JOSHUA 5

Ah, I just love it when the Bible hits me upside the head like a 2×4. How is it that I know I’ve read these things before, yet when I read these verses, it was as if I was reading for the first time? "Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, 'Are you for us or for our enemies?' 'Neither,' he replied, 'but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.' Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, 'What message does my Lord have for his servant?' The commander of the Lord’s army replied, 'Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.' And Joshua did so." (vs 13-15)

I hope that it hit you the same way it hit me. Just before the Israelites go into battle, Joshua is confronted by an imposing character holding a sword. It is the Lord! He identifies Himself as "the commander of the Lord’s army," and following that, He asks Joshua to do the same thing He asked Moses when He met him at the burning bush—take off his sandals.

And that’s why Joshua’s question and the Lord’s reply struck me between the eyes. When Joshua met the Lord, he asked, "Are you for us or for our enemies?" In other words, whose side are you on? Aren’t we still asking this question? Aren’t we forever asking this question? Especially in religion, especially among different churches and denominations. We’re sure we have the truth and that God is with us—not with those "heathens" over yonder.

But—aha!—look at the Lord’s reply: "Neither!" What?! Neither?!

That’s right. God was no more for the Israelites than He was for the Canaanites. Saying that He was not for either side is the same thing as saying that He was for both sides. This is just more evidence that God’s ideal was not the proliferation of the Israelites at the expense of all other peoples on Earth. God doesn’t play favorites; He wasn’t trying to preserve the Israelites and destroy everyone else. In choosing the Israelites to be His representatives on Earth, He was out to save all people.

God is no more on my side than He is on your side. That is to say, He is for me just as much as He is for you. As one of my favorite songwriters Buddy Houghtaling put it, God says, "I love your heart; I got your back." So, if you’re expecting God to join you in "ganging up" on someone else, you better read Joshua 5 again! The only way He’ll get involved in that is if the two of you are going to collectively "gang up" on someone with love. Otherwise, He is just as much for your enemies as He is for you. God doesn’t take sides. He’s on everybody’s side.