How God Handles His Enemies.
Memory Verse:
'I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. '
John 15:5
Sermon Sentence: Realize who God is and the immense protection and provision that comes from being in His presence and in relationship with Him
'I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. '
John 15:5
Sermon Sentence: Realize who God is and the immense protection and provision that comes from being in His presence and in relationship with Him
Day 1
Read Joshua 9:1-15
Bible characters come in all sorts of types and ways. What we often do when reading the Bible is automatically think that what the character is doing must be an example for us to follow. But the Bible also includes the bad examples, the ones we are not supposed to follow. The first few chapters of Joshua leaves us with the vibes that this guy is a pretty strong leader that seems to be getting more right than he is wrong. In fact, it is almost like the text feels the need to really hammer down the quality of his leadership being that he is following the great leader Moses.
This story really reeks of a bad leadership moment and on one hand feels like it has inserted a totally different incompetent leader in the place of this incredible guy named Joshua that really was dialed into following the Lord. There are missteps everywhere here. I mean, they actually discuss that the very plot they are falling for could be a lie…and it is! But yet the decision is made. Who fails here? The leaders fail…Joshua fails…there is no struggle trying to figure out where this one lands. There is plenty of blame to go around. And then, just in case you don’t get the point, the writer tells us they did not even seek the counsel of the Lord.
Do you remember a time in your life when you were quick to a decision without “seeking the counsel of the Lord?”
What happened in that decision? Did you have to live with the consequences or were you given the grace to make things right?
What have you learned from that time in your life?
How does this become part of your prayer today?
Bible characters come in all sorts of types and ways. What we often do when reading the Bible is automatically think that what the character is doing must be an example for us to follow. But the Bible also includes the bad examples, the ones we are not supposed to follow. The first few chapters of Joshua leaves us with the vibes that this guy is a pretty strong leader that seems to be getting more right than he is wrong. In fact, it is almost like the text feels the need to really hammer down the quality of his leadership being that he is following the great leader Moses.
This story really reeks of a bad leadership moment and on one hand feels like it has inserted a totally different incompetent leader in the place of this incredible guy named Joshua that really was dialed into following the Lord. There are missteps everywhere here. I mean, they actually discuss that the very plot they are falling for could be a lie…and it is! But yet the decision is made. Who fails here? The leaders fail…Joshua fails…there is no struggle trying to figure out where this one lands. There is plenty of blame to go around. And then, just in case you don’t get the point, the writer tells us they did not even seek the counsel of the Lord.
Do you remember a time in your life when you were quick to a decision without “seeking the counsel of the Lord?”
What happened in that decision? Did you have to live with the consequences or were you given the grace to make things right?
What have you learned from that time in your life?
How does this become part of your prayer today?
Day 2
Read Joshua 9:16-26
This is where the story starts to get a bit complicated. After the Gibeonites trick Joshua and the people into entering into a covenant with them, they are obviously upset and there should be some sort of a penalty here. In the ancient biblical world, they did not just ignore the covenant and declare it void because of the nefarious way that it was brought about. But they are also not about to just let this be an injustice that goes without consideration. The decision that is made is one that we struggle with. They were made to be servants. It was even declared that they would be this for the rest of their known days. Instantly, I am certain all of our American minds go to the outcry of slavery and how this smells an awful lot like that. So how could God do anything like that? Well, it is important to remember this is not the declaration of the Lord, it is the people that make this decision. Is it tough to reconcile? Sure. Does that mean that God is onboard for the ideas of slavery and included it in the Bible? I think that is a tough case to make here.
Joshua is involved here as well. Remember, God has not spoken in the storyline since chapter 8. Joshua, being the leader and the type of person that he is, declares something that even seems to look like grace in this text. The leaders had decided that these trickster Gibeonites would be held in service for the people, to gather wood and water for them. Joshua makes it clear in his speech, that this will be for the purpose of the sacrifice. These people go from being declared for destruction to workers in the presence of God. “Service” here is not to be viewed as the same thing we understand slavery to be. In fact, the next chapter will give us even more of a picture of this as Israel even goes to battle for these people and steps in to protect them.
This is a picture, although not meant to be the most perfect one, of salvation. How is the gospel explained in this picture?
