Tuesday, 10 November 2009

• God is For Us, But is He on Our Side?

  Though I have often heard people confidently assert, or at least strongly imply that God was on ‘their’ side; Is He, really?!? My smug heart has secretly treasured such an attitude from time to time, especially when I felt pressure or opposition from other people.

  Joshua, the loyal attendant of Moses during the wilderness wanderings of Israel, assumed the role of leader of this fledgling nation as they crossed into Canaan through the Jordan River. God had refused to permit Moses to enter the promised land, and so now Joshua took up the mantel of Moses as Israel anticipated the taking of this land. In preparing for Israel’s first siege:

  ...Joshua was there near Jericho. He looked up and saw right in front of him a man standing, holding his drawn sword. Joshua stepped up to him and said, "Whose side are you on—ours or our enemies'?"

  He said, "Neither. I'm commander of God's army. I've just arrived." Joshua fell, face to the ground, and worshiped. He asked, "What orders does my Master have for his servant?"

  God's army commander ordered Joshua, "Take your sandals off your feet. The place you are standing is holy."

  Joshua did it.
    -- Joshua 5:13-15 (The Message)
  
  I think the assumption is that if we are believers then certainly (there can be no doubt); God is definitely for us and with us. But it just seems to me that this reading from Joshua negates that presumptive kind of thinking. Joshua was definitely God’s man for the task at hand. He had been chosen to lead Israel in their campaign to capture Palestine. And yet when Joshua asked the question, the Angelic Commander of God’s army maintained his neutrality: ‘I am neither for you nor against you’. It was imperative that Joshua make his intentions absolutely clear before the operation to take the land could commence.

  With the Commander’s statement; "I have now come," Joshua knew what his priorities were. Joshua’s loyalties did not simply revolve around the fact that he had chosen to follow Yahweh God in total contrast to the gods of the surrounding nations. Rather, it was a test of loyalty between the Lord and himself!  Was Joshua only going to serve the Lord so long as it was convenient for him?--so long as what God wanted jived with his wishes? Or was it a matter of always relinquishing what he wanted in favor of Yahweh’s will and purposes?

  He was in no position to demand an immediate response from the angel of the Lord: "Wipe ‘em out--Sic ‘em!" Instead, he fell before the angel with his face to the ground--‘What is the message you have for me?!’ And when Joshua became aware that he was treading "holy ground" (like Moses, his predecessor), he immediately removed his sandals.

  In checking out the situation at Jericho before the imminent attack on the city, Joshua no doubt, knew exactly what he was doing. But he knew just as well who was in charge, and it wasn’t him!  Yes, he was the leader of the people of Israel, but at the same time he was quite aware that he was a servant--the servant of his Master, Yahweh God. And with that understanding, Joshua refused to make the kinds of assumptions that followers of Jesus are so prone to make. His position as leader of the army of Israel did not routinely secure God’s approval of him or the things he did.

  The decision to become a follower of Jesus Christ, does not provide a blanket endorsement from God. It is no guarantee that God is on our side. Jesus Himself said

  Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me."
    -- Luke 9:29 (NIV)
  
  Our discipleship (follower-ship) to Jesus is completely dependent upon a daily decision to give up what we want in His favor. It’s as if the Lord sends the angelic commander of His army to confront us each day with the same challenge: ‘Are you for us or for our enemies?’ And so in a sense it’s not a matter of us asking the Lord if He is on our side, but rather Him asking us if we are on His side.

  Unfortunately because of their presumption, the people of Israel unlike Joshua, on more than one occasion, found themselves on the wrong side of the battlefield. In His anger, Yahweh " . . . opposed [them] in battle, refused to fight on [their] side . . . ; robbed [them] of splendor [&] humiliated [them]" (see the context of Psalm 89:38-44). Ironically, they found themselves fighting against God which resulted in immense suffering for their arrogant smug attitude. Disciples of Jesus embracing the same kind of attitude, may expect nothing better than the shame, humiliation and defeat suffered by the people of Israel because Yahweh ended up fighting against them instead of with them.

  If God is for us, is He also with us, in the sense that He is on our side?  Conversely, are we on His side?
  

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