When we start claiming new territory for the Lord, as in leading people to faith in Christ, we will more than likely have to fight some spiritual battles; and fighting can be tiresome. Fighting can leave us weary and discouraged wishing the conflict was at an end; wanting to slow down and enjoy the fruits of our labor. If we’re not careful, we can sometimes slip into an attitude of thinking that life would be better if we could just arrive at our spiritual destination, whatever that might be.
It is all too easy for people to get in a hurry and fail to cherish the present moment. People often forget that there is joy in the journey, and they can become so time-oriented that they fail to be God-oriented and God-centered. In Psalm 46:10, the Lord declared, “Be still, and know that I am God,” but how many believers sit still long enough to really hear what the Lord is saying concerning His will for their life or their situation?
People today seem to be very busy and always in a hurry. They walk fast, drive fast, talk fast, eat fast; and after eating, they all too often stand up and say, “Excuse me, but I’ve got to run.” It’s rather ironic that in the state of South Dakota there is a city called Rapid City, and a nearby mountain called Rushmore.
One Native American, testifies, “To the Euro-American time is quantitative; but to the Native American it is qualitative, as is evidenced by the older Native man who was living on a reservation. When asked if he had lived on the reservation all his life, he replied, ‘No, not yet’.”(1) This older Indian realized that he had a lot of life left to live and many more experiences yet to encounter.
The difficulty that people have with time is rooted in our society’s drive for productivity. It is commonly said that “time is money.” It became evident to one CEO that his time spent working and earning money had affected his family life. He stated, “I knew my travel schedule was out of control when my wife and three-year-old were standing outside. An airplane flew overhead, and my wife said, ‘Do you know what that is?’ ‘Yes,’ my daughter replied. ‘It’s Daddy’s office’.”(2)
You have probably before heard someone mention the Latin phrase carpe diem, which means “seize the day.” Well, this morning, we are going to see that in order to be mighty in God, and to walk in victory and conquest of the land, that we must daily devote ourselves and our time to seeking the Lord and His presence in our lives. We must learn to seize every minute and every second, and make the most of it for the Lord while living in the present moment.
Sun and Moon Stand Still (vv. 12-13a)
Let us all stand at this time in honor of the reading of God’s Word, as we read through Joshua chapter 10, verses 12-13a:
12 Then Joshua spoke to the LORD in the day when the LORD delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel: “Sun, stand still over Gibeon; and Moon, in the Valley of Aijalon.” 13 So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till the people had revenge upon their enemies.
So, what exactly was going on here? Well, allow me to summarize what we learn in the first few verses of this chapter. King Adoni-Zedek of Jerusalem became upset when he heard how Joshua and the Israelites had destroyed the city of Ai, and of how Gibeon had joined Joshua and his band (Joshua 10:1-2); therefore Adoni-Zedek had nine kings, five of them being Amorites (10:5), to join him in order to stage an attack on the Israelites and Gibeon. In looking back at verse 8, the Lord had promised Joshua, “Do not fear them, for I have delivered them into your hand; not a man of them shall stand before you.” Right here, in verses 12-13, we find that Joshua had asked the Lord to make time stand still until the enemies of the Israelites had been defeated.
Time Allowed for Victory
God had promised to show Joshua His glory through a great victory, but Joshua realized that you cannot rush God. The Lord has made many promises of victory to each of us as well. He promised to give His only Son, Jesus, as a sacrifice for our sins that we might have eternal life (John 3:16) – which is our victory over sin! Jesus promised that God would provide us with a Helper, who is the Holy Spirit (John 15:26) – which is our victory over both sorrow and the difficulties of life! The Bible contains numerous promises that the Lord wants to fulfill in our life, but like Joshua we need to give God the time to come through for us.
We live in a society where we can get anything right now. When we are hungry and we don’t have time to fix a meal, we can go through the drive-through and grab a bite to eat. We can get anything in the form of a drive-through. I’ve made mention of this before, but we can pick up prescriptions, buy cigarettes, rent movies and even pay our last respects through a window at a drive through funeral parlor. If we want to buy something right now, but we won’t have the money until our pay check comes through, then we can get a check advance; and there are plenty of free ink pens floating around to remind us of this service.
People have become so accustomed to getting the things they want exactly when they want them, that they subconsciously feel that God’s promises and their spiritual victories should happen in the exact same manner – that is immediately, and on demand! Some of God’s promises are immediate, such as salvation in Jesus when we confess Him as Savior and Lord; but others, such as a better future and hope (Jeremiah 29:11), people may have to wait until God sees fit to fulfill the specific promise.
Basking in His Glory
Joshua realized that time was needed for the Lord’s promise to be fulfilled, but I believe he also wanted that time in order to bask in God’s glory and take joy in both the battle and the victory. If God were going to do a mighty work in your life, why would you want to rush it?
Many believers live for those climactic moments in which they experience God’s glory in some amazing way. These times are called “mountain top experiences,” and believers long for these glorious occasions; however, once they reach that place and find that it’s all over very quickly, they can become discouraged and they might ask, “Why did God abandon me?” The Lord has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5).
These mountain top experiences are the victories that come after the battle. It is easy to glory in the victory, but what about glorying in the thick of the fight? Believers often fail to stop and look for God along the way, thinking that He is only found at the end when the battle is over; however, He is actually there in the heat of the battle assisting us with the fight. Therefore, we need to slow down and bask in God’s glory, as He fights for us like a knight in shining armor.
Let us not forget that we have to go through the hard times before we can come out victorious on the top of the mountain. Believers love to worship God when things are going their own way, but they must never forget to give Him their time when life is difficult. If we want to have the joy of the Lord with us at all times, then we need to give God His due time through our worship by seizing the day and basking in His glory unceasingly.
