WordLive - Year OneSample

Prepare: In times when you have tried to do something, but despite your best efforts things haven’t worked out, you may have wondered, ‘Why did God allow that?’ You share that experience with Joshua in today’s story. Disastrous attack At the start of this passage ‘the Israelites acted unfaithfully’ (v 1) and these simple words are the key to interpreting what happens next. Joshua was a warrior, used to planning military actions. So as a commander he does his calculations and collects some intelligence on his enemy’s strength, apparently not as significant as he first thought (v 3). Acting on this, his attack is a disaster, 3,000 men are killed and Israel suffers an ignominious, very public defeat. Joshua is devastated and ‘the hearts of the people melted’ (v 5, NIV) with the news. Automatic pilot What went wrong? Joshua leads the people in prayer asking God why he allowed this to happen (v 7). He tries to turn it back on God by saying that this event will reflect on him (v 9)! Joshua does not even consider it might have been his fault and not God’s. He didn’t recognise that he’d relied on his own strength. It is easy to live life on ‘automatic pilot’, taking decisions based on what we see and understand, rather than on what God sees and understands. God does not want to overrule our gifts and abilities, he wants us to use them for his glory and purposes rather than for our own ends. Respond: God always wants the best for us, to trust in his power and not rely on our human strength. Pray that God will enable you to see through his eyes to work for his glory. http://www.wordlive.org/Session/Classic/2012-05-21