Joshua 10:16-21 – Self-control is needed to win our battle with the flesh

The Christian life is a journey where we have to keep battling enemy forces. Winning battles that we are engaged in requires a collaborated effort between us and God. In the first 15 verses of Joshua chapter 10, we saw God doing His part. We saw how He granted victory to His people through His supernatural power. However, there are still many battles that they had to fight. God had done His part and He requires that they now do theirs. They now have to play their part and be totally involved and committed to the fray. Someone said involvement and commitment are like ham and egg. The chicken is involved but the pig is committed. We personally must not only be involved, but we must also be committed.

Verses 16-18 reveal that the five kings fled from the battle and hid in a cave in Makkedah. When it was told Joshua, he ordered that the cave be sealed to prevent the kings from escaping. In other words, he took control of the situation. If we are to emerge victorious in any of our battles, we need to take control. All of us could become followers of Jesus Christ only because the Lord initiated the move to embrace us with His love. But our old nature is still alive, well, and kicking. This is very much like what we see in the lives of the children of Israel. Though they have left Egypt, yet the mentality they adopted from there remained very much alive in them. The purpose of the long arduous journey in the wilderness was to help them get rid of the negative mentality. Like them, our spiritual journey and the battles we engaged in are so that we can deal with the mentality we have adopted from our fallen past.  

Our flesh, like the five kings, is hiding somewhere within our life. Following the example of Joshua, who controlled the five kings. we need to control our flesh. If we don’t, it will run wild with our life and create endless troubles for us. The “five kings” can appear as the loose tongue, anger, hatred, unforgiveness, pride, prejudice, lust, etc. They all need to be controlled or they will eventually control us. And self-control is a part of the fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5:22-23. It simply means gaining a mastery over self – our habits and lifestyle. We need to partner with the Lord so that He can help us to develop self-control. When we choose to follow the Lord, we can no longer live a riotous life. No longer can we live every which way we please. Sin cannot be allowed to reign in life. With the help of God, we subject our body to discipline and poise ourselves for the transforming work of God in our life. Without God, we cannot. But without us, God will not. Let’s work with Him and develop self-control.