A False Start
Opening Prayer
Holy Spirit, set the agenda for my day and help me to walk in rhythm with You.
Read Joshua 2:1-16
[1] Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim. “Go, look over the land,” he said, “especially Jericho.” So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there. [2] The king of Jericho was told, “Look, some of the Israelites have come here tonight to spy out the land.” [3] So the king of Jericho sent this message to Rahab: “Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house, because they have come to spy out the whole land.” [4] But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. She said, “Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they had come from. [5] At dusk, when it was time to close the city gate, they left. I don’t know which way they went. Go after them quickly. You may catch up with them.” [6] (But she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them under the stalks of flax she had laid out on the roof.) [7] So the men set out in pursuit of the spies on the road that leads to the fords of the Jordan, and as soon as the pursuers had gone out, the gate was shut. [8] Before the spies lay down for the night, she went up on the roof [9] and said to them, “I know that the LORD has given you this land and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you. [10] We have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed. [11] When we heard of it, our hearts melted in fear and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the LORD your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below. [12] “Now then, please swear to me by the LORD that you will show kindness to my family, because I have shown kindness to you. Give me a sure sign [13] that you will spare the lives of my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them-and that you will save us from death.” [14] “Our lives for your lives!” the men assured her. “If you don’t tell what we are doing, we will treat you kindly and faithfully when the LORD gives us the land.” [15] So she let them down by a rope through the window, for the house she lived in was part of the city wall. [16] She said to them, “Go to the hills so the pursuers will not find you. Hide yourselves there three days until they return, and then go on your way.” Scripture taken from the THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
How does Joshua not obey God?When Joshua obeys God’s promptings, he prospers. That nearly always happens. But on three occasions – here, and in both Joshua 7 and 9 – Joshua doesn’t do so. On all three occasions when he doesn’t explicitly seek God’s prompting, Joshua stumbles. Here he seeks human insight, not divine guidance. Despite yesterday’s promise that God would give him every place on which he sets his foot (1:3), it appears that Joshua wants to know the lie of the land. All he’s learned from the disaster in Numbers 14 is to send the spies out secretly. The text doesn’t say that God required this spying mission. Wherever Joshua is responding to a divine instruction throughout the book of Joshua, it always makes that clear. So this isn’t required by the Lord. When we remember how God orchestrates the taking of Jericho, we realize why: no human reconnaissance could add anything to that plan at all. The spying also leads to disobedience: the spies strike a bargain that exempts Rahab from God’s judgement upon the land, a bargain which they’ve no right to strike. God’s grace is seen in how Rahab, through her discernment and resourcefulness, is integrated into the story of God’s people despite their disobedience.
Apply
Joshua shows us that it can be easier to trust our natural humanity and gifts than to depend upon God. Turn from this.
Closing prayer
Lord of heaven and earth, help me to trust that You can do what I never could and to wait for You.
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