Joshua 2:8-11
8 Before the men lay down, she came up to them on the roof 9 and said to the men, “I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you. 10 For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you devoted to destruction. 11 And as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, and there was no spirit left in any man because of you, for the Lord your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath.
In Numbers 13-14, Moses sent the 12 spies into the land to bring back a report of the lay of the land and of its produce. When the men returned to the Israelite camp, they told the people that the inhabitants of the land were too big and tough for Israel to defeat. The courage of the Israelites melted at this report, and the nation refused to follow God’s command to enter and take possession of the land.
The lack of faith of the people of God was a great offense to their Lord. God had led the people out of Egypt by his mighty hand. God had parted the Red Sea and destroyed Pharaoh’s army by his power. God had miraculously fed the people and given them water in the desert. God had proved beyond any reasonable doubt that he could indeed take care of the people. yet, the Israelites refused to follow God’s commands to take the land. In response, God forced them to wander the desert for the next 40 years while the faithless generation died and a new generation could take the land.
In Joshua 2:8-11, we learn something very interesting. As the spies that Joshua sent into Jericho spoke with Rahab, she told them that the people of Jericho knew of the power of God. They heard the stories of How God led Israel out of Egypt and how God helped Israel to defeat the pagan kings outside the land. Rahab told the spies that all the hearts of the people were deathly afraid of the Israelites, because they knew that the Israelites served the true God over heaven and earth.
What’s the point? Though the Israelites did not know it, God had caused the courage of the Canaanites to melt away. God had prepared the way for Israel to take the land. Maybe the Canaanites were big and tough, but they were terrified. Israel would be able to take the land.
Sadly, Israel also would have been able to take the land forty years earlier. God had already prepared the way. The people of the land were already afraid of Israel. They were already terrified. God had already set up things so that his people would be able to do his will for his glory. Unfortunately, the people did not trust God enough to know that God had everything worked out ahead of time. Their faith failed, and they suffered defeat because they simply refused to believe God.
Today, we serve the very same God as Joshua. The God who put trembling into the hearts of the people of Jericho is our God. That God prepared the way for his people to do his will. Maybe the people could not see the provision of God from the east side of the Jordan River, but the provision had nonetheless been made. All Israel had to do was obey, and they would see how God had worked out all the details. In just the same way, all we must do is obey our Lord to see how he has already provided everything we need to accomplish his will for his glory.
Pastor Travis Peterson 