Falling in Love with Him
If believers would truly fall head-over-heals in love with God and with His Son, Jesus Christ, then they wouldn’t have a problem devoting time to Him. I recall a scene from the movie entitled A Knight's Tale when Will, the hero of the story, said something romantic to his beloved Jocelyn:
“Jocelyn,” said Will, “you remind me of the Bible.” And after an uncomfortable pause, he continued, “You remind me of when God stopped the sun in the sky at Gibeon to give Joshua more time to defeat the Amorites.” Jocelyn, looking very perplexed said, “I don’t understand.” To which Will romantically replied, “If I could ask God but one thing, it would be to stop the moon and make this night and your beauty last forever.”(3)
Men, I believe you can identify with the intense feelings you developed toward your wife when you first met. Think back to the time before you were married, of how much you wanted to be with your fiancée. You didn’t want those moments with her to ever end. And ladies, I am certain you can identify with how you felt toward your husband at that time as well. And hopefully you still feel this way today. Amen? But here’s where I’m going with this. “If only believers could possess that kind of passion for God! If only we could have that same fire for Jesus Christ!”
As God’s church, believers are the bride of Christ, and we expected to fall passionately in love with Jesus who is the bridegroom. God wants each of us to desire to spend time with Him and with His only Son, Jesus. If we are truly and passionately in love with the Lord then we won’t have a problem giving Him our time – whether it be in church, during our daily devotion, in our pursuit of His calling, or even during an unexpected delay in possessing the promised land.
Failing to Give Him Time
If we fail to worship God during the heat of the battle, then He might decide to purposefully refuse to bring us to the place of victory. I want to give you an example of a church that failed to give God the time, and to share with you the resulting consequence. The following true story was shared with me by a pastor friend concerning a church where he once served on staff.
This church had been praying for an outpouring of God’s Spirit, and during one particular evening worship service the Holy Spirit took over and God’s people began reconciling their differences. Many were walking across the aisle to ask forgiveness of a brother or sister whom they had wronged. There were shouts of praise and tears of joy. All this occurred during the middle of the worship service, and the pastor didn’t know what to make of it.
The pastor stopped preaching and prayed with the people, but after a certain amount of time had elapsed he became nervous because the service was going over the scheduled time, and so he halted everything and concluded for the evening. Soon after that glorious night of basking in God’s glory and in His Spirit, everything fell apart. People started committing terrible sins and the church eventually died.
Have you ever heard of quenching the Spirit? The Bible expressly says, “Do not quench the Spirit” (1 Thessalonians 5:19). The word “quench” means, “To put out, to extinguish, and to subdue.”(4) Believers can quench the Spirit if they are not careful. They can put out the flame that burns within the church, if they fail to honor God with their time.
My pastor friend had a chat with the pastor of this particular church concerning what had gone wrong after that night. This pastor admitted that he had never before lost control of a worship service, and he only felt secure when he was in control. So he took the reins away from God, and the Holy Spirit departed. He learned a valuable lesson from that experience about giving the Lord His rightful time, and about allowing God to have control over his life. He stated that if he had it to do over again, that he would allow the service go for as long as the Lord desired.
Time of Reflection
I want to plead with each of you to be careful that you do not fail in giving God your time. Believers need to come to the realization that the time they have is not really theirs, but it all belongs to God for He created time. If you desire to see God move in a mighty way in your life, in this church, or in your pursuit of His best, then you need to give the Lord your time, not only when things are going good, but in the heat of the battle as well.
You need to be diligent and faithful in your worship of the Lord and you need to fall so in love with Jesus that you find yourself longing to spend every minute of every day with Him. If you will give God your time and bask in His glory during the thick of the fight, then you will rise up victorious over the enemy. However, if you fail to give Him your time then you will quench the Spirit, and He might choose to depart from your presence. I want to share a closing word of advice from the lyrics of 1995 song entitled “Seize the Day.” Carolyn Arends says,
Well one thing I’ve noticed, wherever I wander; everyone’s got a dream he can follow or squander. You can do what you will with the days you are given. I’m trying to spend mine on the business of living . . . Seize the day, seize whatever you can; ’cause life slips away just like hourglass sand. Seize the day, pray for grace from God’s hand; then nothing will stand in your way. Seize the day!(5)
For those who do not know Jesus as Savior and Lord, this is probably not an easy message to hear. You’ve probably resisted coming to the Lord for so long, because you are afraid that you will have to give up many of the things that you like to do in order to become a Christian. I won’t lie to you. If you follow Christ as Savior and Lord, you will have to give up those things that displease the Lord; and you will be required to sacrifice your time as well. But just remember what Jesus asks, “For what will it profit a man if the gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Mark 8:36-37).
What will you give unto God that He will spare your soul in the judgment? For those of us who know Jesus Christ, the payment has already been given. The exchange for our soul happened when God gave His one and only Son to die on the cross for our sins. My question for you today is, “Do you know Him? Is Jesus Christ your Savior and Lord?”
NOTES
(1) Richard Twiss, One Church Many Tribes (Ventura, CA: Regal, 2000), pp. 97-98.
(2) Texas Inc. Magazine.
(3) “A Knight's Tale,” 2001 Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc.
(4) The Merriam-Webster Concise School and Office Dictionary (Springfield: Merriam-Webster, 1991), p. 424.
(5) Carolyn Arends, “Seize the Day,” Christianlyricsonline.com: http://www.christianlyricsonline.com/artists/carolyn-arends/seize-the-day.html.
