Joshua 10:14 “There has never been a day like it before or since, a day when the Lord listened to a human being….”
No way! Impossible! Never gonna’ happen!
That’s what most people would have concluded had they calculated Israel’s odds as they began their conquest of the Promised Land. In Joshua 10, five Amorite kings joined forces to stop Israel’s advancement. How in the world could this band of unseasoned warriors ever defeat this coalition of ruthless, war-savvy Canaanites?
With something out of this world….
The Lord not only gave Joshua a strategy for winning, he also intervened with supernatural finesse. As Israel marched through the night to take the coalition by surprise, the Lord threw the five armies into so much confusion they had no other option than to retreat. In their desperate flight, the Lord intervened again. He hurled so many hailstones on them that more died from the barrage of ice than from the “swords of the Israelites.” But the battle raged on and Joshua (with a boldness I can’t even imagine) asked the Lord to cause the sun to stand still until they completely avenged their enemies. And so, “The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day.”
God revealed his power through the confusion, the hailstones and the postponed sunset. But look at what the writer of Joshua referred to as the real miracle: “…when the Lord listened to a human being….”
Do we get that? The Lord God Almighty, Creator of the universe, hears the outrageous request of his servant. I think our senses have become so dulled, that we no longer realize how we can tap into the power of God. In the words of Annie Dillard, “It is madness to wear ladies’ velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews. For the sleeping god may wake someday and take offense…. ”
The spiritual forces arrayed against you and me are more powerful than the five Amorite kings. But they are no match for our God.
Remember that the next time you think No way! Impossible! Never gonna’ happen! Call on God and put on your crash helmet.