March 25, 2017. Joshua 9-11.

 

Recorded in the book of Joshua are some of the most incredible and unimaginable tales of victory.  In each one, God proves His faithfulness and power in a unique way.  In Joshua 10 one such occurrence is preserved.

After the battles of Jericho and Ai and the victories he experienced, Joshua and his people were among the most feared. The Gibeonites decided it would be a wiser decision to become aligned with Joshua, and so that is what they did. 

In Chapter 10, the other nations decided to try and make an example of Gibeon for making a treaty of peace with Israel.  Thy joined forces and planned to attack, but God was already a thousands steps ahead.  The Lord intervened and allowed Israel to prevail.

12 On the day the Lord gave the Amorites over to Israel, Joshua said to the Lord in the presence of Israel:

“Sun, stand still over Gibeon,

    and you, moon, over the Valley of Aijalon.”

13 So the sun stood still,

    and the moon stopped,

    till the nation avenged itself on its enemies, as it is written in the Book of Jashar.

The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day. 

14 There has never been a day like it before or since, a day when the Lord listened to a human being. Surely the Lord was fighting for Israel!

Prayer is a powerful thing.  Joshua made an earnest plea until the Lord to make the sun and moon stop moving for an entire day.  Humans are so small and insignificant compared to the All-mighty God we serve and yet He takes the time to listen to our individual prayers, to the pleas of our hearts.  Always remember that fact.  God is listening to you; every request, every heart ache, every cry for help.  His response to you might not always be on the grand scale of stopping the sun in the sky for a full day so you can finish destroying your enemies.  It might be something only you notice, a still small voice encouraging you. God is always listening and always working.  Continue to converse with Him daily through prayer and the reading of His word, and look for those moments when God is stopping the sun in your life through the blessings He has already bestowed upon you.  Joshua recognized that all of his victories came from the Lord, and so he trusted God to continue to provide and protect him and his people.