Joshua and Worship

I have been meditating about Joshua. Several life events prepared Joshua to be the military leader who would lead Israel to conquer the promised land.

• Joshua had military success (Ex. 17:9).
• Moses renamed Oshea to Joshua. (Nu. 13:16). Renaming someone in the Bible always indicated that someone was being set aside for a special task.
• Joshua was chosen as one of the twelve tribal chiefs to be one of the twelve spies sent to spy out the promised land. (Nu. 13:1-20).
• Of those twelve spies, only Caleb and Joshua encouraged Israel to conquer land. (Nu. 14).
• God handpicked Joshua to be anointed by Moses to lead Israel into the promised land. (Nu. 23:17)
• God personally commissioned Joshua to bring the people of Israel into the promised land and promised to be with Joshua. (Deut. 31:32; Josh 1:1-8)

At the beginning the book of Joshua, Joshua prepared the nation to conquer the promised land. He took command of the nation and the people of Israel replied with an oath of fealty. Like Moses before him, Joshua sent spies into the land, but this time all the spies voted that they should go ahead and conquer the land(Josh. 2). Joshua even heard from the spies a report that an inhabitant of the land, Rahab, testified that their opposition feared them (Josh. 2:22-24). Joshua received miraculous confirmation of his leadership when God allowed Israel under Joshua's leadership to cross the Jordan on dry land just like how Moses led the Israelites through the Red Sea on dry land (Josh. 3-4). Joshua removed the last taint of Egypt by circumcising all the men (Josh. 5:1-9). Joshua then celebrated Passover (Joshua 5:10-12).

Joshua must have felt exceedingly prepared. He waited to lead this army for over 40 years. God anointed, commissioned, and confirmed him as commander. He prepared Israel for battle both mentally and physically. The nation was ready and he was ready to go and conquer Jericho; however, one task remained.

Joshua 5:13-15
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.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, “What does my lord say to his servant?” 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.

Although Joshua was prepared, it was God who was in charge of his armies: both human and angelic. God was going to fight this battle of Jericho. Yahweh was a holy God and all he wanted from Joshua was worship. It was God who would bring the walls tumbling down and all Israel needed to do was stay back, be obedient, and watch God fight for them.

This principle applies to us. For the tasks in front of us, God wants us to prepare, be obedient, and do our best. However, no matter how prepared we are, we need to worship God in every step and realize it is God who fights for us.