Joshua made an audacious prayer. It was a prayer for the impossible. The fact that he even thought of it surprises everyone.
• Today we want to look at his motivation behind that prayer, and his commitment to fulfilling God’s will.
The chapter opens with 5 opposing Amorite armies planning an attack on the Gibeonites.
• Let’s look at the map and get a feel of the situation. These nations are situated at the Southern part of Canaan.
• They joined forces to attack the Gibeonites, unhappy that they had made a treaty with Israel and wanting to weaken this new threat.
Joshua responded to the Gibeonites’ call for help. He took his army and marched from Gilgal to Gibeon, geographically it is an uphill journey and some 40 km away.
• It’s like walking from here to Changi Airport and back. And they did it in one night! (10:9)
The Lord spoke to Joshua: “Do not be afraid of them; I have given them into your hand. Not one of them will be able to withstand you.” (10:8)
• He was given the assurance that God is behind him on this.
Arriving after an all-night march (10:9), the Israelites unleashed a surprise attack.
• The enemy lines broke and they fled into the valley, down South-West to the valley, to Azekah and Makkedah (10:10).
• Joshua’s men gave chase and then we see God intervening. He rained down large hailstones on the enemies.
• It was so massive that more died from the hailstones than by the swords of the Israelites.
The battle dragged on and Joshua knew he needed more time. It was desperate.
• And so in that curcial moment, he made a daring plea: “O sun, stand still over Gibeon, O moon, over the Valley of Aijalon.” (10:12)
• In short, LORD, STOP THE SUN! (That’s using human language of observation, because the sun does not move actually.)
• Joshua was not addressing the sun. He was speaking to God about the sun! 10:12 “Joshua said to the Lord in the presence of Israel…”
If you think this prayer was incredible, God actually answered him! And promptly.
• 10:13-14 “13SO THE SUN STOOD STILL, and the moon stopped, till the nation avenged itself on its enemies, as it is written in the Book of Jashar (poetic songs honouring Israel’s leaders). The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day. 14There has never been a day like it before or since, a day when the LORD listened to a man. Surely the LORD was fighting for Israel!”
• Joshua prayed with faith and God answered him. He did not figure out the HOW. He simply cry out in desperation.
We saw God intervening TWICE in this battle. The first one, the hailstones (v.11) and now the earth slowed down in its spin (v.12). That is, the sun delayed going down about a full day.
• God did the first on His own accord, and second in response to a man’s cry.
• God fights for Joshua, as He has promised. Joshua’s bold prayer was based on the promise of God had made to him.
Consider Joshua’s Motivation: PRAY BOLDLY to see that God’s Will is done
Dare to make God-sized prayers, based on the promises of God.
Joshua did not say a prayer for himself. It was not for protection or an easy way out.
• It was made in the heat of battle, for the sun to stay so that he can complete the destruction of his enemies.
• In fact, if the sun stays, it would mean a longer battle. According to the text, they fought on for another full day!
The motivation is clear - Joshua is driven by a desire to see total victory.
• Nothing short of complete destruction of his enemies. Anything less will mean that the end would not be as glorious.
• Joshua fought to finish the task. He fought to fulfil God’s promise. He fought to uphold the glory of God, believing that this is the promise of God.
This is the basis of his prayer, and the basis of our prayers too.
• It is what shapes our prayer. We pray because we want to see God’s will accomplished and His Name glorified.
• Let His purposes motivate us to pray. Let’s His will directs the content of what we ask for.
• Jesus says this is how you should pray: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, 10your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matt 6:9-10)
When Elijah challenged the 450 prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18), this was what he prayed.
• 1 Kings 18:36-38 “36At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: "O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. 37Answer me, O LORD, answer me, so these people will know that you, O LORD, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again." 38Then the fire of the LORD fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.
Making reference to Elijah, James says “the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” (James 5:16) His motivation is the glory of God!
Our prayers must go beyond praying for God to meet my needs, fulfil my wants, and make us successful.
