The Book Of Joshua - The Sword Of The Lord (Daily Devotional)

Greetings and welcome to Living Supernaturally. Thank you once again for giving us this opportunity to minister God’s word and spend a few moments in prayer. We have been talking about the book of Joshua and today, we will talk about the sword of the Lord. Joshua chapter 5, verses 13 to 15, ‘Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?” “The commander of the Lord’s army replied, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so. “Neither,” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.” Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, “What message does my Lord have for his servant?” The commander of the Lord’s army replied, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.’ The instruction to circumcise the Israelite soldiers made no military sense at all. Blood loss from surgery would weaken the army, it would take extra time for the men to regain their strength but the surgery God required would show God’s strength through Israel’ weakness. Before wielding the sword against the people of Canaan, God used it in a sense on His own people to remind them of their own identity. Since the time of Abraham, circumcision had been a sign of complete, total commitment to God. Before engaging in the battle against Jericho, God called Israel to affirm their commitment, to show they belonged to Him- body, mind and soul. In addition, Joshua learnt from the Lord’s army commander that he had to change the thinking of the people as they prepare for battle and do things God’s way. Joshua boldly approached this mysterious man with a sword. As a shepherd over God’s people, Joshua had the responsibility to see if this armed man was a friend or foe. This expression appears in two other places in the bible, with a reference to an angel who stops Balaam and his donkey and the angel who stands ready to execute punishment for David census. A figure with a drawn sword is not one to be taken lightly. Are you for us or for our enemies, was the question asked by Joshua. This was a logical question but the response of the man was curious and almost vague. No was not a proper answer to Joshua’ question. In a sense, the man refused to answer Joshua’ question because it was not the right question and not the most important question to be asked at that time. The question wasn’t really if the Lord was on Joshua’ side, the proper question was if Joshua and the people of Israel were on the Lord’s side. Joshua’ total submission to the commander shows that he knew this man who was definitely greater in rank. Today, we engage in bringing the gospel of the Lord to people who do not believe in Him. What conditions must we meet before doing so? Must we make sure we get a proper education, gain a backing of a church, be willing to be scorned, have enough time to visit people? All these are important but not enough. The condition is we must die to ourselves and yield to the Lord’s way.

Let’s pray, Father, we thank you for you word and for teaching us to trust and to depend on you. Even though we may have knowledge on how to go about doing things, we completely depend on your Spirit to give us the wisdom to be successful in everything that we do, in Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

Thank you for tuning in to Living Supernaturally, for more resources to strengthen your spiritual walk, please visit apcwo.org.