| Whatsoever
Things Are True
by Dan Coburn Pastor, Emmanuel Baptist Church pastordan@mtida.net To my warrior brothers and sisters: In Joshua chapter 2, we read the account of a great battle. You can say it wasn't much of a battle, but it was, and it's one we go through regularly. Some Givens: Jericho was well provisioned and fortified. They had endured many sieges before. No one had taken the city. It had perhaps five internal wells, so water wasn't an concern. One would think they were arrogant right up until the walls fell, but that's not the case. In chapter 2, Joshua himself sends two spies to reconnoiter the city. They find refuge with one Rahab, one of questionable reputation. Most focus on her and her past, but here's what I want you to see today as recorded in vs 9 - 11 because what she reveals is staggering. "And she said unto the men, I know that the Lord hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you. For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you, when ye came out of Egypt; and what ye did unto the two kings of the Amorites, that were on the other side Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom ye utterly destroyed. And as soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did melt, neither did thee remain any more courage in any man, because of you: for the Lord your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath." In other words, what she related to these two spies is this. "We watched you win two big battles you shouldn't have been able to win. For forty years we have watch you wander about in the wilderness, and somehow your God fed you all ---- all two and a half million of you. We even watched the Rock follow you as you went, and each time you set up camp, the Rock watered all of you and your livestock". I keep capitalizing Rock because of 1st Cor. 10:4. How big was that Rock anyway? Did it slide along the desert floor making a wake? Did it levitate? Did it hum like a great light saber? What kind of river would be required to water that many people and their animals? The enemies of God had watched all that. It was the biggest show in town, and the testimony of Rahab bears this out. Let's turn the Spiritual Switch. As you go about your daily routine, trying to conduct yourself in a way that would bring glory to your God - When people (family or friends) mock you, or call you a "Bible Thumper", or make fun of your faith or your God, or even curse you violently, Remember this. They are (in their heart of hearts) afraid of you. They have seen a change in either you or someone else they know, and they just can't get around it. They know, if you are right, that there is a God, a heaven and hell as a consequence of denying His provided method of reconciliation - 2nd Thes. 2:10, then they are undone. They know: "the Lord your God, he is God in heaven above and in earth beneath". I don't say this so that you will be arrogant when encountering them, and that you never "return evil for evil" (1st Thes. 5), but that you might see them a little differently now. "We war not with flesh and blood" Eph. 6. Go now, fight fiercely and endeavor to free some prisoners of war. |
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