Wars and conflicts are everywhere especially clearer when you read the online newspapers.
There is conflict among nations, among races, among politicians, even among religious beliefs.
Those conflicts are rooted to so much hatred, antagonism, bitterness and hostilities.
In addition, hot tempered and a greedy heart can cause conflicts to occur.
So, what is conflict? According to the Dictionary, a conflict is a serious disagreement or argument that are typically a protracted one.
Protracted means ongoing, lengthy and extensive.
And so, if a conflict is not re-solved, it would be sustained over time and enlarged affecting our lives.
According to Literature, there are four types of conflicts that we usually experience:
Man vs. himself - this is a conflict among persons who are struggling among themselves to overcome their addiction, their fears or anger.
Man vs. man - this is a conflict among two people who could not meet eye to eye due to differing religious belief or ideology.
Man vs. nature - this occurs when you have to fight to survive or protect yourself from the cold winter or a hurricane.
Man vs. society - when a man is fighting against the tradition of where he lives or what his country does.
Sometimes you can experience one of those conflicts or a combination of two or more at the same time.
But regardless of what type of conflict you have, we all agree that conflicts are inevitable and unavoidable.
You cannot run away from it.
It is always there wherever you go.
You need not search for it very far.
The only thing that is illusive is peace and quiet.
Somebody said that "Peace is NOT the absence of conflict but the ability to cope with it."
That means it is only by coping with conflicts that you will find perfect peace.
So, conflicts would teach us valuable lessons to develop our character.
How? By developing patience and calmness of spirit.
The Bible tells us how in Proverbs 15:18 (NIV) "A hot-tempered person stirs up conflict, but the one who is patient calms a quarrel."
Here is the secret. "One who is patient calms a quarrel."
I want you to understand this carefully.
There are two things you can do when there is ongoing conflict around you, whether inwardly or in your relationship with people.
First is you can stir up more conflicts to happen (I hope you won't) or secondly you can calm and prevent conflicts from happening. (I hope you do),
It's our choice and it all depends upon whether you have accumulated patience in your character over the years.
If you have built godly character through patient endurance over the years, you can have the ability to cope with any conflict you are faced with.
You will always be quiet and peaceful even if there are problems and difficulties around you.
But if you are lacking patience, always hot-tempered, and easily irritated or provoked, chances are there is no peace in you and you will not be able to cope with it but stirring up more quarrels than you could cope.
Remember this: A hot-tempered man can stir up the conflict while a patient man always calms a quarrel.
So, which one are you?
We are now in chapter 10 of the Book of Joshua.
Last week, we were in chapter 9 concerning the Gibeonities who feared for their lives and deceived Joshua into making a peace treaty.
And we also learned that Joshua fell into deception because he sampled their provision but did not inquire of the Lord.
He did not seek the Lord's wisdom through prayer and wise counsel.
That is why it is always important for all of us to always seek the Lord over everything we do.
However, at the end, Joshua was able to correct his mistake and consequently made the Gibeonites to become their slaves for life by making them as water carriers and wood cutters.
Later on, they even served in the temple of God.
And their being near and serving the God of Israel turned out to be a blessing to the future generations for the Gibeonites.
The story in chapter 10 however begins with the conflict of battle involving five kings who formed an alliance to fight against Gibeon.
They were so angry towards the Gibeonites for making a treaty of peace with Israel and turned their backs from them.
And so, because of that deep seated hatred, and feeling of resentment and ill will, they positioned their troops to do battle and attack Gibeon.
Mind you, the Gibeonites were strong and its men were good fighters but they decided to seek the military assistance of Joshua.
They pleaded to Joshua: "Do no abandon your servants. Come up to us quickly and save us. Help us, because all the Amorite kings from the hill country have joined forces against us."
Joshua was compassionate and would want this conflict to be resolved.
The Lord told Joshua not to be afraid because not one of them will be able to withstand Israel.
So, they then marched up from Gilgal with his entire army, including all the best fighting men.
The Lord helped Joshua win the battle by throwing the enemy into confusion.
The enemy retreated and fled from Israel, as the Lord hurled large hailstones down on them so that more of them died from the hail than were killed by the swords.
And on that day, Joshua even requested the Lord for the sun to stand still until all the enemy were completely annihilated.
And indeed, the Bible says that the sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day.
