Joshua 10:1-27 God Remains Faithful

Dr. John Mann delves into Joshua chapter 10, emphasizing holiness, obedience, and God's character. He highlights the importance of remaining faithful to God despite challenges. I'm so glad to be able to be here with you. I had lunch with Dr. Terry and Brother Jimmy earlier this week, and we talked about me being able to step in and help out a little bit. So I'm very, very thankful to be able to do so. The good part about it is that I'll teach for two weeks, and then they'll teach for four weeks, and so they'll have four weeks to correct all of the mistakes that I make. And so they'll probably get about half of them corrected during that time, but I know they'll do their best to straighten it all out. So yeah, looking forward to being able to do this. Some of you have asked me. You know that Dr. Terry has introduced me a few times, being someone that was working with him in institutional advancement and things of that nature, but then I also do a few other roles that some of you have asked me about. So just so you get to know me a little bit better, and then you can regret having done that, getting to know me a little bit better. But I also teach, and I teach both theology and I also teach business. So that's always kind of a fun combination to be able to do, to talk about theology, to talk about business, and to bring those two together. And so I'll, for example, I'm teaching here in a few weeks, I'll start teaching a class on macroeconomics. So it's always fun. And the way we bring those two together is we look at how there is a theology, believe it or not, of economics. What is economics? But it is a way for the people of the land to be blessed, for them to be able to live lives of wholeness, and to be able to receive from God's blessings so that they can provide for their homes, and they can provide for their communities, and they can support their churches. So that churches can do the work of missions, whether that's leading people to the knowledge of Christ, or going into areas where perhaps they're suffering from poverty, or illiteracy, or something like that. And so what does economics do? Well, economics is a way for God to multiply a blessing to his creation. And so we'll talk about a theology of economics before we actually do economics, with all the supply and demand and things of that nature. I'll teach a class on entrepreneurship. How do you start a business? Believe it or not, when we go back to Genesis chapter 1 and the creation, we see the very outline there for how to start a business, right? We look at how God creatively does things within creation, so that the world is made to know him. And when entrepreneurs start businesses, what do they do? Well, they create businesses so that people have jobs, and so that people can provide for their families. We talk about these things, right? What is marketing? Marketing is communicating the message. What does God do? God communicates himself to us in such a way, so that even in John chapter 1, how are we introduced to Jesus Christ? In the beginning was the Word. God's communication of himself, he's given us his written Word so that we can know God in his written Word. These things are written, John says at the end of the Gospel of John, so that you might believe God communicates to us so that we can know him. It's a wonderful opportunity. Tomorrow, I'll be starting a series of recordings with Guidestone, Brother Jimmy, and we'll be talking about how pastors and ministers need to prepare themselves for retirement, how Guidestone will help provide for them resources to be able to do that, trying to equip these young ministers, whether they're going into local churches to serve as pastors, or whether they're going onto the mission field, or whether they're going to serve for some para-church organization. How can they have health insurance, and how can they provide for their retirement beginning even now? Most of our pastors today don't even begin to prepare for retirement until they're about 45 years old. By that time, as we know, it's usually too late for them to really have a healthy retirement by the time they reach retirement age. These are just some of the wonderful things that the Lord is allowing me to do. I'm thankful to be able to do that, and then, of course, just thrilled to be able to take this time to spend with our church family, Sunday school class, and to talk about the Word of God. Well, my assignment is Joshua chapter 10 and 11. Today, we're going to look at the first 27 verses of Joshua chapter 10, and this very phenomenal event that occurs as Joshua continues to lead the children into the promised land and to take conquest over the promised land. Then next week, we'll finish up the conquest of the southern cities, and we will go ahead and conquer the northern cities as well next week. But today, Joshua chapter 10, and we will look at the first 27 verses. I hope you were able to get