Is it God or us?

Read Joshua 10:29-12.

When the army of Israel came to the rescue of the Gibeonites, the attacking kings retreated west and then south.  Joshua simply kept pursuing them until the last one was captured and destroyed.  By then he had divided the land in two.  He conquered the south and now his attention would be directed to conquering the northern kingdoms.  It literally turned out to be a battle tactic for the land of divide and conquer.

"(Joshua) left nothing undone of all that the LORD had commanded Moses.  So Joshua took all the land."   "And all the land had rest from war."  (11:15-16,23c)

Was it Israel's might and cunning or was it God whose power enabled them to accomplish this?

In 11:6, the LORD said, "I will give over all of them, slain to Israel."  In 11:20, "For it was the LORD's doing to harden their hearts that they should come out against Israel in battle."

There is no question of God's sovereign control over the lives of His creation.  And, there are instances in the Bible where He completely wiped out entire armies without Israel doing anything.  At the same time, notice His encouragement to Joshua in 11:6-"Do not be afraid of them...you shall hamstring their horses and burn their chariots with fire."  God was not going to do it without them.  He set it up and they did the work.

We cannot do what only God can do.  We are totally dependent upon Him. 

God will not do what He has commanded us to do.  He enables us by providing all we need to accomplish all His will.  Amazingly, the LORD of heaven wants to use us for our good and His glory in every situation of life.

Our job whether interacting with neighbors, or working through personal difficulties, or achieving some great project, is to make the name of the LORD famous.

"Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us.  We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God." (2 Corinthians 5:20)

I spoke this week with a man from Ghana, living in Washington D.C. whose life goal was to be a diplomat.  Instead, God made him to be one of His ambassadors.