The conflict was resolved and they went home in peace.
My goal in his message is to make us understand that battles or conflicts are a reality in the life of a child of God.
We all face battles of different kinds.
However, in the midst of these battles we all experience, we can all learn important lessons for life so that we can maintain our peace regardless of these difficulties.
If you are going through a conflict right now, whether self, with another person or with your loved ones, remember that these things will not last long but the spiritual lessons we can learn are eternal.
There are three things we will discuss:
The DEVELOPMENT of the conflict. How conflicts start and enlarge.
The DEMONSTRATION OF GOD'S power in resolving conflict. How God takes control of the situation for our own good.
The DELIVERANCE from all hostilities. What happens when the conflicts have been resolved and dealt with.
1. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CONFLICT Joshua 10:5-8 (NIV)
Joshua 10:1-4 (NIV) "Now Adoni-Zedek king of Jerusalem heard that Joshua had taken Ai and totally destroyed[a] it, doing to Ai and its king as he had done to Jericho and its king, and that the people of Gibeon had made a treaty of peace with Israel and had become their allies. 2 He and his people were very much alarmed at this, because Gibeon was an important city, like one of the royal cities; it was larger than Ai, and all its men were good fighters. 3 So Adoni-Zedek king of Jerusalem appealed to Hoham king of Hebron, Piram king of Jarmuth, Japhia king of Lachish and Debir king of Eglon. 4 “Come up and help me attack Gibeon,” he said, “because it has made peace with Joshua and the Israelites.”
In these verses, we will see how the hostilities around Joshua was unfolding and developing.
It all started with the five kings composing of the following: the kings of Jerusalem, of Hebron, of Jarmuth, of Lachis and Eglon.
They all gathered together and joined forces to fight against the Gibeonites because they made a treaty with Israel.
Notice that it was not a threat of invasion that provoked them to anger and hostility.
The Gibeonites had done nothing to instigate them into battle but a mere peace treaty with Israel triggered their pride to create conflict.
Imagine. A treaty that was forged out of good will was the source of the quarrel.
This peace treaty was supposed to initiate and promote peace, reconciliation, love and harmony between nations but because of the sinful hearts of men, it created infighting, grudge, rivalry to provoke war.
And that my brothers and sisters is how conflicts evolved and developed into an all out hostilities resulting into death and destruction.
The Bible says: James 4:1 (NIV) "What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you?"
The apostle James was perplexed on why men had to fight each other and kill each other.
Why can't we just co-exist and live in harmony?
Why do we have to go to war?
But he answered his own question of the real cause of fights and war among nations.
He says they came from our own desires or longings that battle within us.
The real cause is deep within.
Jeremiah in the Old Testament spoke of the same thing when he said in Jer. 17:9 (NIV) "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?"
There it is, the source of all conflicts is in the heart of men.
No wonder, we cannot understand why all these wars had to be fought.
It is the sinful desires of men that emanates deep down from the heart that will create conflicts in this world.
The heart is the source of all evil desires, all conflicts, all rivalries, all competitions and all selfish ambitions.
When we resolve the root cause of the conflict, we can solve the problem.
That is why our hearts need to be changed and transformed.
If the heart is changed, then the man will be changed and the nations will be at peace with each other.
Only Christ can give us a new heart that will long after God's desires.
Ezekiel 26:36 (NIV) " I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh."
When we commit our lives to God, He will change our desires and will create true and lasting peace around us.
Let Christ transform your heart so that it will be free from conflicts.
Give your hearts to Jesus. Seek His will for your life.
Another thing that we could learn here is that the Gibeonites did not face these five kings directly even if they have good fighting men.
They decided to seek the help and assistance of Joshua.
They put their complete trust and confidence on Joshua and his army to deliver them from this conflict.
They believe that the God of Joshua is greater and more powerful than the alliance of these five kings.
They made the right decision because Joshua was being guided by God.
And victory was on their side.
Joshua therefore is the symbol of the presence of God who can bring deliverance and long lasting peace to those who are in conflict.
Joshua honored the peace treaty he entered in with the Gibeonites and was willing to defend their cause event to the point of laying their lives in the process.
In fact, Joshua fought with such courage under God's strength and protection until the enemy was defeated.
In the same manner, whenever we are in the midst of conflicts, we will have difficulty if we try to solve this by our power.