some of my notes that were back there on the table. Thanks to Eddie, whoever else helps to provide these for you. I'll use them some and probably will elaborate outside of them some, but hopefully you'll find them as a good guide. One of the things I think that Joshua is learning as he's leading the nation into the promised land is that he's learning not so much that it's great for God to be on our side, but it's more important for us to be on God's side. Abraham Lincoln was once asked about that during the Civil War. Was he afraid about the disunity that was being created within the nation over the Civil War that was ongoing? Abraham Lincoln simply replied, I don't really begin the day by asking whether or not God's on my side. I begin by asking the day whether or not I'm on God's side. Now, as Dr. Terry shared with us last week, the Gibeonites had entered into really an ill-advised covenant. They entered into this covenant with the Gibeonites. God had told them when they go into the promised land that they are to destroy. They are to destroy everybody that they come into contact with. That may seem somewhat harsh to us today, but it really emphasizes how committed God is to holiness. God calls us to be people who are dedicated to holiness. He said in the law, and it was repeated in the New Testament, where God commands us to be holy, even as He is holy. And Jesus tells us that if our right hand causes us to sin, I think He says metaphorically, do whatever you have to do to get rid of that sin in your life. Metaphorically, He says, cut off your hand. Pluck out your eye. Now, I don't think Jesus means that literally, so please don't come in bandaged next week with an eye patch or something on your arm because you took that literally. I don't think that's what our Lord really meant. But He is telling us that we are to take sin seriously. And those things that stand in opposition to God, we are to stand in opposition to them. And do whatever is necessary for us to get rid of that sin that is within our lives. And we often kind of wink and nod at sin. And we don't want to do that. But I do think that helps us to understand why Joshua would lead such a bloody battle. Here, Joshua chapter 10 and elsewhere. Because it shows us that God takes holiness very seriously. He takes it so seriously that the only way that He could reckon holiness to us was through the crucifixion of His own son. And if we look at events like Joshua chapter 10 and say, why would God endorse such bloody activity? And if we try to explain away the events of Joshua chapter 10, then we can only logically explain away the events of the cross. Because if Joshua chapter 10 is out of bounds for God's character, then the crucifixion of His son is out of bounds for God's character. So, yeah, worse. We can't have it both ways. And so when we read episodes like we're going to read today, we need to look at those in light of how horrendous our sin is against God. And to what extent God is willing to go to to deal with our sin. Namely, the crucifixion of His son. Today, we're going to see that God remains faithful to His people. Even when His people make decisions that are contrary to God's will. God may discipline His people, but God does not abandon His people. God teaches us the hard way of obedience. Often through challenges and suffering and sometimes failure. We learn our deepest lessons not through our victories, but through our failures. I know more about myself, not because of the things that I have been able to accomplish, but because of the things that I've failed at. And God shows us how great is His grace after we have failed. And that's what God is showing Joshua in Joshua chapter 10. We saw it at Ai, where we had the sin. And God allowed them to fail. God allowed them to be defeated. Because He wanted to remind them before they would enter into Jericho, that their only hope for victory was God. And that's true for us today, isn't it? Our only hope for victory is that we remain on God's side. Now, praise the Lord that even when we sin, God remains faithful to us. But God's faithfulness is never an excuse for our unfaithfulness. Let's look at the context of what's going on in Joshua chapter 10, and look at the first five verses if we can. Now, King Adonai Zedek, it's a wonderful name. The Lord our righteousness is what it means. There's wonderful and beautiful meanings really in the Hebrew language, as well as in the Greek, but certainly in the Hebrew language. Y'all were talking about tomatoes now. Lulu had asked me if I'd gotten my tomato, and my response was no. I don't know if y'all know this or not, but tomatoes are not finished. God gives us things and expects us to finish sometimes those things that He gives us. And tomatoes aren't done until they're in a jar. Or in a bottle. The Hebrew word, you probably hadn't heard this before, but in Hebrew, tomato means devil's fruit. That's not true. But that's my interpretation. Hebrew