GO BACK AND ASK GOD

• DAY 86
• Faith File: Joshua
• Scripture: Joshua 7:6-9

Then Joshua tore his clothes, and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the Lord until evening, he and the elders of Israel; and they put dust on their heads. And Joshua said, “Alas, Lord God, why have You brought this people over the Jordan at all—to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? Oh, that we had been content, and dwelt on the other side of the Jordan! O Lord, what shall I say when Israel turns its back before its enemies? 9For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear it, and surround us, and cut off our name from the earth. Then what will You do for Your great name?”

People of faith and courage know that God is the default place to go when things don’t go as planned. And the longer I live the more I realize that this happens a lot. From time to time we will face situations that don’t seem to align with what God promised us. For instance, our teenager misbehaves, our bank account acts up, our business makes more losses than gains or our marriage becomes difficult. The question now becomes, what do you do when your reality doesn’t match God’s promise?

Like we see in our text today. The children of Israel had just been defeated at AI. God had promised them victory in every fight, that all their enemies would fall for their sake and all the land will be their inheritance. Yet here they were running from their opposition, defeated and thrashed by their enemy.

When this happened Joshua, a man of courage and faith that he was, went to God to ask questions. 

“Alas, Lord God, why have You brought this people over the Jordan at all—to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us?

Now I know that we have been taught not to question God and that is true depending on motive and context. We shouldn’t question God like He owes us an explanation or He answers to us. But we should, by all means, ask Him questions when we encounter a different reality from His stated promise and we should do it in reverence. But what I find is that we complain before we discuss with God. and this ought not to be.

We should feel confident enough to have a conversation with our Father because we know that He is bound by His word. So if something is contrary to his will, we look to Him to help us navigate and, in some cases, understand. And that is what Joshua did here. Let’s examine what he did here

Mourn

The first thing Joshua did was tear his clothes and cover his head with ashes. In their day this was a sign of mourning. We have to understand that we are free to be human before God. We’ve been told otherwise. They lied when they implied that hiding our pain is spiritual because it is not. God can handle your humanity. So please cry and mourn. You don’t need to act strong before God, your lack of emotions doesn’t impress Him or justify you. Cry!

Silence

The next thing he did was to lay on his face silent before God. His human head could not comprehend an impossibility with God, he couldn’t accept that God had lied, and with the way he was emotional from the battle had he spoken, he may have said something regrettable. Silence in the presence of God gives our heart time to breathe, calm down and come up with the right questions. It also helps our hearts heal and find comfort. But it also saves us from accusing God wrongly. But we are so used to talking to God that we find it weird to show up and just be silent. Beloved, you don’t always have o speak to the one that can read your thoughts. sometimes just be silent and let times of refreshing come from the presence of God.

Make Your Case

“God. How could this be happening? God, this was not what we agreed on based on your promise and your word.” If you will go to God, you have to come ready to present what He said. You need scriptural backing. You have to know on what basis, and on what grounds you are saying that He has not kept his word. What word did He give you? Do you have a record of that word or does God say something and you forget to take note of it? Because, when push comes to shove, you are going to need more than your memory to walk in the place of prayer. You’re going to need some evidence. Because when the Bible says, “prove me now” it’s asking you to bring the evidence of His promise.

Listen and Obey

Some of us come to God, say our piece, and forget to listen for God’s response. But Joshua listened to God. God said, “It’s not me. It’s you. you guys messed up. You encountered defeat because you disobeyed Me.” In case you missed it, disobedience will always bring defeat. When God answered, Joshua was quick to resolve the issue and do what God said.

Beloved, if you are going to be a person of courage and faith. Obedience has to be part of your journey. You cannot throw it in the gutter. And obedience needs courage, but we will come back to that at a later date. for today, commit to obey what God told you.

Practice

Take a moment right now and present that issue or matter that you think is not in alignment with God and present it with scripture. Don’t be in a hurry to leave, listen to what God has to say. Write it down, and write what He said you should do. Ask Him for grace to do it right away. and He will answer you in Jesus name.

Shalom.