How are we like the Gibeonites in our storyline of our relationship with God and how are we unlike them?
How does this all become part of your prayer today?
This is where the story starts to get a bit complicated. After the Gibeonites trick Joshua and the people into entering into a covenant with them, they are obviously upset and there should be some sort of a penalty here. In the ancient biblical world, they did not just ignore the covenant and declare it void because of the nefarious way that it was brought about. But they are also not about to just let this be an injustice that goes without consideration. The decision that is made is one that we struggle with. They were made to be servants. It was even declared that they would be this for the rest of their known days. Instantly, I am certain all of our American minds go to the outcry of slavery and how this smells an awful lot like that. So how could God do anything like that? Well, it is important to remember this is not the declaration of the Lord, it is the people that make this decision. Is it tough to reconcile? Sure. Does that mean that God is onboard for the ideas of slavery and included it in the Bible? I think that is a tough case to make here.
Joshua is involved here as well. Remember, God has not spoken in the storyline since chapter 8. Joshua, being the leader and the type of person that he is, declares something that even seems to look like grace in this text. The leaders had decided that these trickster Gibeonites would be held in service for the people, to gather wood and water for them. Joshua makes it clear in his speech, that this will be for the purpose of the sacrifice. These people go from being declared for destruction to workers in the presence of God. “Service” here is not to be viewed as the same thing we understand slavery to be. In fact, the next chapter will give us even more of a picture of this as Israel even goes to battle for these people and steps in to protect them.
This is a picture, although not meant to be the most perfect one, of salvation. How is the gospel explained in this picture?
How are we like the Gibeonites in our storyline of our relationship with God and how are we unlike them?
How does this all become part of your prayer today?
Day 3
Read Joshua 10:1-15
Israel is not the only ones that are upset at these Gibeonites for this really bad covenant. All of the Gibeonites' neighbors are pretty upset as well. Gibeon was a fairly large city, the text tells us it is larger than Jericho and Ai. These other kings even think that they could have their own king and be their own nation, so this feels like they are just teaming up with Israel so they can take over the world. They are going to stop this from happening, so they form their own alliance and start to attack Gibeon. This is where the picture starts to show through that maybe we don’t get the full picture of this service that Gibeon was placed under. Why would Israel not just let Gibeon fall to this attack and then they would be rid of the covenant they didn’t want and also maybe some of their other enemies would be dwindled down in that process? That is not how Israel does covenants. So they gather their troops and go in full force to rescue their new covenant partners. That would be pretty amazing if that is all that happens, but notice how God really pulls out all of the stops. He sends hail on the enemies that causes more destruction than the fighting does. There is even a poem recorded in these verses that seems to show that God heard the prayer of Joshua on the Gibeon’s behalf and moved heaven and earth to their advantage. All of those incredible stories of how God protected and provided miraculous events for Israel are now being brought out against the enemies of the people that tricked a covenant relationship out of Israel! God did it for the outsiders. The ones that were only days ago dedicated for destruction and came in conniving and scheming their way into where they didn’t belong. Then, when they really needed God, God unleashed the fullest extent of the power He needed to rout their enemies.
What do you think the lesson is from this section of the story?
How does this matter to you and to your life?
How does this inform your prayers for today?
Israel is not the only ones that are upset at these Gibeonites for this really bad covenant. All of the Gibeonites' neighbors are pretty upset as well. Gibeon was a fairly large city, the text tells us it is larger than Jericho and Ai. These other kings even think that they could have their own king and be their own nation, so this feels like they are just teaming up with Israel so they can take over the world. They are going to stop this from happening, so they form their own alliance and start to attack Gibeon. This is where the picture starts to show through that maybe we don’t get the full picture of this service that Gibeon was placed under. Why would Israel not just let Gibeon fall to this attack and then they would be rid of the covenant they didn’t want and also maybe some of their other enemies would be dwindled down in that process? That is not how Israel does covenants. So they gather their troops and go in full force to rescue their new covenant partners. That would be pretty amazing if that is all that happens, but notice how God really pulls out all of the stops. He sends hail on the enemies that causes more destruction than the fighting does. There is even a poem recorded in these verses that seems to show that God heard the prayer of Joshua on the Gibeon’s behalf and moved heaven and earth to their advantage. All of those incredible stories of how God protected and provided miraculous events for Israel are now being brought out against the enemies of the people that tricked a covenant relationship out of Israel! God did it for the outsiders. The ones that were only days ago dedicated for destruction and came in conniving and scheming their way into where they didn’t belong. Then, when they really needed God, God unleashed the fullest extent of the power He needed to rout their enemies.