is a beautifully expressive language. The word Adonai Zedek literally means the Lord is righteousness. Adonai, that beautiful word that is used of God. Adonai, it's a lovely word in the Hebrew language. That word Zedek, it's righteousness. And when we bring the two together, we're reading that Adonai Zedek literally means the Lord our righteousness. Now it's ironic, because what we're going to see of Adonai Zedek, who happens to be from Jerusalem, perhaps this reminds you of another guy whose name ended with Zedek, that we read back in Genesis chapter 22, a guy by the name of Melchizedek, from a place called not Jerusalem, but Salem. Jerusalem. Or as the Hebrews would say it, Yerushalom. The place of peace, or the place of wellness. Now this Adonai Zedek, he is not necessarily going to live up to his name. And it's going to show us, if you will, a bit of a prophetic picture perhaps, that God had given to the people in Judah and in Israel, that seat will later become at Jerusalem. Yerushalom. That place is going to be the place where God will raise up kings. And the purpose of the kings that God raises up is to continue to lead the people to righteousness. And that is not what they do. We meet one who is said to be a king who is after God's own heart, and he himself is often filled with sin. People like Bathsheba. Oops. And all of the things that he would do to try to hide his sin from God. And yet, over and over again, we read the story of the kings that God raises up to lead them to righteousness, and they do the opposite. They erect idols. And they compromise with pagan nations. And they take wives for themselves from these pagan nations. And they do all kinds of horrible things. Even though God had given those kings to them to lead them in righteousness. Almost as if God is saying to us, the kings that you want to give you righteousness are going to be unable to do so. That's why God is ultimately going to give to us a king who will truly be Adonai Zedek. He will not only lead us to righteousness, but he will give us his own righteousness. Where in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 21, we read about that great exchange where he who knew no sin became sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. So this Adonai Zedek of Jerusalem heard that Joshua had captured Ai and had completely destroyed it. This was after the first loss. He treated Ai and its king as he had treated Jericho and its king. And that the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel and were living among them. As Dr. Terry introduced to us last week, this relationship with Gibeon is going to continue to be a bit of an interesting relationship. Because part of the concern that has developed here is that in the treaty that Joshua led them to have with the Gibeonites, they had committed themselves to be, the Israelites, had committed themselves to be defenders of the Gibeonites. Now the Gibeonites, as we'll see, it was one of the royal cities. It was a very important place in verse 2. Adonai Zedek and his people were greatly alarmed because Gibeon was a large city, like one of the royal cities. It was larger than Ai and all of its men were warriors. Now see the scene here. We have all of these kings of these pagan nations that are beginning to get together. Previously they had probably been enemies, right? And so we're seeing the old adage that the enemy of my enemy is my friend. And they're fearing what God is doing, what the Israelites are doing under the power of God. Because they had seen Ai fall. They had seen Jericho fall. Word was spreading about what was happening with these Israelites that were coming in to take over the land. And so they're beginning to get a little bit afraid. And if the Gibeonites, one of the most powerful armies in the area, had compromised with them, had entered into a treaty with them, they feared what would happen if the Israelites and the Gibeonites began to come after these other kings. And so they began to develop plans to form a coalition. Now it became even more problematic because here in this area there was a large trade route. And whoever controlled that trade route would control the economic success of the area. And if Israel and the Gibeonites were to take over that trade route, then they could literally starve out the other kingdoms. And so they wanted to go on the offensive. And they wanted to take the battle to Israel and the Gibeonites before they could form their coalition together. And so in verse 2, they come together. Gibeon was a large city like one of the royal cities. It was larger than Ai. And all of its men were warriors. And therefore, King Adonai Zedek of Jerusalem sent word to King Hoham of Hebron and King Piram of Jarmuth and King Japhia of Lachish and King Devir of Eglon. And this is what he said in verse 4. Come up and help me. And we will attack Gibeon because they have made peace with Joshua and the Israelites. And so their