“Joshua said to the Lord in the presence of Israel: “O sun, stand still over Gibeon, O moon, over the Valley of Aijalon” So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, until the nation took vengeance on their enemies.” Joshua 10:12-13
At our annual Trinity/HOPE Board of Director’s meeting last month, Keith Logan gave this really awesome devotion and I thought that sometime, I would share it and today is your lucky Monday.
This scripture reading is where Joshua is at battle with the Amorite kings; the armies from five different Amorite kingdoms came together to attack the city of Gibeon. Gibeon was an important royal city and the Gibeonites had partnered and made peace with Israel and General Joshua. The Amorites and their five armies attached Gibeon and so the Gibeonites pleaded for Joshua and his Israelite army to come and save them.
Joshua and his army marched all night to Gilgal and the Lord said to Joshua, “Do not fear them, for I have given them into your hands. Not a man of them shall stand before you.” Joshua launched a surprise attach in Gibeon and the Lord threw the Amorites into a panic. The Israelite army struck them with a great blow and the Amorites retreated. As they fled from the Israelites, the Lord threw down large hail stones from heaven and many more of them were killed.
The battle was going well, but as the sun started to set, General Joshua faces a decision. The victory isn’t complete and once it gets dark, the rest of the Amorites will slip away. Joshua sizes up the situation and delivers one of the most gloriously unorthodox prayers in the Bible. He has the audacity to ask God to make the sun stop in the sky. To freeze time on behalf of His people so Joshua can complete the battle.
And God gives Joshua exactly what he asked for. God made the impossible happen.
Here’s a challenge: If you’re not daring to believe God for the impossible, you’re sleeping through some of the best parts of your Christian life. And further still, if the size of your vision for your life isn’t intimidating to you, there’s a good chance it’s insulting to God. You should be living by audacious faith every day. Audacity is not just for “elite Christians.” It’s intended for every believer. So today we’re beginning a spiritual journey toward trusting God for what seems impossible. I’m thrilled to think about what it’s going to do for our lives and our world.
With everything in me, I believe God still desires to make the sun stand still over the lives of every believer. Obviously, maybe not in the same unique way he did for Joshua, but in ways that are equally spectacular. God is perfectly willing to perform the impossible in our everyday lives, IF we have the audacity to ask.
Is there something that is seemingly impossible that you’d like to see God do through you? Maybe God has already been working in your spirit, planting a desire, sparking ideas about the much bigger things He wants to accomplish. There is nothing our world needs more desperately today – in individuals, families, businesses, churches, and communities – than God’s saving, supernatural acts. And God is ready to act if we will be bold enough to ask, not just for a good day or a better life, but the impossible and then will step forward to act in audacious faith.
You and I are called not just to have faith but also to regularly activate our faith by asking God for giant outcomes, taking giant steps. If we have the audacity to ask, God has the ability to perform. We should want to see God accomplish something so exponentially amazing that it would leave NO doubt who deserves the credit.
Dear Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Amen.
May God be with you…Jay