“When Joshua was near the town of Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with sword in hand. Joshua went up to him and demanded, “Are you friend or foe?” “Neither one,” he replied. “I am the commander of the Lord’s army.” At this, Joshua fell with his face to the ground in reverence. “I am at your command,” Joshua said. “What do you want your servant to do?” The commander of the Lord’s army replied, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did as he was told.”
Joshua 5:13-15 NLT
Humans want to choose sides. They are always wanting feel more important than the others. I experience this regularly with my two oldest bio children. They constantly try to take affirmation from the diminishment of each other. Here we see God’s official stance. He is not on anyone’s side. He is like a force that must be reckoned with. People can be on his side or they can feel the full force of going against him. This is sometimes hard to juxtapose against God’s favor, until we understand that his favor acts the same way. He is favors who he will because he wants to. Yet, if we, like Rahab, submit to his ways, we can easily fall into this favor and be spared his wrath. This is a clear message to Joshua, who was the commandeer of Israel, that he must fight behind the headwind of Gods command, because it is not he who was really going to win any victories. He was simply coming behind and collecting the spoils. We too, should come to this realization as we prepare for ministry.
JOSH McGARY. COM 