Joshua 6-10

The story of Joshua is definitely one fit for a man...on the surface, at least. The lesson, however, is one that all of us need to learn. It is not easy, by any means, but Joshua and his men are the epitome of the pay-off. We need to learn to be willing to drop EVERYTHING to follow God and His commands. By "everything," that includes, but is not limited to, our time, resources, efforts, but especially everything in us that pulls us away from God's commands. He told them not to take any of the riches from the city, for the city and all that was in it belonged to the Lord. They did not listen. The more we give in to the pull of our human nature, the less God is present in our lives and the more punishment is bestowed upon us to take His place. Now, in Joshua's time, things were much more drastic. You died for going against the Lord's commands. But, even now-a-days, when we fail to obey the Lord's instructions, there are always consequences. The gaping hole that we leave open in our lives when we move the Lord out in an effort to fulfill our own will is inevitably going to be filled with evil. There is right and there is wrong, there is not middle ground. Right leads to blessings and wrong always leads to consequences. What is of the Lord and commanded by the Lord is right, all else is wrong. When you leave the Lord to fulfill any even miniscule desire, you are on your own. You are basically proclaiming that you are your own God. You are what is most important when it comes to whatever that choice pertains to. God can only dwell where He is number one. When we rely solely on ourselves as Joshua did when he made the treaty, things may appear one way, but in fact do nothing but put a kink in the Lord's plan. We have to consult Him for everything. When we consult Him, we have to be prepared to whole-heartedly commit to the answer He gives us. Sometimes our human minds can not be wrapped around a justification as to why the Lord is asking us to do something, but that is because we have our limits in mind. We live inside a box of human possibilities. The things Joshua and his men did when they were committed to following the Lord were astounding! As humans, most of us believe that kind of success to be so far out of the realm of possibility for us that we don't even try. It says over and over again that the cities, their rulers and people were delivered into Joshua's hands. Were Joshua and his men responsible for that; did they cause that to happen? No. That was the Lord, plain and simple. All it took on Joshua's part was complete and utter obedience to what the Lord said to do; no matter how crazy. I mean, seriously, if I had been asked to march around a city for seven days and blow trumpets and expect a wall to crumble, I think I might seek out some professional help and some good medication. It is not something I would ever believe was possible, however, Joshua believed and obeyed and the Lord did the rest. He took what was humanly impossible and made it happen through a body of reverent, obedient men. When the Lord does do something great through us, we can not forget that it was all Him. Joshua continues to say, "The Lord has delivered them into our hands." He doesn't allow his ego to overtake Him. That is why the Lord was able to work through him. He also gained earthly success because to the non-believers, he did what was impossible. We as believers need to know in our heart of hearts and spread the word that nothing is impossible with God leading you.