What do you think the lesson is from this section of the story?
How does this matter to you and to your life?
How does this inform your prayers for today?
Day 4
Read Joshua 10:16-28
Now that we have all of the study of this week for the context, we get to the part that may be tough. Let’s take a second to recap a few stories in this book to make sure that we understand it all. Rahab was the prostitute that was living in Jericho and asked to be saved from destruction with that city. She was given that salvation. Achan was a man that was a part of Israel and decided to sacrifice his family for a few things that his heart desired. The Gibeonites were a people that were desperate for their lives and tried to do everything they could to not be destroyed by Israel, and it worked. But these other kings are enemies that never ask for mercy, show mercy, or are presented in a good light in the Bible. Sure, we don’t get the full story of who they are and how bad they were, but what we do know is that God is compassionate and slow to anger, willing to offer to any enemy salvation if they just seek it from Him. Whatever the full backstory, these enemies of God chose to relentlessly defy God and His ways and move against His people that He has already declared supernatural protection for. Like Pharaoh, they never soften their hearts.
It is not encouraging and it is not a great devotion to motivate you through the day you are about to face, or are winding down from facing, but it is in the Bible. It is in there for a reason. Life apart from God is nothing but what leads to death. That is the story of the Bible from cover to cover. Sin will be punished and all of the ways against God must either decide to continue in rebellion, accepting their fate of the destruction they have chosen, or turn to God who loves and longs for all to surrender to Him offering them life and salvation.
Do you struggle with these stories like this, and if so why?
What do you think the lesson to learn for your life is?
How does this study today become part of your prayer?
Now that we have all of the study of this week for the context, we get to the part that may be tough. Let’s take a second to recap a few stories in this book to make sure that we understand it all. Rahab was the prostitute that was living in Jericho and asked to be saved from destruction with that city. She was given that salvation. Achan was a man that was a part of Israel and decided to sacrifice his family for a few things that his heart desired. The Gibeonites were a people that were desperate for their lives and tried to do everything they could to not be destroyed by Israel, and it worked. But these other kings are enemies that never ask for mercy, show mercy, or are presented in a good light in the Bible. Sure, we don’t get the full story of who they are and how bad they were, but what we do know is that God is compassionate and slow to anger, willing to offer to any enemy salvation if they just seek it from Him. Whatever the full backstory, these enemies of God chose to relentlessly defy God and His ways and move against His people that He has already declared supernatural protection for. Like Pharaoh, they never soften their hearts.
It is not encouraging and it is not a great devotion to motivate you through the day you are about to face, or are winding down from facing, but it is in the Bible. It is in there for a reason. Life apart from God is nothing but what leads to death. That is the story of the Bible from cover to cover. Sin will be punished and all of the ways against God must either decide to continue in rebellion, accepting their fate of the destruction they have chosen, or turn to God who loves and longs for all to surrender to Him offering them life and salvation.
Do you struggle with these stories like this, and if so why?
What do you think the lesson to learn for your life is?
How does this study today become part of your prayer?
Day 5
Read Joshua 10:29-43
Yesterday’s reading showed us the beginnings of this conquest and how the majority of the nations in the southern conquest was weakened. This campaign then continued on as all of the nations in this story are captured and their kings defeated. There is not much more to these stories than what was covered yesterday. So continue to think about these verses. If you have questions, I want to encourage you to reach out and ask them. You should wrestle with these truths and we should not be afraid of really trying to understand the Bible.
How does this become your prayer today?
Yesterday’s reading showed us the beginnings of this conquest and how the majority of the nations in the southern conquest was weakened. This campaign then continued on as all of the nations in this story are captured and their kings defeated. There is not much more to these stories than what was covered yesterday. So continue to think about these verses. If you have questions, I want to encourage you to reach out and ask them. You should wrestle with these truths and we should not be afraid of really trying to understand the Bible.
How does this become your prayer today?
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