"So the Lord gave to Israel all the land of which He had sworn to give to their fathers, and they took possession of it and dwelt in it. The Lord gave them rest all around, according to all that He had sworn to their fathers. And not a man of all their enemies stood against them; the Lord delivered all their enemies into their hand. Not a word failed of any good thing which the Lord had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass.”
Joshua 21:43-45 NKJV
In July, 1969, I watched as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first men to walk on the moon. Now, the moon is a hostile environment for human beings. So, what made their walk-watched-around-the-world possible, was their space suits.
A proper space suit must provide breathable oxygen along with carbon dioxide elimination. Also, it must control for a stable internal pressure. To maintain a proper temperature, the spacesuit must be extremely well-insulated. In addition to the life-sustaining provisions of the space suit, there is also a communication system and means to capture and contain bodily waste. Additionally, technological advancements have outfitted the space suit with a lot of bells and whistles. But—no matter what else the space suit may accommodate—the main purpose is to allow a person to operate in a hostile environment they could not otherwise survive.
Now, either I’ve suddenly taken on an unexplainable interest in space suits, or I’m heading towards some point germane to our “40 Days in the Wilderness.” Of course, it is the latter.
You see, as I have commented previously in our 40 day journey, this world is a wilderness to us. Whereas the Lord created it for man, giving man dominion over it, through Sin, man lost his ability to righteously rule over a world gone crazy.
But praise be to God, as we discussed a couple of days ago, Jesus Christ came as a man and triumphed over the world, the flesh, and the Devil. By extension, He has afforded us authority over the same enemies. However, in that we still occupy flesh vehicles and live in a fallen world, we are limited in terms of our ability to exercise complete dominance over the powers that be.
The wonderful news is that the work of the Cross and the infilling of the Holy Spirit have provided us with a sort of “space suit” through which we are able to navigate the treacherous evil now at work in the wilderness of this world. Indeed, although the kingdom of God is not currently seen as exercising complete control over the whole world, we are able to be surrounded by God’s rule: a zone of defense against this wilderness until we successfully finish our journey, and are welcomed into the presence of the Lord.
Interestingly, we see that Abraham—although he walked into all that the Lord had promised him—still operated as a stranger and a pilgrim; he was still headed somewhere.
By faith he [Abraham] dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.”
Hebrews 11:9-10 NKJV
Indeed, even though we are secure in Christ, we must yet operate knowing that this is not our final place of rest.
“Dear friends, I warn you as “temporary residents and foreigners” to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls.”
1 Peter 2:11 NLT
In today’s opening scripture we see that the Lord fulfilled His promise to the children of Israel, bringing into their place of rest, those who were obedient to His will.
Just so, we—having been given the hope of Heaven—must walk in obedience to the Lord. Indeed, the Lord has given us all we need to survive this environment that is hostile against the children of God.
And, know this, as He did for the children of Israel, just so, the Lord will lead us to our permanent place of promise: our eternal home!
“Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came to me and talked with me, saying, “Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb’s wife.” And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal.”
Revelation 21:9-11 NKJV
“Now the children of Israel heard someone say, “Behold, the children of Reuben, the children of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh have built an altar on the frontier of the land of Canaan, in the region of the Jordan—on the children of Israel’s side.” And when the children of Israel heard of it, the whole congregation of the children of Israel gathered together at Shiloh to go to war against them.”
Joshua 22:11-12 NKJV
In the 2003 State of the Union address, George W. Bush spoke the following words:
“The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.”
These words would eventuate Operation Iraqi Freedom and the subsequent occupation of Iraq by the United States.
Sadly, the effects of this war further destabilized the Middle East and had untold unintended tragic consequences. Additionally, this war cost tens of thousands of lives as well billions of dollars—and in the end—no evidence of weapons of mass destruction were ever found.
This is not meant to be a commentary on the Iraqi War, but rather, a commentary on the dangers of jumping to conclusions. Whereas there may have been other valid reasons to deal with Saddam Hussein, the premise for the whole Iraqi War seems to have been baseless. But, a bell was rung that cannot be un-rung.
“He who answers a matter before he hears it, It is folly and shame to him.”
Proverbs 18:13 NKJV
We cannot allow the enemy of our soul to cause us to, at best, waste our energy, or, at worst, to do irreparable damage without a cause.
We are living in a time of intense pressure. We must not let the anxiety and hyper vigilance a pressurized situation can produce to cause us to make a terrible error.
Indeed, the children of Israel nearly allowed a false perception to end tragically. And that brings us to today.
We see in our opening scripture that word had come to the other tribes of the children of Israel that Ruben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh, were building their own altar in defiance to the altar at the tabernacle. Their immediate response to this news was to mobilize for war. Thankfully, cool heads prevailed. Before mounting an all out assault, the children of Israel decided to ask the altar builders what they were doing. The altar builders explained that they were not trying to usurp the official altar with the tabernacle, and they had no intention of using it for burnt offerings. Rather, they were afraid that because they were on the other side of the Jordan from the other tribes, at some point, other generations (on the other side of the Jordan) might question whether they were really a part of Israel. This replica altar was to be a remedy for that possible eventuality.
