Joshua 10:8 KJV: And the Lord said unto Joshua, Fear them not: for I have delivered them into thine hand; there shall not a man of them stand before thee. NCV: The Lord said to Joshua, “Don’t be afraid of those armies, because I will hand them over to you. None of them will be able to stand against you.”
Dorothy: [Suggest reading Joshua 10, the famous story about the sun].When I read that verse, I had a question: how would the Lord delivered the armies into Joshua’s hand? So I read on and found few things interesting to share what the Lord had done. Joshua and his army marched all night from Gilgal for a surprise attack. The Lord “confused” those armies when Israel attacked, so Israel defeated them in a great victory at Gibeon. The story went on about Israel chased the enemies and how the Lord “threw large hailstones from the sky” on the enemies.
On that special day, the huge armies of Amorites faced to Israelites and Joshua stood before all the people of Israel. Joshua prayed to the Lord for the sun to stand still over Gibeon and the moon to stand still over the Valley of Aijalon so Joshua and armies of Israel could continue to fight until the Israel defeated their enemies. What happened to the sun? The sun stopped in the middle of the day and waited to go down for a full day. That has never happened before that day since. That was the day the Lord listened to a human being. Truly the Lord was fighting for Israel!
Joshua said to his men, “Fear not, nor be dismayed, be strong and of good courage.” Those are the words of encouragement to his men who had been in a war for a long time and to claim the land that the Lord had promised to give to His people. The land was finally divided among the tribes as shown in rest of the story of Joshua.
The Lord gave Israel peace from their enemies around them. Many years passed, and Joshua grew very old and it was almost time for him to die. He called a meeting and gave his last words to encourage them. Joshua said, “You know and fully believe that the Lord has done great things for you. You know that He has not failed to keep any of His promises. Every good promise that the Lord your God made has come true, and in the same way, his other promises will come true. You must be careful to love the Lord your God.” Joshua gave his long speech and when he was finished, he sent the people back to their land. Joshua lived to be 110 years old.
What does this means to me and how does this apply to us?
Joshua prayed for a miracle and God answered his prayer. We, as believers are encouraged to pray for the Lord to work in extraordinary ways. The story of Joshua about the sun to stand still, really we know it was the earth that stands still, not the sun. But the Lord understood Joshua’s prayer. That makes me feels good to know that sometimes our prayers isn’t always perfect, but God understood us. He sees our hearts.
If you are facing spiritual battles, remember God’s word, “Fear not, I have delivered your enemies unto your hand to defeat them.” Lord, we thank You for the words of encouragement that You are a great God. Through the blood of Jesus and in Your name we have defeat our spiritual enemies. Thank You for the story that tells us about what You have done to Israel in the old days. Amen!
