WordLive - Year OneSample

Prepare: Can you recall moments when you have felt a particular closeness and intimacy with God; times when he has made his presence known in a particularly significant way? Reflect on what those times have meant to you. Holy encounter This seems like a strange interlude in the story. It reminds us of other moments of holy encounter – face-to-face meetings with the Lord or his messenger – in the Old Testament: Abraham at the oaks of Mamre (Genesis 18), Jacob at the Jabbok (Genesis 32) and Isaiah in the Temple (Isaiah 6). What is the purpose of such encounters? They are moments when God establishes beyond any doubt who is in control. He sets the agenda. Let God be God That is so here too as Joshua meets the commander of the army of the Lord (v 14). His question (v 13) is entirely reasonable: whose side are you on? But the reply he gets must have stunned Joshua: ‘neither’. He is on God’s side, and God’s alone. Joshua doesn’t get much of an answer to his second question either (v 14): no instruction for the next stage of the campaign, only a simple command to take off his shoes as he’s already fallen face down on the ground. This is a simple but profound call to holiness and commitment, and to let God be God, and to give him the first place that is his due. Respond: We mustn’t try to recruit God to our causes, but dedicate ourselves to his. Take time now to commit yourself afresh to the cause of his kingdom. http://www.wordlive.org/Session/Classic/2012-02-08