Do you feel like your life lacks direction? Don’t know which way to turn?
There is a conversation in the Bible that might help. In the book of Joshua chapter 5, Joshua has led the Hebrew people to the edge of the promised land. They have been waiting for this moment for decades. At this point, Joshua encounters Commander of the Army of the Lord, that’s the Bible’s way to talk about God. The reason God is meeting with Joshua is so that he can outline how they are going to get past the city of Jericho. That’s usually where people focus but there’s something important that happens first. Here’s how their conversation begins:
13 And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, a Man stood opposite him with His sword drawn in His hand. And Joshua went to Him and said to Him, “Are You for us or for our adversaries?”
14 So He said, “No, but as Commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.”
And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped, and said to Him, “What does my Lord say to His servant?”
Did you catch it?
“Are You for us or for our adversaries?”
What’s the answer?
“No.”
God answer suggests that Joshua was asking the wrong question. I suspect that most of us ask the same wrong questions.God, “Whose side are you on?”
For those of us not in battle mode, what we usually are asking is, “What’s your will for my life?”
God’s response points us in the right direction and it’s Joshua’s response that confirms it.
The real question is, “Whose is Joshua for?”
How often do we tend to tell God what we want and what he should do? How often do we determine in our minds who should be blessed and who should be “corrected?” We just assume that God is for us.
We would have a greater sense of direction and be more in harmony with God if we took Joshua’s attitude and said his words:
“What does my Lord say to His servant?”