hope in verse 4 was that they could attack Gibeon before Israel and Gibeon could really get together and form this unified army. And so let's beat the Gibeonites and then we're going to have a better opportunity to withstand the Israelites when it comes time to attack them. And so in verse 5, the five Amorite kings, the kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish and Eglon, they joined forces and they advanced with all their armies and they besieged Gibeon and they fought against it. You see, they were going on the offensive. They feared what would happen if they were passive. And so in verse 6, the men of Gibeon sent word to Joshua at the camp at Gilgal. He said, don't give up on your servants. Come quickly and save us and help us. For all the Amorite kings living in the hill country have joined forces against us. And so Joshua and all of his troops including all of his best soldiers came from Gilgal. The Lord said to Joshua, do not be afraid of them. Now notice here that we see something that we've not seen for a few chapters. We see God speaking. We have not seen God speak to Joshua since I think about Jericho. But here God speaks. The Lord said to Joshua, do not be afraid of them for I have handed them over to you. Not one of them will be able to stand against you. And so Joshua caught them by surprise. And after marching all night from Gilgal, the Lord threw them into confusion before Israel. And he defeated them in a great slaughter at Gibeon. And he chased them through the ascent of Beth Horon and struck them down as far as Ezekiah and Machedah. And they fled before Israel. The Lord threw large hailstones on them from the sky along the descent of Beth Horon all the way to Ezekiah. And they died. More of them died from the hail than the Israelites killed with the sword. And on the day the Lord gave the Amorites over to the Israelites, Joshua spoke to the Lord in the presence of Israel. Sun stands still over Gibeon and moon over the valley of Eishelon. And the sun stood still. And the moon stopped until the nation took vengeance on its enemies. Isn't this written in the book of Jasher? And so the sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed its setting almost a full day. And there has been no day like it before or since when the Lord listened to a man. Because the Lord fought for Israel. And then Joshua and all of Israel with him returned to the camp at Gilgal. Alright? And so we've set the context. The five kings have come together. They fear this coalition between Israel and Gibeon. They want to attack Gibeon before they can really bring all this together. And so the five kings come together. Gibeon hears about it. And so they send a message to Joshua. And they say, Joshua, we need you to come and defend us against these five kings. We've entered into a peace treaty. Now, key in on something very, very subtle here. It was ill-advised for Joshua to enter into this covenant. But he did anyways. He entered into this peace treaty. And now he has to honor his word. Now think about this for just a moment. Sometimes we make bad decisions. Sometimes we do things we should not have done. And yet, we have got to honor our word even when we made a bad decision. The number of times I've had a sweet young bride come to me and ask me to pray for her husband because her husband is an unbeliever. And oftentimes she'll regret having made the decision to marry that young man. But once she has made a commitment, even if it was a commitment that should not have been made, we have got to honor our word, don't we? And that's what Joshua's doing. Joshua recognizes that he should not have entered into this treaty with the Gibeonites. And it's going to become even more of a problematic later on. And yet, he made a promise. And he's got to honor his promise. And notice how he honors this promise. He marches all night. That's a long march. It's 25 miles from Gilgal to Gibeon. And it would be about a 4,000 foot ascent. And so he goes from about 1,300 feet below sea level to about 3,000 feet above sea level. It's a hard march. And they march all night long right before they enter into a battle. And so you can imagine how challenging it was for them to honor their word. It's not always easy for us to honor our word, is it? Sometimes it comes with great cost. And yet, we have got to be willing to take the great cost if we've made a promise to do what we said that we are going to do. 4,000 feet marching all night on what is very rugged terrain in order to get to where they are. But Joshua had learned his lesson. He was going to be willing to do whatever it is that he has to do to obey the Lord. He had entered into this ill-advised treaty with the Gibeonites. He forsook God's command to destroy all of the unrighteous of the land. But he wasn't going to forsake his oath to God again. We cannot undo what we have done. We can only begin to obey from where we are. Have you ever been to that place