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.