Joshua: Entering God's Promised LandSample

Driving through Yellowstone National Park, you’ll see beautiful mountains against a bright blue sky, rolling hills, and tall grass on either side of the road. You might stop and take pictures. But you have to be careful where you stop. Whether you see bison, moose, or elk, you don’t want to stop with half the herd on either side. If your car has accidentally separated a mother from her calf–bison, moose, or elk–she may attack, and an otherwise docile animal will become extremely dangerous. She will fight with everything she has for her child.

This is the picture we need to keep in mind as we read about Israel defeating the enemies of God in the land he promised them. A moose calf is defenseless; its mother fights for it. Israel is small compared to the people who inhabit the land. The spies Moses sent in forty years before said so! “They’re giants and we can’t go against them,” the ten spies said. In Joshua 7, an Israelite man disobeyed God, and for that reason, God allowed their enemies to defeat them. Only when God is with Israel, fighting for Israel, can they succeed.

Maybe today you’re facing something too big, too hard, for you to fight on your own. Maybe it is the fear that comes from a bad diagnosis, the shame of hidden sin, or the loneliness of loss or divorce. God’s covenant with Israel was based on their obedience, but through Christ, God has made a new covenant with us, promising to live in us through his Holy Spirit. God is for us; who can be against us? (Romans 8:31-39) Whatever you’re facing today, trust in God to fight for you, as he did on the cross, defeating sin and death through Christ’s death and resurrection.

Pray: Dear God, I trust you to lead me, guide me, and fight for me. I can’t fight this battle alone. Help me to trust your promise that all of this will work out for my good. Amen.