This year has been a very active one for me in the spiritual realm. I have been more earnest in prayer than I have been for many years. Indeed, I have spent a lot of this year praying and being still before the Lord, and, when I think about it, it’s been both difficult and easy. It’s been difficult because I’m not the one out there in action like I’ve been used to most of my life. Instead, I have been allowing the Lord to fight the battles while I await instructions and then do what I’m supposed to do. The easy part in all is this is the simplicity in my prayers.
I know I’ve run into problems when I’ve acted without prayer or prayed and then acted without listening for direction. Sometimes the next logical step to take isn’t the next step to take.
Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth Aven to the east of Bethel, and told them, “Go up and spy out the region.” So the men went up and spied out Ai.
Joshua 7:2 (NIV)
After the victory at Jericho, the Israelites had their sights on the small city of Ai. Joshua sent out spies to the region. When they returned they advised Joshua to only send out a small number of Israelites to take this small city. When the 3,000 men of Israel attacked Ai, they were routed and sent packing with 36 dead. Joshua’s decision to spy out the enemy and then send an appropriately sized force to defeat them was a sound strategic decision. Why tire the entire army if a small force will do?
However, Joshua didn’t know the bigger picture. The battle at Jericho was given to the Israelites by God. God told Joshua exactly what to do for the victory, and he told his men. They followed God’s instructions, and they were victorious at Jericho. Or so they thought.
But the Israelites were unfaithful in regard to the devoted things; Achan son of Karmi, the son of Zimri, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of them. So the Lord’s anger burned against Israel.
Joshua 7:1 (NIV)
Had Joshua inquired of the Lord before sending spies to Ai, the issue would have been resolved without being first being routed at Ai. I don’t know why Joshua didn’t inquire of the Lord first. I know how Joshua responded to the situation at Ai after being routed and wrote about it nine months ago in Joshua’s Plight. In that article, I wrote that Joshua was only human and I think being human is a good answer for why Joshua didn’t inquire of the Lord before attacking Ai. Despite having spent so many years with the Lord, Joshua still made a mistake.
Over the last year, I’ve seen great things come against me that I can’t possibly defeat on my own. I could try and fight them. Doing something sometimes feels like something is getting done, doesn’t it? This is where simple prayers have come into my life. When we consider Joshua and the Ai situation, all Joshua would have had to have done was ask the Lord, “Should we go up against Ai?” That’s a simple and straightforward prayer.
It’s when we think we know what we know before we know what we know, that we can get into trouble. Did you get that?
Joshua knew the Lord was with him and the Israelites. Furthermore, Joshua knew the Lord had given the Promised Land to them. However, Joshua didn’t know what Achan had done.
Even when we ask for it in prayer, it’s not necessarily better.
I could see myself as Joshua praying to the Lord, “Lord, I know you are with us. I know you have given us this land, just as you promised. Now, we’re going up to Ai to take it in your name. Please bless us as we go forth. Thank you. Amen.”
There’s nothing wrong with that prayer, except it doesn’t really ask God anything. It’s a prayer of assumption, and it’s assuming it’s in God’s will. It doesn’t ask the one thing that needs to be asked. “Should we go up against Ai?”
I think we pray like that a lot. This is what Paul says about the Holy Spirit and prayer.
And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.
Romans 8:26 (NLT)
If we go to God telling Him what we want Him to do, or to keep from us, without the guidance of the Holy Spirit, then we may not see those prayers answered in the way we would like. Even worse, we may see those prayers answered exactly how we want them to be answered when it’s not really what’s best for us. Now, God isn’t a Monkey’s Paw God, but we should still be mindful of what we ask for in prayer. What does James say about prayer?
Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
James 5:16 (KJV)
James wasn’t just talking about healing and confessing sins here. This is why I think it’s better to pray for a person’s salvation before asking God to heal their body if they aren’t saved.
I’d say that these simple prayers when we go to God and ask for His help and His will to be done are the most difficult prayers of all. At least for me. It’s like this pandemic. I can only ask God for His help in getting through it. I can’t begin to imagine how to resolve the many-fold problems of it but God knows.
God knows. This is something I’ve been telling myself a lot throughout the past year. You see even when we pray and ask God to take care of all the mess in our lives and to help us through it all, our flesh and our desire to do something likes to raise its head. For me, this manifests with the question, “What are you going to do?” My response this year has been, “I don’t know, but God does, and I trust God.”