There is no use for us to allow self-pity of feeling of helplessness to prevail.
We cannot even fight this with our own strength because we will be defeated in the process.
There was this story of two men who lived in a small village that got into a terrible dispute that they could not resolve.
So, they decided to talk to the wisest man of the town called the sage.
The first man went to the sage's home and told his version of what happened.
When he finished, the sage said, "You're absolutely right."
The next night, the second man called on the sage and told his side of the story.
The sage again responded. "You're absolutely right."
Afterward, the sage's wife scolded her husband.
"Those men told you two different stories and you told them they were absolutely right. That's impossible - they can't be absolutely right at the same time! One of them should be wrong!"
The sage turned to his wife and said, "You're absolutely right."
(Taken from David Moore, Vital speeches of the day)
My brothers, and sisters, sometimes, situations can be confusing and exhausting especially if we deal with difficult people by our own wisdom.
There will always be the presence of misunderstanding and misinterpretation when deep seated anger prevail.
That is why the only logical thing to do is to bring all our burdens to Christ through prayer.
We need God's wisdom.
We need to ask God to help us with the conflicts we face each day.
Prayer helps us to release those inward struggles and allow God to give us that perfect peace.
Cast your cares upon the Lord because he cares for you.
Christ will not abandon us.
He will fight the battle for us.
2. THE DEMONSTRATION OF GOD'S POWER IN CONFLICT RESOLUTION
Joshua 10:10-12 (NIV) "10 The Lord threw them into confusion before Israel, so Joshua and the Israelites defeated them completely at Gibeon. Israel pursued them along the road going up to Beth Horon and cut them down all the way to Azekah and Makkedah. 11 As they fled before Israel on the road down from Beth Horon to Azekah, the Lord hurled large hailstones down on them, and more of them died from the hail than were killed by the swords of the Israelites.
12 On the day the Lord gave the Amorites over to Israel, Joshua said to the Lordin the presence of Israel: “Sun, stand still over Gibeon, and you, moon, over the Valley of Aijalon.”
The second thing we can learn from this chapter is that God is not limited when he acts.
He will not restrict or restrain his power in order to punish the aggressor.
He will in fact use the maximum force even including the power of nature to teach them a lesson and to protect His people.
This is the kind of God that we have.
And this is what we can learn from this chapter.
When Joshua faced the enemy, the text tells us that God threw then into confusion.
That means God brought disorientation, bewilderment and turmoil upon them so that they were not able to fight their battles well.
You see, once an army is confused, they are demoralized and perplexed.
That is the start of defeat regardless of their superior numbers.
We read further that they fled, they retreated and run away to escape the onslaught.
But God was not finished with them yet.
God sought them out and hurled large hailstones or chunks of large ice down on them as they fled.
God was so angry with these people that he decided to wipe them out for the face of the earth for good.
Other Bible scholars talk about large stones that had been thrown from heaven against the army of the five kings.
But whatever it was, whether large chunk of ice or large solid rocks, we can be assured that God demonstrated His power to resolve the conflict by punishing those who instigated it.
And that is exactly how God will deal with all the conflicts in this world, all those who rebel and fight His will.
They will have a horrifying end in the last days.
In fact, the Bible says that there will be such a day of judgment that the Lord has set to punish Satan and the wicked.
Revelation 12:10 (NIV) " Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: "Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down."
At the end, it will not be large chunk of ice that God will hurl but Satan himself to be hurled in the bottomless pit for his eternal judgment.
Those words: "hurled down" means thrown out from heaven so that Satan who is the accuser of Christians will finally be judged and no longer accused us.
You see, all the conflicts in this world is due to so much hatred of Satan against all Christians.
Satan cannot go against God because he is so powerful, and so, he goes after God's beloved people, the Christians and wanted to hurt them.
Whenever conflict happen, it is because of the accusations of Satan to discredit our testimony, to bring us down and ultimately to destroy us.
That has always been the cause of conflict in this world.
The mind is the battle field where he will place blame for our wrongdoing and attack us without let go.
But when we call upon the name of the Lord, he will hear us and will give us peace in the midsts of those conflicts.
All these conflicts will not be completely eliminated unless Satan has been hurled and thrown down where he belongs.
That is why we need to persevere, contend, endure and confront the enemy until someday when God will bring the ultimate judgment upon him and he could no longer do his work.
