Are You for Us, or Our Enemies?
By Deidre Braley
Bible Reading
Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?” – Joshua 5:13-14
“Neither,” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the LORD I have now come.
We sat on the beach, eating massive ham Italians and watching the waves receive their squealing children. Every so often, I’d dig my toes deep enough to find the cool wet below the sand, and she’d stretch her arms up toward the sun. Sitting there side-by-side like that, you’d never guess the two of us were enemies.
Okay, I’m just kidding about that last part. We weren’t—and aren’t—enemies. But we do vote differently. Very differently. And on that particular day, as the conversation turned from airy, beachy fun to hot-button topics that make me want to crawl inside my own skin and hide, I found myself whispering tiny silent prayers to God:
“Lord, open her eyes so she can see that her understanding is skewed. Lord, teach her!”
Now, don’t be confused: this was neither a holy nor righteous prayer. No, it was more the I-want-her-to-think-like-me-so-my-life-will-be-easier sort of prayer. The
I-feel-like-the-minority-here-and-it-would-be-nice-to-come-out-on-top-for-once kind of prayer. I wanted God to be on my side, and I wanted to come out on top.
But when it comes to the ways of God, we have to remember that he’s not operating for our ultimate glory—he’s operating for his. So it’s not about whether he picks our side; rather, it’s about us picking his.
We see evidence of this in the book of Joshua. While the Israelites were camping near Jericho, preparing to take the city, Joshua looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a sword in his hand. When Joshua approached and asked whether he was for the Israelites or for the enemy, the man simply replied, “Neither” (Joshua 5:13-14).
That was because it wasn’t actually a man standing before Joshua—it was an angel of the Lord. And he wasn’t there for man’s purposes, but for God’s. His refusal to take sides when Joshua asked him who he’s for implies that Joshua was asking the wrong question altogether.
Understanding this moment is paramount if we are to grasp an invaluable truth about interacting with God.
As the Lord declares in Isaiah 55, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways” (v. 8). His thoughts and ways aren’t limited to our petty fights, our fickle friendships, or our stubborn side-taking—he is not caught in the weeds of our human altercations. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts,” he says (v. 9).
While we’re caught in hot dispute around earthly matters and crying out to the Lord to rush in and join our side, he’s busy orchestrating heavenly armies and a masterful plan to establish a new heaven and new earth (2 Peter 3:13) that (miracle of miracles!) includes us. It’s not that God doesn’t care about our strife or won’t aid us when we face oppression (oh boy, will he!). It’s that we are mistaken when we begin to think that the grand plan is to benefit us alone, or when we begin to put ourselves in a self-righteous, us-versus-them situation.
2 Peter 3:9 reminds us that, “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” See, God’s mission is unburdened by our personal objections, our longstanding prejudices, or our tendency to play favorites. He is playing the long game—one that he desires for each of us to win. With him.
As we are reminded by the commander of the Lord’s army when he stands before Joshua, the question isn’t whether God has come to bring victory and glory in the name of our agendas. No. The question is whether we’re willing to surrender to His.
Intersecting Faith & Life:
The book of Joshua is often considered the “conquest” narrative. But if you zoom out and examine how this story fits into the larger narrative of the Bible, you’ll notice that the underlying theme is less about God favoring the Israelites—and more about him using this group of people to fulfill his covenant with all of humanity. Within the books of Exodus, Numbers, and Joshua (to name a few), we see how God asks the Israelites to join his side, trusting and obeying as they recognize him as the one true God.
Ask yourself today: When you pray, are you asking God for things according to his will—or yours? Note that it’s not wrong to pour your worries, concerns, burdens, or conflicts out before the Lord; even Jesus did that. But as he ended his prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, so must we: “Yet not my will, but yours be done” (Luke 22:42).
Further Reading:
Romans 8:28
Isaiah 55
2 Peter 3
Joshua 5:13-6:27
Photo Credit: © Getty Images/m-gucci
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