• God cares and He will remember my needs. There will be times when we pray for our wants and desires. BUT that cannot be our preoccupation in prayer.
Jesus said it clearly in Matth 6:25ff. that our heavenly Father knows what we need and will provide.
• Rather, our concern is to seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness.
• He taught us how to pray. “Give us this day our daily bread” comes after “hallowed be Your Name, Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matt 6:9-10) Our prayer must reflect such a priority!
God don’t exist for us; we exists for Him. God is not here to grant us our wishes; we are here to fulfil His will.
• Something is amiss if we are preoccupied by prayers for health, wealth and success, prayers only for the physical, material and emotional wellbeing.
• My big question is: WHAT FOR? Why do you want to be rich? Why do we want to feel good? Why you want to be successful on earth? What is motivating you?
• James 4:3 “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.”
Joshua prayed for the unthinkable and he got it, because that is the will of God.
• He did not ask for an easy outcome; he asked for help to finish the work of God.
• That is our motivation today. God will “keep the lights on” so that we can finish His task.
Consider Joshua’s Commitment: WORK HARD to see that God’s Work is done
It is amazing to see the extent of hard work involved in this battle.
• An overnight march from Gilgal to Gibeon, under the cover of darkness. A distance of 40km and ascent of 4,000ft (1.2km) uphill. No opportunity to rest.
• Upon reaching, they launched a surprise, pre-dawn attack. The enemies fled and the chase followed.
• God aided them with the hailstones. The chase dragged on and Joshua asked for the sun to stay.
• They eventually fought on for another full day! You can imagine how tired they must be.
Prayer does not excuse us from hard work. Knowing that God helps us does not mean we “rest on our laurels” and expect God to do everything.
• Such a dichotomy does not exist with Joshua. He knows God is present with them and yet they have to fight with all that they’ve got.
• He knows God has given him the promise and yet he needs to work hard to win the battle.
This passage paints for us a great picture of the interplay between the human and divine factors in achieving victory. It is not either-or. It is BOTH.
• Both played important roles in the battle. The soldiers had to fight and God gave the victory.
• Success will not come simply because we pray. It comes because we obey His Word and do what He says.
• Victory will not come as a gift (drop down from the sky). It comes because men and women fight hard for the cause of Christ. What are you doing to claim the promises of God?
Don’t be discouraged because the going is tough. Don’t doubt God because you are facing difficulties.
• God’s promises have not changed. He is with us, fighting the battles WITH us.
• Joshua did not expect God to DO the fighting FOR him. Neither should we.
• “Fight the good fight of the faith,” Paul tells Timothy (1 Tim 6:12)
God will intervene, but we have to fight. One thing is sure, victory is assured. God said so. That is His promise.
Many of us heard of the testimony of Christopher Yuan – a former drug addict, doing and selling drugs, having homosexual relationships, being expelled from school, found to be HIV+ and imprisoned, but the Lord saved him and changed his life.
His mother’s prayer made the difference. She had been praying fervently for her son’s salvation. She said she has committed not to focus on the hopelessness, but instead upon the promises of God. She made this bold prayer: “Lord, do whatever it takes to bring this prodigal son to you.”
For 7 years, she fasted every Monday, and once fasted 39 days, praying for her son. As the situation became more and more bleak, she immersed herself deeper into God's Word. She spent hours each morning in her prayer closet reading her Bible and interceding. Like the persistent widow, she kept bombarding heaven with her desperate pleas. She knew it would take nothing short of a miracle to bring this prodigal son to the Father.
The answer came one day. Her son was arrested and sentenced to 10 years in prison. The mother knew, without a doubt, that this was God's answer to her prayers. She tore a small piece of adding machine tape and wrote down these first blessings: "Christopher is in a safe place compared to before, and he called home for the first time." She began to count her blessings and now her list of blessings, which she started the first day of Christopher's imprisonment, is now longer and taller than she is.
Christopher came to know Christ in the prison through a Gideon bible he picked up in the bin. On his release he went to Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. He is now a lecturer teaching at this seminary.