in your life? I might get excited, so I'm going to have to stand up. Almost kicked the lectern over. Next is the chair. Have you ever been to that place where you feel overwhelmed and you don't really know what to do? What do I do next? Where do I go next? The right answer is to always do the next right thing. Too many of us want to make decisions based upon the tenth step, based upon the hundredth step. When we don't know what to do, the only thing we can do is to keep doing the right thing. Some years ago, Sandy and I and our youngest daughter at the time had taken a trip down to San Antonio for vacation. We had spent four or five days in San Antonio and we were going to come back up through the hill country and then we were going to make our way over to Amarillo. We were already living in Fort Worth but wanted to go from San Antonio to go up to Amarillo to spend a couple of days with Sandy's family. Or she wanted to go up to Amarillo to go up to Amarillo to spend a couple of days with her. I was willing. Did I mention that Sandy's home sick today? No, I'm just kidding. We always enjoyed being with her family but we were going through the hill country and this was back before you had Siri on your iPhone, right? You only had the old GPS system that didn't work very well and ours didn't work very well in the hill country, right? Didn't have good reception, didn't have good mapping and so basically we didn't know where we were going or what we were doing. And so we're driving through all these small little towns of Texas where you wonder how do people, how do they even make a living there? How are they surviving? And they have a general store and maybe a post office and that's about it. Yeah, West Texas. And so you drive for a hundred miles and you can see the next town a hundred miles away because there's nothing in the way if you lean over and look around the windmill. And Sandy got a little bit nervous. She said, do you know where you're going? And of course I said, what every man says. Well, of course I do. She said, well should we stop at that gas station and ask the man who's in there? I was offended. What do you mean ask somebody else? Why don't you trust me? All the while I was praying in the back of my mind, but here's what I knew. And this is what I told her. I said, look, we were south of Interstate 20. All we've got to do is keep driving north. And as long as we're going north, we're eventually going to get to something that's familiar. Listen, when life gets to be overwhelming, the only thing you and I can do sometimes is keep driving north. Just keep moving toward God. And He is going to bring us to a place that is familiar. And I would encourage you today, maybe you're a little bit overwhelmed with something. Listen, just keep moving toward God. And He'll push back the confusion. He'll push back the darkness. And one of these days, you're going to wake up and you're going to realize that the thing that you fear about tomorrow, when you get there, God's going to be waiting for you. Isn't that amazing? God is not bound by time. This will blow your mind. I teach this to my students. I teach this to my students in systematic theology. It'll completely blow your mind. Think about this. God is not bound by time. Which means that that thing that you're worried about happening tomorrow, God's already there. And when you get there tomorrow, God's going to be waiting for you. Solution already in hand. Problem already solved. The only thing we need to know is that God is for His people. And His people are for Him. And He's going to work it out. Notice how beautiful this battle is. Look at verse 8. God says to Joshua, don't be afraid. Once again, we're reminded of Joshua 1. Don't be afraid. For I have handed them over to you. Not one of them is going to be able to stand against you. And so Joshua caught them by surprise after marching all night from Gilgal. Now notice how this battle takes place. The Lord threw them into confusion. The Lord defeated them in a great slaughter at Gibeon. The Lord chased them through the ascent of Bethlehem. The Lord struck them down as far as Azekah and Machedah. As they fled before Israel, the Lord threw large hell stones on them from the sky along the descent of Bethlehem all the way to Azekah. And they died. And more of them died from the hell than the Israelites killed with the sword. And on the day that the Lord gave the Amorites over to the Israelites, Joshua spoke to the Lord in the presence of Israel. Now let's pause there for just a moment before we get to this fantastic event. But I want you to notice who it is. And the Bible leaves no doubt who won this battle. It was not Joshua. It was not Israel. It was the Lord. The Lord caused them to be confused. The Lord defeated them in a great slaughter. The Lord chased them. The Lord struck them down. The Lord threw hell stones at them. The Lord killed more of them with the hell stones than Joshua killed with