In 2 Corinthians, Paul writes that God always leads us in victory in Christ. I said to God once, “If that’s true, why am I not experiencing victory?” He said, “I’m leading, but are you following?” As humans, we tend to do our own thing and then ask God to bless it. We forge our own paths, try to work out our own problems, and ask God to reinforce our efforts.
In this passage of Joshua, God invites Joshua to follow His lead. This means faith and obedience. Although we’re no longer bound by the Law, obedience still matters. When we go our own way, there’s no promise that God is going to back us up. Even though God is omnipresent, His promise of victory was contingent on obedience. (See the Battle of Ai, Joshua 7.) The invitation God extends is that we submit to Him as King and Loving Savior, and He will exert His power on our behalf to give us victory (Psalm 91 and John 14:15-15:11).
Our culture leans heavily on what we can observe with our five senses and what is testable through valid scientific experiments. And yet, the Bible boldly declares that what is physical is less than what is spiritual the physical came from the spiritual (see Hebrews 11:3). God wants us to give more weight to the reality of His presence than to what we see in our physical circumstances. Faith is not just a matter of taking the Bible at face value, but of having experiential knowledge of God, interacting with Him in intimacy and trust, and seeing His hand at work in our lives. Faith is the ability to see the spiritual reality and give it more weight than our physical circumstances (2 Kings 6:8-19).
To assist Joshua in faith and obedience, God tells him to meditate on His Word. Filling our minds with Scripture will help us to give more weight to what He says is true than what we can outwardly observe. Remember, no matter how big the things are on the physical side of the scale, the smallest bit of Truth about God tips the scale every time!
Carol Hill
Lay Counselor & Prayer Team