Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)

“So Joshua went up from Gilgal, he and the whole army with him, including all the mighty men of valor. Yahweh said to Joshua, “Don’t fear them, for I have delivered them into your hands. Not a man of them will stand before you.” Joshua therefore came to them suddenly. He marched from Gilgal all night. Yahweh confused them before Israel. He killed them with a great slaughter at Gibeon, and chased them by the way of the ascent of Beth Horon, and struck them to Azekah and to Makkedah. As they fled from before Israel, while they were at the descent of Beth Horon, Yahweh hurled down great stones from the sky on them to Azekah, and they died. There were more who died from the hailstones than those whom the children of Israel killed with the sword.”
(Joshua 10:7-11)

“Don’t move the ancient boundary stone.
    Don’t encroach on the fields of the fatherless,
for their Defender is strong.
    He will plead their case against you.”
(Proverbs 23:10-11)

“May the high praises of God be in their mouths,
    and a two-edged sword in their hand,
to execute vengeance on the nations,
    and punishments on the peoples;
to bind their kings with chains,
    and their nobles with fetters of iron;
to execute on them the written judgment.
    All his saints have this honor.
Praise Yah!“
(Psalm 149:6-9)

All the peoples of the Land knew their time was up. That they had been removed from the Land by God (Joshua 9:24). All of them had had a relationship with God in the past (Amos 9:7). They were all descended from God-following people (Genesis 10:15-20). They had known who God was. But they had rejected Him. Turned to idols. Worshipping nature and animals. They had embraced Sin and invested in iniquity. God was bringing judgement on them. He was using Israel. He was cutting them out of the Earth like a cancer so that they wouldn’t simply move elsewhere, infect other people, and constantly seek to return and harass Israel. The judgments of God cannot be avoided.

The people in the Land were refusing to abide by what God had decreed. He had given the Land to Abraham and his descendants. They had had hundreds of years to repent of their behaviour and join in worshipping the One True God. It isn’t like other people hadn’t done the same thing before (Joshua 8:34-35). But these people had not answered His call. They had rebelled and resisted and refused to repent. Now they were getting judged. And the Defender of those who were coming in to enact judgment were backed by God. None of us want to set ourselves against God (Hebrews 10:31).

The reason we can praise God for the victory is that Jesus won the victory for us (John 16:33). Our worship of God with our whole hearts means following what He says. Standing where He says to stand and living how He says to live. Engaging with His righteous moral character. Calling good what He says is good and bad what he says is bad. Fleeing from immorality as God sees it. No matter what. By embracing God’s moral character and His standards of behaviour, we are in a place where we can receive honour from God because we glorify Him and honour Him above all.

Summary

We don’t always ‘like’ what God says to us. We don’t always ‘dislike’ what God says is not right or good. We need to make a decision to accept God’s point of view. This is impossible if we are not seeding the Word into our hearts and minds on a daily basis. Not just reading it like a book. Not just taking in words as words. But to study and think on what we are reading. Thinking about the meaning, the implication, and interacting with Holy Spirit to get some real commentary on what He wrote for us (revelation knowledge). This is what keeps our feet on His path. This is what keeps us in the centre of His will. This is what enables us to put down the things the world or our own selves say are good and worthwhile, and ONLY pick up and engage with what GOD says is right and good and uplifting (abundant life).