That day of judgment will bring about the complete resolution of that age old conflict between good and evil or between God and Satan when finally, Satan will be judged and be thrown into the lake of fire.
When that happens, all conflicts, all battles and wars among nations will finally be eliminated on earth and eternal peace will reign forever.
God's power in conflict resolution will be demonstrated for all to see and experience.
Meanwhile, the prayer of the apostle Paul for all Christians undergoing conflicts in life is in
Phil. 4:7 (NIV) "And the peace of God which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
Here then is another secret of overcoming conflicts in our lives.
Allow the peace of God to guard, to protect and watch over your heart and minds.
But note also the interesting thing that happened after this.
The text tells us that Joshua asked God to allow the sun to stand still so that there will be light and the work of victory will be completed.
They have an extra day to finish the task.
The text added that there has never been a day like it in the human history because it was a supernatural event in obedience to God's command.
How did this happen?
According to Christian answer.net, "The details are unclear but we know that God could have refracted the light, or slowed the Earth's rotation, or stopped the entire universe - all with equal ease.
God has the power over all the universe because has created all these things.
Even time is in his hands.
Time stopped for Joshua for a day while it ran backwards for Hezekiah in 2 Kings 20:9-11.
Remember that incident when God used this event as a special sign to show Hezekiah that He would regain his health.
The sun's shadow moved backwards by ten steps, probably five to six hours on the sundial.
That is, the sun appeared to move eastward instead of westward.
The conclusion is again the same, that such a miracle is beyond scientific explanation.
Only God could perform those things as a demonstration of His power to resolve conflict and bring punishment to those who will instigate it.
For Joshua, it was a conflict of man vs. man.
For Hezekiah, it was a conflict of man and himself.
Both Joshua and Hezekiah made a lofty request of the Lord, that the very heavens might be altered so that the conflict will be resolved and God granted their request.
Now, God might not be able to alter time in order for your conflicts to be resolved but rest assured that God's power is always available for us to experience.
Ephesians 1:19-21 (NIV) " 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength 20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.
3. THE DELIVERANCE FROM HOSTILITIES
Joshua 10:20-21 20 So Joshua and the Israelites defeated them completely, but a few survivors managed to reach their fortified cities. 21 The whole army then returned safely to Joshua in the camp at Makkedah, and no one uttered a word against the Israelites.
The third thing we can learn from this chapter is that Joshua and the Israelites defeated them completely.
The few who survived were not a threat any more.
The entire army of Israel returned safely to their camp with less casualty.
The Gibeonites were delivered from their hostilities.
The conflict was resolved while the reputation of Israel among the neighboring nations was at its highest.
The text says that "no one uttered a word against the Israelites" in view of that incident.
It means all the negative words, all the criticism and all bad opinions against them were all eliminated and wiped out.
Not only that, but the best thing is that they realized that the God of Israel was more powerful than their gods.
That is what usually happens when we are going through conflicts with other people.
We must always remain humble, patient and doing good at all times.
Then, when we give the conflicts to God, He is able to work a miracle to solve them.
At the end, all hostilities will be eradicated as God will manifest His awesome power.
And best of all, our Christian integrity will remain intact.
Our testimony will be recognized and Christ will be exalted among the nations.
This is what Paul advised Titus regarding this:
Titus 2:7-8 (NIV) "7 In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness 8 and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us."
Did you hear that?
At the end, they will be ashamed because they (those who oppose you) have nothing bad to say about us.
You just keep on loving them and eventually (even if they keep on opposing you), then they will realize that they have nothing to condemn you, nothing to accuse you because of your godly character.
All their criticism, negative opinions and biased judgment will backfire.
Because godly character is produced through the fires of conflicts, struggles and difficulties we go through each day.
When we pass those tests of life, we cultivate godliness and patience.
And that, my brothers and sisters is the very reason why God allows conflicts to come our way.
The more you learn to cope, the more you learn to love and the more your character flourish over time.
And so, do not despise whatever difficulties and trials you are going through in life.
Do not despise those difficult people that God allowed you to meet.
Do not despise those conflict, those strife, those rivalries and disappointments of life.
God has good reasons why he wants you to experience these things.
And when the finished product of godliness is achieved, then God will eliminate all those conflicts for they have already accomplished its purpose in us.
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