"As soon as all the kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan to the west and all the kings of the Canaanites who were by the sea heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan for the people of Israel until they had crossed over, their hearts melted, and there was no longer any spirit in them because of the people of Israel." - Joshua 5:1
It still ranks as one of the top ten horrifying things I've ever seen.
He was the smallest of our neighborhood playmates, and he'd stumbled into a beehive. It didn't matter that he really hadn't stumbled into it; he had messed with something he shouldn't have. What mattered is that the smallest of our neighborhood playmates was absolutely and totally surrounded by a cloud of swarming bees. Moreover, as he started to run up our street, he was flailing his arms like one of those twenty-feet high cloth men that businesses stick at the street and blow air into so that people are attracted to the business and distracted from safe driving. He was flailing all the way up the street and back because the swarm was easily keeping pace.
I distinctly remember having nightmares for months about an even bigger swarm that was chasing a flailing me.
I also remember that, at some time around then, God impressed on my heart that God is for the little guy, and not necessarily for the little guy as it applies to size and stature. But God is for those who are surrounded by larger forces and powers and swarms that try to distract us from faith.
That's what the Amorites and Canaanites were to the Israelites in today's verse. They were larger forces and powers and swarms that tried to distract the Israelites from faith. But God would have none of it. God struck fear in the hearts of those enemies, in the hearts of those larger forces and powers and swarms that tried to distract the Israelites from faith.
And God does the same today. What's swarming around and beating down on you? Take heart! God will strike fear in our enemies today just like he did in days of old!
Praise God!
Pastor Chris
"The gospel is the story of Jesus [what God's only Son has done for us that we can't do for ourselves], spoken as a promise." - Robert Jenson
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