Commander
“Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, ‘Are you for us or for our enemies?’
’Neither,’ he replied, ‘but as commander of the army of the LORD I have now come.’ Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, ‘What message does my Lord have for his servant?’
The commander of the LORD’s army replied, ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.’ And Joshua did so.”
Today’s Text: Joshua 5:2-15 (Living Life Daily Devotional)
What incredible trust Joshua must have had to fall facedown before somebody with a drawn sword in his hand. But the whole episode is very curious. Who is this person?
The Commander of the LORD’s army must have been none other than God Himself—in other words, none other than the Son of God Himself (Revelation 19:11-16). No mere angel, except Satan, would ever dare to accept worship from anyone. The Commander’s instruction for Joshua to take off his sandals because he was on holy ground means that Joshua was in the presence of God, just as Moses was before the burning bush (Exodus 3:5-6). And then, as the battle with Jericho begins in Joshua 6, it is the LORD who gives the orders for the battle (Joshua 6:2).
So Joshua’s question to the Lord was completely natural from a human perspective. But to ask the Lord of heaven and earth, “Are you for us or for our enemies,” misses the mark in terms of understanding our relationship to Him. Do we do the same in our worship?
The right question Joshua (and all of us) should be asking is, “Am I for the Lord or am I not?”
The right question is a question of reflection about our basic understanding about the nature of reality and our very existence. Have we deluded ourselves into thinking that the Lord is “for us?” Or do we understand deep in our hearts that the very reason each and every one of us woke up today and breathe every breath is to live our lives for the Lord?
If I am to live my life with the correct understanding—that “for Him”—I must live my life according to the word of God. I have to “take off my sandals” that navigate the earth and walk before the Lord, having nothing obstructing my direct contact with Him, baring my whole life for His purpose.
But the word of God is counter-intuitive and count-cultural and doesn’t make sense to me, if I can be honest with myself. But the word of God testifies: the only thing that truly (existentially) makes sense is to trust in Christ and follow His instruction. Everything else is a fool’s errand.
Because when we “take off our sandals” and follow the instructions given by our Commander, the Living Word, He will lead the charge in fighting every battle that He leads us into.
Father, You are the Commander of my life. You have Your goal. Mine is meaningless. You have the plan. Mine is pointless. You have the victory, and Your victory is mine when I obey Your command in battle. Open my eyes and ears and heart to trust You and You alone. Compel me in Your word to never lean on my own understanding. In Jesus’s name. Amen.
