Month: August 2021

Joshua 5:13-15 MSG And then this, while Joshua was there near Jericho: He looked up and saw right in front of him a man standing, holding his drawn sword. Joshua stepped up to him and said, “Whose side are you on—ours or our enemies’?” ¹⁴ He said, “Neither. I’m commander of God’s army. I’ve just arrived.” Joshua fell, face to the ground, and worshiped. He asked, “What orders does my Master have for his servant?” ¹⁵ God’s army commander ordered Joshua, “Take your sandals off your feet. The place you are standing is holy.”  Joshua did it. 

Proverbs 3:5-6 MSG  Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own.  Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; He’s the one who will keep you on track. 

Observation 

Let’s consider who this commander of God’s army might be.  I believe it was Jesus.  He allowed Joshua to fall down and worship Him, something an angel would not do, and Jesus is identified as the commander of God’s army in Revelation (Revelation 19:9-16 NIV).  Regardless, any meeting with any angel must have been a jarring, overwhelming experience since the glory of God often accompanied them (Luke 2:8-10).  This man must have exuded the appearance, confidence and presence of a mighty warrior for Joshua to accept his self-identification as the commander of God’s army.   

It was a common practice for armies to take their gods with them into battle.  The gods worshipped by mighty conquering armies were seen as fearsome and powerful.  The Israelites carried the Ark of the Covenant into battle, but the Ark was more than some weapon or token of supernatural backing.  The Ark carried the presence of the one true almighty God who gave them victory as they engaged the battles He called them to fight.  When the man says, “Neither,” he is giving Joshua a third side to choose. 

“What orders does my Master have for his servant?”  Joshua took the third side – God’s side – and did not hesitate to submit his authority to God’s commander.  He had seen enough of the ways of God in Egypt, in the wilderness and crossing over Jordan to adopt God’s plan without hesitation.  The battle plan for Jericho was going to be fought with the weapons of obedience, faith, and submission to the same God who brought them out of Egypt and through the wilderness. 

Impact On Me 

How often do I only see or consider two sides – my side and the opposing one?  How often do I assume that God is on my side rather than ensuring that I am on His?  How often do I launch into battle without seeking God for His battle plan?  Jesus consistently shocked His disciples by challenging what was considered pleasing to God, choosing His side.  Which of us would come up with a salvation plan that starred a meek and humble man, a troublemaker rejected by the accepted religious authorities, a crucified Savior?   

“Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own.”  In my experience, choosing God’s side is not always easy, comfortable, safe or logical.  I had to learn the hard way that I was not always going to understand or be my version of successful or even be liked in my faithfulness.  At the very least, my pride will have to die in submitting to Jesus as Lord.  I want to be like Joshua at this moment and like Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane when the time comes to choose sides. 

Prayer

Almighty, All-Wise, Merciful God, Your battle plan for redeeming humankind may not make sense to me but I choose Your side, Your plan, Your weapons.  Train me to recognize how to use love, grace, mercy, forgiveness, humility, kindness and all Your other virtues as weapons to fight Your battles for the souls You desire to save.  Change my definition of success to align with Yours.  May I clearly hear and quickly obey Your commands on each and every battlefield where You send me.  I ask it all in the name of Jesus.  Make it so. 

Mark 4:35-41 PHILLIPS   On the evening of that day, He said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side of the lake.”  So they sent the crowd home and took Him with them in the little boat in which He had been sitting, accompanied by other small craft.  Then came a violent squall of wind which drove the waves aboard boat until it was almost swamped.  Jesus was in the stern asleep on the cushion.  They awoke Him with words, “Master, don’t You care that we’re drowning?”  And He woke up, rebuked the wind, and said to the waves, “Hush now!  Be still!”  The wind dropped and everything was very still.  “Why are you so frightened?  What has happened to your faith?!’ He asked them.  But sheer awe swept over them and they kept saying to each other, “Who ever can He be? – even the wind and waves do what He tells them!” 

From the Jesus Storybook Bible:

“Jesus stood up and spoke to the storm.  “Hush!,” He said.  That’s all.  And the strangest thing happened….  The wind and the waves recognized Jesus’ voice.  (They had heard it before, of course – it was the same voice that made them in the beginning.)  They listened to Jesus and they did what He said.   

Immediately the wind stopped.  The water calmed down.  It glittered innocently in the moonlight and lapped quietly against the side of the boat, as if nothing had happened.  The little boat bobbed gently up and down and there was a great quiet all around.  Then Jesus turned to His wind-torn friends.  “Why were you so scared?” He asked.  “Did you forget Who I AM?  Did you believe your fears instead of me?” 