Do you know God? God knows you, and He loves you. He sees you as significant because you are. No one is insignificant to Him. He’s with you today, right now, and He wants you to know Him. Jesus died for your sins and mine so we could be free of guilt, be freed from death, and live eternally with Him. Eternal salvation is just a prayer away.
Pray this prayer with me to accept the gift of salvation today:
Lord Jesus, forgive me for all my sins. I repent from my ways. Wash me in your blood and cleanse me from all unrighteousness. I believe that you died on the cross, were buried, and on the third day, God the Father raised you from the dead. Right now, Lord Jesus, I open the door to my heart, and I receive you into my heart as my Lord and personal Savior. Amen.
If you prayed that prayer, then congratulations! You are on the first step of a brand new life. Allow me to be the first to welcome you to my family, the family of God. There are abundant resources available online for new Christians. You can visit here for more information on what to do next. You can also leave me a comment, and I’ll do my best to help you on the next step of this incredible journey.
Four-Calendar Café 
Thank you for sharing this with us. I enjoyed reading your article of God’s Word. We don’t always know what to pray for, and that is true. Thank God for the Holy Spirit. God bless you, and have a wonderful new coming year.
LikeLike
I don’t think it is proper for you to state that Joshua failed ” Joshua still made a mistake.”, you presume much. Did God chide him for not seeking His face first? Joshua trusted his people were going to do as the Lord desired, but one in secret did not, and Joshua was not found guilty by the Lord, so why do you think you have the right to? Matter of fact the Lord asked him “why are you on your face”?Jos 7:10 And the LORD said unto Joshua, Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face?
The Lord also told him who was guilty “Jos 7:11 Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them: for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own stuff.
Jos 7:12 Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they were accursed: neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed from among you.
The only mistake Joshua would have made if he did not deal with the perpetrator rightly.
Please be careful not to accuse someone of a mistake when the Lord did not. Because the Lord always stipulates when the person has done wrong.
Lord bless you…..
LikeLike
Brother,
I didn’t say that Joshua had anything to do with what Achan did. I did say, however, that Joshua could have asked the Lord before attacking Ai if they should go up and attack.
God bless you.
LikeLike
I never said you did. I said, if Joshua had erred, the Lord would have informed him, but he did not. Did he?
One is not guilty by someone else’s sin, are they?
All the best in the New Year, I pray the Lord bless you with Holy Spirit discernment.
In His Love…..
LikeLike
So you evade the questions, I see. It’s a pity……you don’t like an honest discussion.
LikeLike
Brother, I never said anything about Joshua being guilty of sin.
Joshua could have prayed to the Lord, as I have said. There’s nothing wrong with what I wrote. I’m sorry if you don’t like it. If you don’t think Joshua made a mistake then that’s fine with me. I really don’t see what you want to argue about. And yes, you do want to argue this issue. I didn’t evade the question.
“I didn’t say that Joshua had anything to do with what Achan did.” You replied and told me that you didn’t say such a thing. Okay, instead you tell me that I said Joshua sinned. Or that he’s somehow guilty by someone else’s sin. I did not say Joshua sinned.
I really appreciate it when I’ve made a mistake regarding Scripture and you’ve pointed it out. However, whatever this is, I don’t understand and I don’t appreciate it. I only see your statement, “So you evade the questions, I see. It’s a pity……you don’t like an honest discussion” as being nothing more than provocative.
Again, if I offended you by stating that I think Joshua made a mistake then I apologize.
LikeLiked by 1 person
You have not offended me, you offended the character of Joshua, it does not matter “what YOU think”, it only matter’s what God thinks, and since the Lord did not chide Joshua, then your thoughts have no meaning or value whatsoever. And since you can not see the seriousness of your “thoughts”, then it is because you think YOUR thoughts are more important than God’s Word, then you have the problem with the Lord’s thoughts and words.
And that is how wrongly misinterpreting the Lord’s word start’s, by thinking up and expressing what you thoughts are, not what God has too say.
Provocative only in your view. Not mine, I do this because it is serious that you not slander the Lord’s faithful and accuse them of “making a mistake” when they have not. It is for your good, you will give an account of every word you speak or write, or think, just as I will, and do.
In His Love…….I pray the Lord will send the Holy spirit to cause you to see, the error……..
LikeLike
Brother,
You are not the voice of God.
There are other people in the Bible who were not chastised by God and yet there are teachable moments about how they could have made better choices.
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Tim 3:16-18 (NIV)
May the Lord bless you.
LikeLike