It’s all about confidence…..

Rejoice, rejoice, Christ is in you
The hope of glory in our hearts
He lives, He lives, His breath is in you
Arise a mighty army, we arise

Now is the time for us to march upon the land
Into our hands, He will give the ground we claim
He rides in majesty to lead us into victory
The world shall see that Christ is Lord

God is at work in us, His purpose to perform
Building a kingdom of power not of words
Where things impossible by faith shall be made possible
Let’s give the glory to Him now

Though we are weak, His grace is everything we need
We’re made of clay but His treasure is within
He turns our weaknesses into His opportunities
So that the glory goes to Him

Let’s start where we left off a couple of days ago – with the powerful words of Graham Kendrick’s song ‘Rejoice Rejoice’.

Because these words could have been written about chapter 10 of the Book of Joshua.

The King of Jerusalem has heard about Ai and Jericho and he is afraid. He’s heard about how the Gibeonites have made a peace treaty with the Israelites and he is angry. So he appeals to the kings of Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish and Eglon to join forces with him and together, they attack Gibeon. The Gibeonites send word to Joshua – ‘HELP!’

And God says –

“Do not be afraid of them; I have given them into your hand. Not one of them will be able to withstand you.”  Joshua 10:8

Rejoice, rejoice, Christ is in you
The hope of glory in our hearts
He lives, He lives, His breath is in you
Arise a mighty army, we arise

So Joshua and the Israelite army take the attacking armies by surprise. God throws them into confusion and they flee. God sends massive hailstones raining down on them and more are killed by the hailstones than by the hands of the Israelites.

And Joshua commands the sun to stand still and the moon to stop until ‘the nation avenges itself on its enemies’.

And the sun does stand still.

And the moon stops .

For a whole day.

There has never been a day like it before or since, a day when the Lord listened to a human being. Surely the Lord was fighting for Israel!  Joshua 10:14

God is at work in us, His purpose to perform
Building a kingdom of power not of words
Where things impossible by faith shall be made possible
Let’s give the glory to Him now

The five defeated kings flee and hide in a cave at Makkedah.  Joshua orders rocks to be rolled in front of the entrance. He will deal with them later.

Joshua and his men chase after the retreating armies to make sure not a single man is spared.

Back to the cave. The kings are brought out and the army commanders are instructed to put their feet on the necks of the kings –

“Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Be strong and courageous. This is what the Lord will do to all the enemies you are going to fight.” Joshua 10:25

The kings are then put to death, their heads hung on poles until evening and then they are placed back in the cave with the rocks across the entrance.

And then Joshua moves through all the southern cities in turn, ‘subduing’ them –

That day Joshua took Makkedah. He put the city and its king to the sword and totally destroyed everyone in it. He left no survivors. And he did to the king of Makkedah as he had done to the king of Jericho.  Joshua 10:28

And then Libnar. And then Lachish. Then Eglon. And Hebron. And Debir.

Now is the time for us to march upon the land
Into our hands, He will give the ground we claim
He rides in majesty to lead us into victory
The world shall see that Christ is Lord

I’m aware that I’m glossing over what God is actually doing here – clearing the way for His people by annihilating other nations. I have no good explanation for this. It does seem barbaric. Beyond my understanding, most definitely.

And then there’s the question as to whether the sun really did stand still at Joshua’s command. There are all sorts of scientific wranglings out there about these verses. I am not that person who will engage in such an argument, sorry.

And then there’s the reference to the Book of Jashar – again, not my field.

What interests me most here is what we can take away from this passage to help us live our lives to the full today.

And for me, it’s all about confidence.

I have reflected on confidence at times in the past. Mainly at times when my confidence is at an all-time low. When my confidence has been shaken.

At those times, I realise how importance confidence is just to get through the day. Confidence to choose what to wear, what to eat, what to say, what to do……..without it, even the most basic of functions become a struggle. Without the confidence to believe we can make right decisions, we are paralysed by self-doubt and cannot function effectively.

If we lose confidence in our parenting, then we cannot parent effectively.

If we lose confidence in our work, then we cannot do our job effectively.

If we lose confidence in our friendships, then we cannot be a good friend effectively.

And it is so easy to lose confidence. We make mistakes. We listen to criticism. We face failure. We get it wrong.

I was thinking about the shift in confidence in our house. Since the two teenagers have left the home recently, we have faced less direct criticism, confrontation and defiance of our parenting. As a result, we have gained in confidence as parents, which has seen us through some pretty tough situations in the last few weeks. And as a result of that, Jordan and Nicola have gained confidence in us as parents. They seem to like and respect us more. They trust us more. They even obey us more!

And it’s nice. It’s so different. It hasn’t always been that way. It hasn’t been that way for a long time.

Yes, we are all human. Yes, we all make mistakes. Yes, we all get it wrong.

But that’s what’s so great about this song. It’s not about having confidence in ourselves. It’s about having confidence in God at work in us.

Joshua has made mistakes and yet in this chapter, he is overflowing with confidence. Why? Because he knows God is with them and will not let them down. That is where he is placing his confidence. In the God of miracles. The God who keeps his word. The God who is all-powerful and will lead them into victory.

Though we are weak, His grace is everything we need
We’re made of clay but His treasure is within
He turns our weaknesses into His opportunities
So that the glory goes to Him

We are weak but He is strong.

We are pretty rubbish at times, but his treasure can shine through.

In fact, the weaker we are, the more of a miracle it is that we can get through the day.

God’s glory is displayed best in our weakness – that’s how the glory can go to Him, because we cannot claim any of the glory for ourselves.

Am I making sense?

We can rejoice because the hope of glory is in our hearts.

We can arise because His breath is in us.

The world can see that Christ is Lord as He leads us into our small personal victories today.

Things that seem impossible can become possible.

Our weaknesses can become his opportunities.

So that the glory goes to him.

May we all find God’s strength in our weakness today.

May we discover God’s grace in our failures.

May we experience God’s love in our pain.

May we feel God’s presence in our crisis of confidence.

We can get through this.

Because God is with us.

So that the glory goes to him.