Joshua 5:13-14 Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?” “Neither” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.” Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, “What message does my Lord have for his servant?”
Joshua was second in command under Moses for the entirety of the forty years of wandering around in the wilderness. He was also one of only two people that left Egypt that was allowed to enter the Promised Land, Caleb being the other. Joshua learned very early on that it was God that was in complete and total control. During the battle against the Amalekites the Bible tells us that Joshua overcame the Amalekites (Exodus 17:13), however in an earlier verse in that chapter we learn that as long as Moses held up his arms the battle went to the Israelites, but when he dropped his arms, the battle turned to the favor of the Amalekites (Exodus 17:11).
Joshua had led the people across the Jordan into the land promised to the Children of Israel where he had seen another reminder that it was God that was in control. God parted the Jorden River just as He had parted the Red Sea that allowed the people to walk across these great bodies of water on dry land (Joshua 4:22-23). These miracles, as well as all the miracles performed by God, were to show Joshua and the rest of the world, then and now, that God is in control and His power is supreme and unmatched. God was reminding Joshua that it was not left to him to try and figure out how to conquer the Promised Land, He should fall before God in humility and follow God’s will not his own.
We all will have to cross some raging river of discouragement, disappointment, or frustration at times during our lives here in this world. When this happens, Satan will try to convince us that God has abandoned us, and we are on our own. The deceiver of all people will offer us some plan that at the moment might seem feasible, but like all things from Satan, this plan will come to nothing. Joshua did exactly what God desired of him, he fell on his face in humility and surrendered his will to the will of God.
You will read in the annals of the Word of God that when the Israelites were in God’s will the battles went well for them, but when they were out of God’s will that was not always the case. The same applies to us today in the many battles we are going to have to face. Like Joshua, if we will surrender our wills to God’s will, the battles we face will go much smoother. This is not to say that the battles will be fewer, we will always face animosity in this sinful world. However, when God is in control and we are surrendered to his will instead of pursuing our own will, the fear and distress will be replaced with faith and confidence.
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