The Lord’s Hand
We have a couple of
quick points to get through in Joshua 10 because they relate to the last few
chapters very well. First, notice how we
hear in this passage that the Lord directed Joshua’s hand in the matters of the
conquest. Things go well in this chapter
because Joshua waits upon the direction of the Lord and they go forth and obey
the command of the Lord.
God Is Still In Control
Second, notice how
God uses the discretion regarding the Gibeonites to the favor of the Hebrew
people. Certainly God would have
preferred to do it His way and have none of the Canaanites survive. But the oath being what it was, God takes
every opportunity. When the Canaanite
kings come against the Gibeonites because they made peace and surrendered to
the Hebrew people, God sends the Hebrew people against the five kings. Sure, the Gibeonite oath was not a part of
God’s original plan. But we see again
that God can and will work around the errors of our ways.
Sin vs. Righteousness
Third, notice that we
have people caught up in their sin banding together yet again against a common
enemy? Also notice that we have people
caught up in sin turning upon one another, too.
The five Canaanite kings band together against Gibeon (sin turning upon
sin) and they also fight against the Hebrew people (sin against
righteousness). Again we have validation
of the truth we learned earlier regarding the character and behavior of people
caught up in their sin.
Self-Monger
Moving into the
passage for new learning today, did you notice anything about the name of the
king of Jerusalem? Adoni-zedek. Literally this name translates to “The Lord
of Righteousnes.” Look at how the
leaders of worldly kingdoms draw attention to themselves – even in their
names. It would be one thing if the name
meant “The Lord is Righteousness” or even “The Lord is our Righteousness.” But no, that is not the case. The king of Jerusalem is so welled up with
self-mongerism that he calls himself the “Lord of Righteousness.” No wonder God judged them as guilty! How great must our ego be when we consider
ourselves to be God!
I am reminded of
Philippians 2:6, where we see a true perspective on ego. Christ did not consider equality with God
anything that He should grasp. That is
true relationship with God. Let God be
God, let us be under His dominion.
Yet how often is this
self-mongerism true of us? We may not
name ourselves these things, but we think it, don’t we? How often have I been tempted to think of
myself as a great expounder on the Word?
How often am I tempted to think of myself as a great preacher? How often am I tempted to think of myself as
a great disciple-maker, capable of challenging people and pushing people into a
deeper faith than they ever thought possible?
Oh, how often I have been pushed to the edge of calling myself
Adoni-zedek!
But those thoughts
are not correct in the slightest. Those
thoughts lead only to sin – and they lead that direction pretty quickly! They lead only to the self-monger. They lead only to aligning myself with the
Canaanites and incurring God’s wrath.
The truth is that if
I write anything meaningful in this blog, it is not I who write it but the Holy
Spirit who writes it through me. If I
preach any fruitful sermons it is not I who preach it but the Holy Spirit who
gives me the words to defend the faith the Holy Spirit has placed within me in
the first place! If anyone comes to a
greater place of discipleship through interaction with me, it is not I who make
the disciple but Christ who makes the disciple through using me.
The self-monger is
strong in all of us, and in many respects we all long to be Adoni-zedek. We all have the danger of thinking of
ourselves as the “Lord of Righteousness” in one regard or another. But no, this is not truth. God is the Lord of Righteousness. It is not about how good I am at anything. It is about giving the glory to God. We are merely His slaves who point to Him as
the true Lord. Estauromai - which means,
of course, “I have been crucified.”
Miraculous Events
As if to illustrate
this point, notice that two miraculous events happen in this passage. First, the sun stands still to allow the
battle to be completed without any regrouping happening during the night. Second, hail kills more of the enemy than the
swords of the Hebrew people. Adoni-zedek
and his fighting coalition are slain by the true Adoni! God fights and brings judgment upon those who
think themselves to be equal to God. God
deserves the glory in this story! God
orchestrates the battle and leads His people forth. Praise be to God alone!
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Not long before your visit here, I went through a period of believing my own press. I was on the road to greatness for teaching God's word. Has God ever raised up such a brilliant teacher as me? WOOT! WOOT! I was the new Elijah until God reminded me that 7,000 other men had not bowed the knee to Baal. In God's scheme of things, I'm not important at all. Why, "He can raise sons of Abraham from these stones!" The same John said, "He must increase and I must decrease." I am thankful that God finds me useful. That's my cup and portion. He has also brought men like you into my life for which I am grateful. "This is my story. This is my song..."
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment, Bud. And I wholeheartedly agree. It is easy to get caught up in one's greatness. And there are some who get caught up in it because God has ordained it for them (to be honestly great, not selfishly great). But so far, like you, it is not my portion.
ReplyDeleteAnd I am slowly becoming okay with that. I've recently started playing Christian Rock with a young adult in the congregation. He's a really good guitarist - blows my skills away. But in doing so I have been reminded of just how many bands out there start off with a good, strong Christian message. But then they "make it." They get signed with an album. Now the company they signed with begins to tweak their sound and their style. They begin to have control over some of the words that get used. Their image shifts to what the company says is more sellable. And before long their strong Christian message is a watered down "God loves you." Which, He does, mind you. But God does so much more than just "love me."
I'm growing content to do my part. Whether large or small, whatever Christ has called me to do. I'm not fully there yet. I'm not fully bought in. The self-monger is not yet completely dead. But at least I am on the road.
Thanks for the comment!
I do think its ok to be happy with your own skills, and not be overly modest. There is no shame in taking pleasure in your gifts, especially if you use them for the purpose God gave them in the first place. I would certainly agree that when it becomes pride, the Houston we have a problem.
ReplyDeleteOften people (and I sincerely don't mean you John, who I know well) play down there own skills to actually fish for compliments to boost their pride. So, I do think underplaying your skills and abilities in deference "to the Lord" but secretly coveting the "correction" can be a problem as well.
It's okay, Tom ... to confess I have been known to downplay my own abilities to fish for compliments - especially when those compliments are coming from the direction of my wife. Actually, she's about the only one I do it with any kind of consistency. So even if you were saying that about me, I couldn't deny it when accused in the right context.
ReplyDeleteBut yeah, I totally agree with the danger of "deferring to the Lord" while secretly "building up my ego." Personally, I find that is such a genuinely hard thing to get across without misunderstanding. Because when dealing with just about anyone other than my wife ... I do genuinely want to give God the praise and I don't desire it from them. But how to give that impression and have it be genuine is tough.
Honestly, when people compliment me anymore I think it is one of the reasons why I usually start with "thank you" and end with "so long as the Lord wills it." It gives an impression that the compliment is heard but still turns it back to God. Hopefully that doesn't come across as still fishing for more compliments...
But as you point out, Tom, this is an area frought with landmines of pride!
Its good to give credit to God, after all, but for Him all we do would be for nothing. But, yes, pride is a though thing! -- sort of a gateway drug I think.
ReplyDeletePride may not DIRECTLY hurt the realtionship with others, but the results of it lead to other sins that do. This is why pride goeth before the fall -- it leads to bad things.
In any case, I wasn't poking in my comment more than to say its ok to take pleasure in the gifts God gave us. It's like sex, when done in mariage per God's design its to be enjoyed. But, its not ok to have pride over our gifts.
Hopefully this makes sense, in many ways its all the gray we hate so much (pleasure ok, abuse/pride not). It's hard to be fully "right" or "wrong" on the pride line -- unless it goes too far, at which point you generally know it did, just not how it got there.
Does make sense. And the comparison to sex made me laugh. It's spot-on accurate, so my laugh wasn't because of anything wrong. I was laughing because it was such an applicable analogy that it made your point precisely. It just fit really well.
ReplyDelete