Joshua led the Israelites towards the south, and they conquered the southern cities and killed all their kings. They killed five kings of the Amorites, and then they went north. They defeated the northern kings at Merom and killed everyone in those cities. They totally destroyed them, not sparing anyone that breathed. As the Lord commanded his servant Moses, so Moses commanded Joshua, and Joshua did it; he left nothing undone of all that the Lord commanded Moses. Then the land had rest from war.
If a nation wants peace in its region instead of war, it should obey God’s orders. We should follow the example of Joshua, who left nothing undone of all that the Lord commanded Moses. We tend to seek God on important and major things in our lives, and take care of minor things ourselves. We often turn to God, and pray and read the Bible, only when things get out of control. It is common that we listen to God when we have the same opinion with Him, and listen to ourselves when our opinions differ; this is not total obedience. We need to listen to, count on, and obey our Lord on all things. By doing so, our lives will be changed. A person who is not willing to center on God will not grow spiritually, and he/she will not have victory over the enemy.
If we stand firm for God, God will fight the battle for us. Many people stop feeling a thing for the salvation of their families. Some have stopped praying for their families; some are still praying and yet they feel desperate, and they don’t believe the lives of their family can be saved. If any of us is among the people mentioned above, he/she should repent! He/she should remember that nothing is too hard for God. Our Lord doesn’t want anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. God can save our family, and it is all about our faith towards God. Can we really show people around us that “Jesus loves you, and I love you too?”
We often consider ourselves as more righteous, loving and merciful than God, so we think that God in the Old Testament was cruel because He killed so many people. God is the creator of all! All lives come from Him, so He has the absolute sovereignty over all things and lives. In fact, God gave the Canaanites 685 years to repent, but they did not seize the chance. In Deuteronomy, God told the Israelites, “However, in the cities of the nations the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes… Otherwise, they will teach you to follow all the detestable things they do in worshiping their gods, and you will sin against the Lord your God.” God loved His people, and He wanted to protect them from sin; He did not want to be angry with His people.
Our God is just, righteous, pure and holy. One day, we all have to answer to God before His glorious throne. In this world, criminals can have an attorney to defend them or to plea bargain for them. However, when we stand before God, no one can have the protection of a bodyguard or an attorney; not even the richest person in the world. Jesus Christ is the only mediator between God and mankind. When we stand before God, only those who accepted Jesus as his/her personal savior can be spared from the judgment and eternal punishment, because Jesus will be his/hers mediator.
People like to listen to man’s words instead of God’s. As the old saying goes, “The tongue is not steel, yet it cuts,” so if you focus too much on people’s words, you will only be more troubled or terrified. Only when you listen to God can you be comforted and become wiser. Hence, do not try to figure out what people say, and don’t care too much about what others say; just focus on God and His words. Believe in God’s words, and do everything as He commands, and we shall be blessed and peaceful.