the sword. Now, in many circles today, it's not very popular to talk about God as being a warrior. But God is a warrior when it comes to His people. And it maybe reminds us of this fantastic event when we get to the end of the book of Revelation where we see Jesus mounted on a white stallion and a two-edged sword coming from His mouth. And His robe looked like it had been dipped in blood because what we see of God in the Bible is that God goes to battle for His people. And here's the greatest thing that we can know today is that when we feel like we are getting defeated by what's going on in this world, we can know that God is our defender. Paul would say in Romans chapter 8, what can man do to us? There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. What can man do to us? God fights for His people. This was the Lord's doing. It's a good reminder for us that any blessing that we have is only because the Lord is fighting for us. The Lord defeated their enemies. What was Joshua's part in the battle? Well, in verse 12, on the day the Lord gave the Amorites over to the Israelites, Joshua spoke to the Lord in the presence of Israel. And he said, Son, stand still over Gibeon and moon over the valley of Ajalon. What does this mean? Well, it's been answered in at least three different ways. Sometimes it's answered by saying that this is something that is poetic. It's Hebrew poetry. That time didn't really stop. This is just a poetic way for them to say that God symbolically extended the day until the battle was over with. Others will say that this is in reference to the gods of the Amorites because the Amorites, they worshipped the sun. They worshipped the moon. And so essentially then, the Bible is just saying that God defeated the sun and the moon. The small gods of the Amorites were defeated by the big god of the Israelites. And then sometimes it's intended to say that no, it's literal. That time actually stopped. Well, I answer that it's literal. God stopped time. Now, there is one problem here though. The sun doesn't move. So did God stop the sun? I want you to imagine with me, if you will, for a moment the way that we speak today. For example, Sandy and I, maybe driving home from work one evening, might look in the rear view mirror and I might see the sun setting on the horizon. And I'm such a romantic that I might say, oh honey, the setting of that sun is as beautiful as your eyes. And it just makes the blue in your eyes sparkle with delight. I love to think about your eyes every time I see the setting of the sun. To which she looks at me and she says, you dummy. Now her eyes are blue. The sun doesn't set. We know that the earth rotates around the sun and revolves on the axis. How could I be married to somebody as dumb as you? Now, y'all got to forget about all this when Sandy's back next week. Sandy, we understand that there is a use of poetic language. Joshua here is not necessarily intending to say that the sun quit moving because we know that the sun doesn't itself move. But what Joshua is saying is that God is able to prolong the day miraculously to accomplish His will. Listen, when you and I are overwhelmed with the circumstances of life, let's remember this. As we keep moving toward God, God can perform the miraculous to accomplish His will. And we can take comfort in that. We can take courage in that. We see a similar occurrence in 2 Kings as well as in Isaiah 38 where God backs the sun up by 10 degrees as a sign to Hezekiah that He's going to prolong his life by 15 more years. God is able to do whatever God wants to do to accomplish His will. And so God can part the Red Sea to accomplish His will. And God can make a bush burn without burning up to communicate His Word. And God can feed 5,000 with just a little bit. And the Son of God can walk on water to show His sovereignty and providence over creation. And the Son of God can even be resurrected from the dead. And if the power that God exhibits to accomplish all of that is still at work for us today, why do we need to fear? Why do we need to fear? Well, the story continues in Joshua chapter 16. We see where the five kings... Now, I want you to notice this right. Verse 16. Now, the five defeated kings had fled and they had hidden in a cave at Machedah. Now, think about that for just a moment. What kind of kings are these? When they start losing the war, they turn and run. And they go in to hide. What kind of a king is that? You see, a real king is a king who is willing to stand at the forefront of the battle when his people are fighting. It was David's mistake later on in his years when he was supposed to be out on the battlefield. And instead, his gaze is captured by a young lady by the name of Bathsheba because David is taking it easy in the palace instead of out fighting for his nation. Aren't you glad that we have a king who wasn't busy taking it easy? But he stepped to the front of the line and he said, I'll go to battle