Jesus’ friends were quiet – as quiet as the wind and the waves.  And into their hearts came a different kind of storm.  “What kind of man is this?” they asked themselves anxiously.  “Even the wind and the waves obey Him!” they said because they didn’t understand.  They didn’t realize yet that Jesus was the Son of God. 

Jeus’ friends had been so afraid they had only seen the big waves.  They had forgotten that, if Jesus was with them, they had nothing to be afraid of.  NO MATTER HOW SMALL THEIR BOAT OR HOW BIG THE STORM.  [Excerpted from the JESUS STORYBOOK BIBLE] 

Observation 

This lake was familiar to them, and was their usual fishing grounds.  As fishermen, they knew how to handle a boat in rough water and how to judge the weather to know when a storm was coming.  This storm surprised and frightened them with its intensity and their inability to control the situation.  If they were panicky and terrified, it was surely a wild, violent and powerful storm.  Surely they would have thought it strange that Jesus could remain asleep in the chaotic buffeting of this storm, but they were so focused on the wind, the waves and the water washing into the boat that they had stopped thinking. They did expect Jesus to save them if they could wake Him up!

Jesus was teaching them to move their thinking, their understanding, out of the natural – what is humanly possible – into the supernatural – what is possible for God.  When it came time to feed the 5000, Jesus would take a meager and insufficient little boy’s lunch and supernaturally made it more than enough for everyone to eat and be filled.   When the incurably sick came, Jesus would heal every disease, changing them from unclean to clean by His touch.   This stormy trip would prove to be another lesson in allowing Jesus to be in control regardless of the circumstances.   

So, here Jesus gives them a dose of truth and grace by asking, “Why were you scared?  Did you forget who I AM?  Did you believe your fears instead of me?”  Then, instead of bringing the boat under control, He calms the sea.  He wanted them to understand, to embrace, that all needs, all circumstances, all storms, all insufficiencies, all scary situations are subject to God’s power and authority in and through Him.  “Jesus’ friends had been so afraid they had only seen the big waves.  They had forgotten that, if Jesus was with them, they had nothing to be afraid of.  NO MATTER HOW SMALL THEIR BOAT OR HOW BIG THE STORM.” 

Impact On Me 

“Why were you scared?  Did you forget who I AM?  Did you believe your fears instead of me?”  These are questions I revisit in every scary storm of life, every time when there is not enough, every time sickness threatens, every time evil seems to be winning.  So many looked forward to 2021 as a new year where we could leave the stormy times of the past few years behind – years filled with pandemic, death, rioting, rising crime rates, conflict/anger, injustice, political infighting, misinformation/conspiracy theories, war and every other disruption of our “normal fishing grounds”.   So far, 2021 has proven to be more of the same.

For any student of history, all of these are not new; they are part of the human condition, repeated over and over from ancient times – the legacy of that first mutiny by Adam and Eve in the Garden.  Paul tells us that all creation is groaning along with us on our life journey until our hope is fulfilled (Romans 8:22-25 Phillips). The only guarantee now of security and peace in my life, the only foundation on which hope can be built amid the chaos of this world, has been, continues to be and will forever remain this same Jesus that calmed the storm on the Sea of Galilee all those years ago.   

So, when I am buffeted by a storm, I need to stop to revisit the questions above and remember that all creation (seen and unseen, emotional/physical, natural/supernatural) is subject to Him.  “The wind and the waves recognized Jesus’ voice.  (They had heard it before, of course – it was the same voice that made them in the beginning.)  They listened to Jesus and they did what He said.”  Jesus has promised to never leave me or forsake me so He will always be in my boat.  Whether He is awake or asleep, when I think my boat is about to be overwhelmed by the storm, I need to go back and sit down next to Jesus, trusting that we will make it to the other side – regardless of the intensity of the storm along the way. 

Prayer

Lord, You are the Creator of all that exists.  You have all authority and power in heaven and earth.  You are executing Your plan created from the foundation of the Earth regardless of how it looks to me.  It is overwhelming to realize the You love and care for me in spite of all I am and do.  How many times have I given in to my fears and run in panic to You or even away from You.  Yet, You still rescue me.  What kind of love is this?  Holy Spirit, renew my mind so that my thinking can move from the natural to the supernatural, that I may see with the eyes of Jesus and understand with the Father’s heart.  Teach me to walk fully in Christ, functioning in my perfect place in His Body, equipped with the weapons of His warfare and always choosing Your side of every battle, keeping my eyes on Jesus regardless of the circumstances swirling around me, content to ride out every storm sitting next to You as You sleep in my boat.  Make it so, in the name of Jesus. 

