Whose side are you on?

In Joshua chapter 5, Joshua stands on the eve before the battle of Jericho. He is ready to lead the people of God in conquest of the mighty, fortified city. He has seen the power of the Lord through the ten plagues of Egypt. He has seen the riches of the land of Canaan as one of the twelve spies sent by Moses some 40 years earlier to survey the land God was giving them. He has seen the providence of God wandering through the wilderness with a people whose allegiance to God had been fickle at best.

Now he stood, at last, ready to begin taking the land God had promised to them so long ago. He was the new leader of the nation, having received that mantle from Moses. He had been faithful and was certain that God would give them victory. Looking up he sees a man standing nearby, dressed in full armor with his sword in his hand. Approaching him, Joshua asks, "Are you for us or our enemies?" "Neither," the man replies, " I am the commander of the Army of the Lord."

If I were Joshua , I might have jumped out in protest at that point. "What do you mean, 'Neither'? Do you realize who I am. I am Joshua , the faithful one. The one who has taken the lead of Israel after Moses. I am the one who has been victorious in battle again and again under God's lead. Way back when we first spied out this land, I was one of only two men who trusted God and believed we could take this land in the first place. How can you stand there and say you command the Lord's Army, but you are not on my side? Now I 'll ask you again, whose side are you on, anyway?"

That might have been my response, but it certainly was not Joshua's. Look in the text and you'll see that he fell down on his face before this"man" and cried out something like, "What would my Lord have his servant do?" You see Joshua understood, perhaps better than anyone, the truth that the battle belongs to the Lord. He understood what the psalmist penned years later: Had it not been the Lord who was on our side. . . when men attacked us. . .they would have swallowed us alive - Psalm 124

Joshua heard and understood, that this man wasn't saying "I m not for you." Instead he was saying, "'Whose side are you on?' is a good question, Joshua. It is the right question, but it is not a question you ask of God. Instead, it is THE question God asks of you. So, Joshua, whose side are you on?"

This is the same question God asks of everyone in scripture: "Whose side are you on?" The Word is packed full of life stories which grapple with this question. Undoubtedly and undeniably, those who line up with God always win. Even in the face of great opposition. Even in the face of terrible suffering and confusion. Even in the face of their own death. I dare you to find a life story in the Bible where the plot does not turn on how the lead character (and all those around him or her) answers this question. They all rise and fall, succeed or fail according to whether they line up with God.

Why do we think that our lives would be any different? Don't take this question lightly. Whose side are you on?