for my people. And he died on a cross so that you and I could live with him for eternity. We need to be careful about the kings we are following. We need to follow a king who is going to stand at the forefront and is going to lead his people. Not a king who is going to hide when things get difficult. Joshua in verse 17, it was reported to Joshua that five kings had been found and they are hiding in a cave at Machedah. And Joshua said, roll large stones against the mouth of the cave and station men by it to guard the kings. Sounds familiar? But as for the rest of you, don't stay there. Pursue your enemies and attack them from behind. Don't let them enter their cities for the Lord your God has handed them over to you. Joshua and the Israelites finished inflicting a terrible slaughter on them until they were destroyed. Although a few survivors ran away to the fortified city, the people returned safely to Joshua in the camp at Machedah. No one dared to threaten the Israelites. And so Joshua said, open the mouth of the cave, bring those five kings out to me, out of there. And that is what they did. They brought the five kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish and Egalon to Joshua out of the cave. And when they had brought the kings to him, Joshua summoned all the men of Israel and said to the military commanders who had accompanied him, come here and put your feet on the necks of these kings. Look at that posture. Put your feet on the necks of these kings. That is a posture of victory. We see that same posture in Psalm 110 verse 1, where there God says to the one who comes in the lineage of Melchizedek, I believe a prophetic, messianic psalm. A psalm talking about Jesus in Psalm 110. And He says that He is going to make His enemies His footstool. He is going to kick His feet up on top of His enemies. We see in Psalm 86, which is later quoted in 1 Corinthians 15, 25-27, that the enemies are going to be the footstool of the Son of God. And Joshua says put your feet on their neck. It is this biblical posture of victory over the enemies of God. And then hear the words of Joshua in verse 25. Joshua said to them, do not be afraid or discouraged. Be strong and courageous for the Lord will do this to all of the enemies that you fight. Notice that what Joshua did is Joshua simply repeated the words of God from Joshua chapter 1. We have no greater power. We have no greater confidence, courage, and strength when we are facing difficult times than to simply recite and repeat the words of God. That's why we need to be men and women who read and reflect and pray and memorize the Word of God. Because it is God's Word that strengthens us and encourages us when we are facing difficult times in life. Are you a student of the Word of God? That's where God will give you confidence and courage. So read it. Joshua hangs him on a tree, but he won't let him hang past nightfall of Deuteronomy chapter 21 verse 23. It says, cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree, but they are not to be hung overnight. We see all of this being played out in these events here. The important part of all of this is that I think that the Bible is showing us how meticulous Joshua now is being to obey God. Because Joshua knows that even though God is faithful, even when we are not, our courage, our confidence, our hope in God is directly related to our obedience to God. Because God will let us suffer defeat to remind us that we can only live lives that find our deepest joy in God, in our shalom, our well-being, our peace, as we are meticulous followers of God. Four things. Number one, we can trust God and His power. Whatever you're facing, He can defeat it. Number two, we must be faithful to our promises. Do what you say you will do, even when it is difficult. Be a man or a woman of your word. Number three, pray with boldness. Pray with boldness. Sun stands still. Moon stands still. God's not done yet. Pray with boldness. And number four, we can depend on God to serve justice. You know what the second greatest hymn in all of Christian hymnody is? Hymnody. The second best hymn. The first one is, Be Thou My Vision. Now, y'all didn't know that, but you know what now? Be Thou My Vision, O Lord of my life. It's the best hymn ever written. So if anybody ever asks you what's the best hymn ever written, the right answer is, Be Thou My Vision. The second one is, Great is Thy Faithfulness. O God our Father, there is no shadow of turning with Thee. God shows Himself faithful. Father, we thank You for the words that we have read in Joshua. Help us to be men and women of prayer, of faith, of obedience, of Your Word, knowing, God, that there is no enemy that can overcome Your people when Your people are standing in proximity, are standing in relationship to who You are. So draw us close unto Yourself, we pray, God, that we would live in the shadow of Your presence, knowing that You will protect Your people. In Jesus' name, amen.