2 Kings 7:3-7 MSG It happened that four lepers were sitting just outside the city gate. They said to one another, “What are we doing sitting here at death’s door? If we enter the famine-struck city we’ll die. So let’s take our chances in the camp of Aram and throw ourselves on their mercy. If they receive us, we’ll live; if they kill us we’ll die. We’ve got nothing to lose.”

5-7 So after the sun went down they got up and went to the camp of Aram. When they got to the edge of the camp, surprise! Not a man in the camp! The Master had made the army of Aram hear the sound of horses and a mighty army on the march. They told one another, “The king of Israel hired the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Egypt to attack us!” Panicked, they ran for their lives through the darkness, abandoning tents, horses, donkeys – the whole camp just as it was – running for dear life.

Observation

Leprosy is a chronic, progressive bacterial infection primarily affecting the nerves of the extremities (fingers, toes), the skin, the lining of the nose, and the upper respiratory tract, producing skin ulcers, nerve damage, and muscle weakness that untreated causes severe disfigurement and significant disability.  Lepers of this time were pariahs who usually lived in isolated areas, depending upon the benevolence of others, and required to loudly announce their approach so everyone could keep significant social distance.  

We have here four lepers assessing their options as they sit outside the city gates.  The overwhelming army of Aram, known for their cruelty and mercilessness, have blockaded the city until resources are scarce.  The people inside the city are starving and desperate enough to resort to looking to the unthinkable for food.  In good times, lepers depended on the mercy, compassion and benevolence of family and strangers.  Now the resources are so scarce that these lepers know that nothing will be spared for them in the city.  There is only one other place to turn.  “So let’s take our chances in the camp of Aram and throw ourselves on their mercy. If they receive us, we’ll live; if they kill us we’ll die. We’ve got nothing to lose.” 

Imagine the sight!  These four lepers were weak from hunger and disfigured by this disease (perhaps missing fingers, toes, nose) as they struggled to their feet to limp, stumble and hobble toward the enemy camp in the dark.  These four were no part of any battle plan we would consider, but God is not limited by what we consider prudent or possible.  Paul tells us that God uses the weak to confound the wise (1 Corinthians 1:20-31 Phillips) to keep us from glorying in our own talents, abilities, wisdom, accomplishments.  God used these people of negative value to their community to deliver them from the enemy.  “The Master had made the army of Aram hear the sound of horses and a mighty army on the march. They told one another, “The king of Israel hired the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Egypt to attack us!” Panicked, they ran for their lives through the darkness, abandoning tents, horses, donkeys – the whole camp just as it was – running for dear life.”  These four were used by God to deliver the whole city.  This is good for us to remember as we are tempted to judge the value of another’s contribution in accomplishing God’s will and purpose.  

Impact on Me

I am reminded of this story every time I weigh the worth of what I bring to the table to answer God’s call on my life.  I believe that God wants me to be active in seeking Him, reading His Word, studying, preparing myself for service and actually doing good works in His name.  These are all necessary to demonstrate my commitment to Him, but – and this is a big but – He does not NEED my talents, abilities, education, finances, wisdom or anything else of mine to accomplish His will and purposes.  My evidence is these four lepers.  If God can make these stumbling, starving lepers sound like a mighty army, then He can equip me (or anyone else who is willing) to do anything He asks me to do if I will be obedient to get up and go as He directs. 

So, I stopped telling God what I think I need and started asking Him to show me what He thinks I need.  He first tells me that I need to know what He really did for me on the Cross.  Knowing this equips me with righteousness, peace, joy and all the weapons I need for warfare.  Then I hear He needs my willingness to trust in Him and faithfully obey His leading, knowing that He will go with me and provide all I need to do His work.  Like these four lepers, I need to get up and go in the direction God sends me.  I need to bring all I have and am, put it on the table which is God’s altar, let Him assess its worth and place in His plan, and freely allow Him to use whatever He can for His glory.

Prayer

I exalt Your name, Oh God, Creator, Redeemer, Eternal, Awesome, Wise, All-Powerful One.  I surrender all I am and have to You for Your will and purposes.  May my life be a praise to You, one of obedient and faithful service, glorifying You in all I am, say and do.  If ever my pride rises up to take any glory from You, remind me of these four lepers; You don’t need my help, but for some reason You have included me in accomplishing Your plans.  I certainly need Your help to do so.  I pray this all in Jesus’ mighty name.  Amen.