Saturday June 22
A Word of Promise and Instruction
Joshua 8:1-8
1 Now the LORD said to Joshua: "Do not be afraid, nor be dismayed; take all the people of war with you, and arise, go up to Ai. See, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land.
2 And you shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king. Only its spoil and its cattle you shall take as booty for yourselves. Lay an ambush for the city behind it."
3 So Joshua arose, and all the people of war, to go up against Ai; and Joshua chose thirty thousand mighty men of valor and sent them away by night.
4 And he commanded them, saying: "Behold, you shall lie in ambush against the city, behind the city. Do not go very far from the city, but all of you be ready.
5 Then I and all the people who are with me will approach the city; and it will come about, when they come out against us as at the first, that we shall flee before them.
6 For they will come out after us till we have drawn them from the city, for they will say, 'They are fleeing before us as at the first.' Therefore we will flee before them.
7 Then you shall rise from the ambush and seize the city, for the LORD your God will deliver it into your hand.
8 And it will be, when you have taken the city, that you shall set the city on fire. According to the commandment of the LORD you shall do. See, I have commanded you."
In Joshua 8 after the defeat at Ai, Joshua needs and receives a word of encouragement from the Lord. I am so thankful that we have a Bible that is full of promises of God that should encourage us even after we feel that we have failed. I’m thinking of Elijah after the great victory on Mt. Carmel where he prayed down fire from heaven and had the prophets of Baal put to death, and the wicked queen Jezebel said she was going to kill him, and he flees to the mountain and becomes so discourage that he wanted to die. How God met with him and assured him of His presence with the “still small voice”. (1 Kings 18-19).
Not only did the Lord give Joshua a word of encouragement but He gave him a word of instruction (Josh. 8:1b-2). God always has a plan for His people to follow, and the only way for us to have victory is to obey God's instructions. In his first attack on Ai Joshua followed the advice of his spies and used only part of the army; but God told him to take "all the people of war"(v. 1).
The Lord also told Joshua to use an ambush and take advantage of Ai's self-confidence stemming from Israel's first defeat (7:1-5). Finally, God gave the soldiers the right to claim the spoils, but they were to burn the city. Had Achan waited only a few days, he could have picked up all the wealth that he wanted. God always gives His best to those who leave the choice with Him. When we run ahead of the Lord, we usually rob ourselves and hurt others.
The Lord also gave Joshua a word of promise (Josh. 8:1c). "I have given" was God's promise and Joshua's guarantee of victory as long as he obeyed the instructions of the Lord. "God never made a promise that was too good to be true," said evangelist D.L. Moody; but every promise must be claimed by faith. Unless the promises of God are "mixed with faith" (Heb. 4:2), they accomplish nothing. Because Israel acted presumptuously in their first attack against Ai, they failed miserably. The promises of God make the difference between faith and presumption.
You can never exaggerate the importance of the Christian soldier spending time daily in the Word of God. Unless daily we take the sword of the Spirit by faith (Eph. 6:17), we go into the battle unarmed and therefore unprepared. Spiritually minded believers are victorious because they allow the Word of God to "saturate" their minds and hearts. The Spirit using the Word controls their desires and decisions and this is the secret of victory.
Years later after the conquest of the land of Canaan, Joshua in his last words to the people just before he died in Joshua 23:14 was: “And now I am about to go the way of all the earth, and you know in your hearts and souls, all of you, that not one word has failed of all the good things that the LORD your God promised concerning you. All have come to pass for you; not one of them has failed.”
My friend, you can always trust in the promises of God in His Word!
God bless!
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