God on Our Side

Joshua lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, 

a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand.

And Joshua went to him and said to him,

“Are you for us, or for our adversaries?”

And he said, “No."

– Joshua 5

Who doesn’t want God on their side?  How many political leaders invoke a divine mandate as they send young men off to war, with all the trimmings?  How many of us have witnessed God-talking people inflict abuse and mistreatment on others, all the while prayerfully asking God’s blessing on their god-awful conduct? 

God will wear no one’s T-shirt. 

If anyone has reason to presume the Lord’s favour, Joshua does.  Joshua is the heir apparent to the Mighty Moses, at whose hand the Red Sea parted.  God’s Divine handoff now falls to Joshua.  The Divine Plan of Redemption, predestined before the foundations of the earth were laid to lead his chosen people to the Promised Land is in the hands of an inexperienced, untested protégé, full of faith and fear.  Chapter 1 of the Book of Joshua repeats “ [the Lord] will be with you [Joshua] no fewer than three times, and some form of “Don’t be afraid” at least five.  Moses is dead, and it falls to Joshua to lead these ornery Israelites into the land of milk and honey.  It must come to pass.  It goes back to God’s promise to the patriarch Abraham, and reaffirmed with every generation.  It is the hope of Israel.  Surely God is on Joshua’s side, right? 

Joshua went to him and said to him,

“Are you for us, or for our adversaries?”

And he said, “No."

You see, we align with God; not he with us.  The ends do not justify the means.  We don’t presume God’s favour.  Joshua will learn shortly at the cost of Israeli lives that God’s blessing accompanies the obedience of his people, and to disobedience is dealt discipline. 

When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us, or for our adversaries?” And he said, “No; but I am the commander of the army of the Lord. Now I have come.”

Joshua has just completed his own crossing-of-parted-waters miracle, just like Moses.  Israel has crossed the Jordan to the other side, and the only thing between them and their inheritance are a dozen or so kingdoms ready to fight for their land and families. 

And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, “What does my lord say to his servant?”

Joshua gets it.  Suddenly he knows it’s bigger than his side or his enemies’ side.  As much as it falls on him, Joshua in this moment has one response: to worship. 

And the commander of the Lord's army said to Joshua, “Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.

As Moses was charged with taking off his sandals for standing on holy ground, again all Israel is seeing a divinely appointed man like Moses – the anointing, the parted waters, the holy ground. The plan comes together.  And the plan is fulfilled in yet another like Moses, in whose presence others removed their sandals, so he could wash their feet.  Aligning with God's plan seldom looks like the world thinks it should.  The path up is down.  Humility and service is the path of the King.  

It’s God’s plan.  It’s not Joshua’s or Israel’s or mine or yours.  And that’s a good thing.