon continue the mission that Moses had begun. The great servant Moses, who led the people out of the land of Egypt had died. A new leader was needed to lead the people into the promised land. We learn from this that the death of God’s servant cannot prevent God’s work from advancing. Leaders may come and leaders may go, but God is forever on the throne. This assures us that the work of God can never be thwarted when a servant of God is taken out of the scene. God always has someone stationed to succeed in the plan, to take it higher and greater. What is unsettling is the notion that we often look to the human instrument whom God uses rather than to God, Himself. It is important that we remain where God has called us not because of a leader but because of God. When we have that attitude, we are not too perturbed by the leadership changes. Every leader is used for a particular season, the work of God must move on.   

Joshua had been with Moses for a large part of the latter’s ministry. He was being mentored while serving alongside Moses. He saw close-up many things that had happened between his mentor and the rebellious people. He saw how willful, stubborn and disobedient the people of Israel were. He couldn’t imagine how different the new generation that had arisen could be from their griping, murmuring and complaining fathers. It is not too difficult to imagine that Joshua would have trepidation when told to take the lead. Hence, God had to use a very challenging word to urge him to take the lead and get the people into the promised land.

The word God uses is “arise.” In verse 2, God said to Joshua, “Moses My servant is dead; now therefore arise, cross this Jordan, you and all these people, to the land which I am giving to them, to the sons of Israel.” It’s a call to be counted. It’s a call to be more involved and active in advancing the kingdom’s work. The call of God to many of us remains much the same as the one He gave to Joshua. We must put aside all fear and trepidation. We must arise, and be counted as we journey with Him, a journey that demands faith and boldness. The challenge is to learn to look upward and recognize the direction of God. Like Joshua, we need to arise and be responsible and take action. We cannot camp in our past, be it a glamorous or a gloomy one. The new season has arrived, a new courage is needed and a new commitment is called for. Remember Jesus’ words in John 4:35 “Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest.” Like Paul, we must forget what lies behind and press forward towards the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us arise! 

Introduction to the book of Joshua

The first five books of the Bible written by Moses are collectively known as the Pentateuch. They contain God’s preparatory message. In the book of Genesis, we are shown how everything began. It’s called the book of beginning. In the book of Exodus, we see the redemption of God’s people from Egypt, the land of bondage. In Leviticus, the redeemed people were instructed on matters concerning worship and fellowship with the Redeemer. The book of Numbers is a record of the journey of the wandering of the redeemed. Deuteronomy is the call to a life of obedience. The book of Joshua links the Pentateuch to what happened to the redeemed after they entered the promised land. As we reflect on the book of Joshua, we will see the establishment of Israel as a nation.

God made a promise to the people of Israel that they would inherit a land flowing with milk and honey. It is not until the book of Joshua that we see the people entering into that promise. God used Moses to lead the people out of the land of bondage and through the wilderness to deal with their stubborn and rebellious attitude. But He used Joshua to lead the people into that land of promise. While the land would be a great inheritance, it was occupied by enemy forces that had to be driven out. Through the expedition led by Joshua, God provides us with lessons and show us that anything worthwhile possessing requires responsibility and effort. This book describes how the conquest of the promised land took place under the leadership of Joshua. It records the battles they were engaged in, and how they slipped and stumbled and bounced back until they had conquered much of the land. Joshua then divided and apportioned them to the 12 tribes of Israel. All these have spiritual lessons for us in our journey with God.  

The expedition covered a period of some 25 years from the time Moses died. The incremental possession of the land reminds us of our Christian journey. While God had promised us an abundant life, we need to responsibly and diligently enter into this promise. As the forces residing in the promised land had to be dislodged, there are also negative habits in our life that we must demolish, and good habits that we have to build to come into the abundant life Jesus Christ has promised us. Of course, as God did not leave Joshua helpless, He also will not leave us as orphans. He has sent the Holy Spirit alongside us to help us in the conquest.      

Joshua himself is widely believed to be the author of this book that carries the theme of conflict and conquest under his leadership. It shows us how the people of Israel progressed to take hold of the land of Canaan. In this book, we are shown their joyful optimism, their strategic actions in their military campaigns and the victories they enjoyed as they marched forward to possess the land.  

In our journey to uncover the message of Joshua, we will come face to face with the faithfulness of God. We will see how everything He has promised being brought into fruition. Here we see God keeping the promise He made to Abraham as the people possessed the promised land. In this book, we will see God dealing with sin in order to purify for Himself a holy and set apart people. This book also shows us God’s rescue operation to bring them into a land of security and rest. What we need to understand to fully realize the promises of God, is that we must collaborate with Him in dealing with the forces that can hinder our progress in our Christian life and prevent us from entering into the abundant life He promises. Let’s be prepared for an amazing journey with God!