Victory In Defeat Series

Bryan Link, from Toronto, Canada, did a double-take recently when he looked at an old pothole in his neighborhood and thought he saw weeds. Upon closer examination, they turned out to be tomatoes. Someone with a good sense of humor had planted the tomatoes in the big, ugly sinkhole that had been a blight on his Toronto neighborhood for months. Soon, other residents began to tend the tomato plants regularly, with someone going so far as to put up stakes to keep the plants from falling over. (Sheena Goodyear, “Someone planted tomatoes in this Toronto sinkhole—and residents are loving it,” CBC Radio, 8-16-18; www.PreachingToday.com)

For me, that’s a beautiful picture of what God can do in the broken places of your life. In those places of failure, God can plant the seeds of fruitfulness and growth. All you need to do is “tend the garden” (so-to-speak) and put up some “stakes.”

The question is: What are those stakes? What can you do to experience fruitfulness in the place of failure? What can you do to experience victory in the place of defeat? Well, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Joshua 8, Joshua 8, where we see what Joshua did in the place of his failure.

Joshua 8:1-2 And the LORD said to Joshua, “Do not fear and do not be dismayed. Take all the fighting men with you, and arise, go up to Ai. See, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, and his people, his city, and his land. And you shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king. Only its spoil and its livestock you shall take as plunder for yourselves. Lay an ambush against the city, behind it.” (ESV)

God promises to give Joshua the city of Ai, the city that had routed Joshua’s army. Only this time, God tells Joshua to take his entire army – about 600,000 soldiers – instead of the 3,000 he took last time. He also tells Joshua to lay an ambush against the city, to sneak around behind the city, rather than do a frontal assault like he did the last time. So what does Joshua do?

Joshua 8:3-9 So Joshua and all the fighting men arose to go up to Ai. And Joshua chose 30,000 mighty men of valor and sent them out by night. And he commanded them, “Behold, you shall lie in ambush against the city, behind it. Do not go very far from the city, but all of you remain ready. And I and all the people who are with me will approach the city. And when they come out against us just as before, we shall flee before them. And they will come out after us, until we have drawn them away from the city. For they will say, ‘They are fleeing from us, just as before.’ So we will flee before them. Then you shall rise up from the ambush and seize the city, for the LORD your God will give it into your hand. And as soon as you have taken the city, you shall set the city on fire. You shall do according to the word of the LORD. See, I have commanded you.” So Joshua sent them out. And they went to the place of ambush and lay between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai, but Joshua spent that night among the people. (ESV)

Joshua, believing God’s promise, does exactly what God tells him to do. He approaches the city of Ai from the east, sending 30,000 of his best soldiers under cover of night behind the city to the west. That way, in the morning, when Joshua draws Ai’s soldiers out of the city on the east side, the 30,000 Israeli soldiers can easily enter the unguarded city from the west and set it on fire.

Joshua 8:10-12 Joshua arose early in the morning and mustered the people and went up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai. And all the fighting men who were with him went up and drew near before the city and encamped on the north side of Ai, with a ravine between them and Ai. He took about 5,000 men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the city. (ESV)

Joshua adds an additional 5,000 soldiers to the 30,000 that were already there. He’s not taking any chances. Gone is the arrogance he displayed before. Now, in dependence upon God, he is taking every precaution to carry out God’s battle plan.

Joshua 8:13-15 So they stationed the forces, the main encampment that was north of the city and its rear guard west of the city. But Joshua spent that night in the valley. And as soon as the king of Ai saw this, he and all his people, the men of the city, hurried and went out early to the appointed place toward the Arabah to meet Israel in battle. But he did not know that there was an ambush against him behind the city. And Joshua and all Israel pretended to be beaten before them and fled in the direction of the wilderness. (ESV)