Thursday June 06
Let Jesus Take Charge
Joshua 5:13-15
13 And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, a Man stood opposite him with His sword drawn in His hand. And Joshua went to Him and said to Him, "Are You for us or for our adversaries?"
14 So He said, "No, but as Commander of the army of the LORD I have now come." And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped, and said to Him, "What does my Lord say to His servant?"
15 Then the Commander of the LORD'S army said to Joshua, "Take your sandal off your foot, for the place where you stand is holy." And Joshua did so..
Before we can by faith experience and enjoy the victory that we are promised for our spiritual journey we need to remember that we have a covenant God Who always keeps His promises. We must also be reminded that despite what happens in our lives that God loves us and proved it with the death of His Son on the cross! Joshua now needed to be assured of the LORD’s presence as he faced the reality of his first major battle at Jericho.
As we look at these verses in Joshua 5, the people of Israel have miraculously crossed the Jordan River, they have circumcised the men, and they have observed the Passover. Now Joshua is facing the reality of his first major obstacle between the people and the land of promised rest! Probably sometime in the middle of the night Joshua goes up to the walls of the city of Jericho and is no doubt wondering and thinking how he can lead his army to conquer it.
The Christian life is not a bed of roses with everything handed to us and we simply lead a life of ease! Jesus promised us that in this world we would have tribulation (John 16:33). Paul taught us that we are like soldiers, and we must be equipped to fight our battles. We cannot simply ignore the realities of life and try to live in an imaginary bubble of forever happiness. Life is hard and tough! We can’t sweep our problems and difficult issues under the rug and hope they go away. We must face and by God’s grace deal with them!
Joshua gets alone, faces the Jericho in his way, and is probably overcome with the reality of the impossibility of dealing with it! But my friend, that is when God shows up!!!! The Commander of the LORD’s armies is none other than Jesus Himself! You can only imagine Joshua’s surprise! He asked the Man with the drawn sword who shows up out of nowhere, “Whose side are you on?” and he gets a strange answer. “No, but as Commander of the army of the LORD I have now come."
Jesus is basically saying to Joshua as He says to us, “I didn’t come to take sides, I came to take over!” And Joshua fell to his face at His feet and worshipped. If we are to successfully deal with the problems, issues, and obstacles in our lives we must let Jesus take charge of our lives and accept His Lordship over us! We must first recognize Who He really is as Joshua did and humble ourselves in worship and adoration!
Then Joshua asked, "What does my Lord say to His servant?" This reminds me of the experience of Saul on the Damascus Road when Jesus shows up in a blast of light putting him on his face on the ground (Acts 9:1-6). And Saul, asked, “Lord, what do you want me to do?”
True worship will always lead to obedience to the Lord in our daily walk! Joshua was reminded that he was second in command. Every father and mother, pastor, and Christian leader is second in command to the Lord Jesus Christ; and when we forget this fact, we start to move toward defeat and failure. The Lord came to Joshua that day, not just to help but to lead. "Without Me you can do nothing" (John 15:5).
It is my prayer that the Holy Spirit will open our eyes today to the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ and submit to His Lordship over us!
God bless!
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