“Therefore we said that it will be, when they say this to us or to our generations in time to come, that we may say, ‘Here is the replica of the altar of the Lord which our fathers made, though not for burnt offerings nor for sacrifices; but it is a witness between you and us.’ Far be it from us that we should rebel against the Lord, and turn from following the Lord this day, to build an altar for burnt offerings, for grain offerings, or for sacrifices, besides the altar of the Lord our God which is before His tabernacle.” Now when Phinehas the priest and the rulers of the congregation, the heads of the divisions of Israel who were with him, heard the words that the children of Reuben, the children of Gad, and the children of Manasseh spoke, it pleased them. So the thing pleased the children of Israel, and the children of Israel blessed God; they spoke no more of going against them in battle, to destroy the land where the children of Reuben and Gad dwelt.”
Joshua 22:28-30, 33 NKJV
Here, the children of Israel were getting ready to settle down for a period of peace, and they almost had a Civil War because of jumping to a conclusion. Let us never do the devils work by failing to hear the whole story.
Tomorrow we will look back on our “40 Days in the Wilderness.” But, for today write this in your “wilderness journal”:
Hear the whole story before reacting.
“So it was, when they brought out those kings to Joshua, that Joshua called for all the men of Israel, and said to the captains of the men of war who went with him, “Come near, put your feet on the necks of these kings.” And they drew near and put their feet on their necks.”
Joshua 10:24 NKJV
I was watching a very funny video showing a tiny miniature dachshund throwing his “weight” around at a much larger dog that seems to be very afraid of him. Now, this video takes my mind back to something similar I observed earlier in my life.
When I was a little girl we had a dog named Cricket. She was a mixed-breed dog, colored up like a German Shepherd, but furry with a pointy face like a Spitz. Well, when Cricket was getting older we took in a male puppy who seemed to be a yellow German Shepherd. Cricket—although generally very ornery—graciously accommodated to Fella, the yellow German Shepherd.
Interestingly, even after he got big and scary-looking, this now ferocious guard dog, still humbled himself to Cricket, walking softly before her.
It would seem that because Fella was first acquainted with her when he was a gangly, lost puppy, he came to see Cricket as the “alpha” in their little pack. And, he never saw her any differently than he did when he was a puppy. Cricket definitely ruled in that relationship.
Any adult who has gone back to visit their grammar school, will have an interesting assessment: somehow the building is so much smaller than you remember. Why? Well, when you were a child, it was “larger” compared to you; but now, revisiting these big halls and cavernous rooms, you may find the halls narrower than you thought, and the rooms, not that cavernous after all.
The story of Cricket and Fella, and the concept of revisiting the school of your youth, share a common moral: sometimes, perspective is everything.
“And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.”
Romans 16:20 NKJV
We may read scriptures like the one above and wonder how that could possibly be true. Fact is, a lot of people, even a lot of Christians, spend much of their time being beat up by the devil. Now, I believe that a great part of the reason we stay so beat up by one who is said to have been conquered by our Lord, is that we don’t see the authority that has been invested in us, we don’t see ourselves as stronger than our enemy.
“You have put all things in subjection under his feet.” For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing that is not put under him. But now we do not yet see all things put under him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.”
Hebrews 2:8-9 NKJV
In the above scripture the writer of Hebrews is explaining that all things were put under the feet of man. Now, we know that original Sin shifted the power balance in the direction of the enemy of our soul. However, through Jesus Christ, we now again have dominion over the forces of evil. But, as the scripture goes on to say, we don’t currently see ourselves as having all things under our feet; but the writer explains that we do see Jesus. You see, Jesus has conquered the works of the enemy of our soul. And, with that being the case, we have only to look to Him and believe that His work has changed our position from pauper—begging for the enemy to leave us alone—to prince, speaking the word of authority that breaks the strong holds with which the devil tries to bind us.
“Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.” And He said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.”
Luke 10:17-19 NKJV
Jesus truly shares His victory with us; we—through Him—can take authority over the works of the enemy of our soul.
“And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.””
Matthew 28:18-20 NKJV
Think of it: our Lord, as a flesh man, won the authority He now shares with those who believe in Him. But, it’s sad, if not tragic, when we fail to believe that we do have the authority to rule over our enemy. And that brings us to today.
Today we find Joshua bringing out the five kings responsible for the attack against the children of Israel. He then has the leaders of the men of war put their feet on the kings’ necks. Joshua explains to them why he is having them do this:
“Then Joshua said to them, “Do not be afraid, nor be dismayed; be strong and of good courage, for thus the Lord will do to all your enemies against whom you fight.””
Joshua 10:25 NKJV
Joshua wanted them to understand the power and authority that comes with being the children of God, walking in what He says we can do.
“He will subdue the peoples under us, And the nations under our feet.”
Psalms 47:3 NKJV
Let us not go one more day viewing the forces that come against us as having power over us, or seeing ourselves as being somehow weaker, helpless to defend ourselves against a power our Lord has already defeated!
For today write this in your “wilderness journal”:
The enemy is under our feet.