Are You For or Against Us?

Joshua 5:13-14

When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us, or for our adversaries?”  And he said, “No; but I am the commander of the army of the Lord. Now I have come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, “What does my lord say to his servant?”

With current event issues escalating, I felt God leading me to drown out all of the voices that were screaming in my head.  I wanted God's perspective.  What would He say?  That morning I decided to move towards God in a simple act of obedience.  In this case, I knew God was asking me to deactivate my FaceBook account.  

Later that evening, I was having trouble sleeping because of differing opinions that started an argument at an otherwise peaceful game night.

I was thinking of how I wish God would just give us His perspective on things and immediately, Joshua 5:13-14 came to mind.  I knew it was God speaking and decided to take a better look at Joshua's story the next day.

I stumbled upon this article and am so thankful for God's provision and enlightenment. It is my hope that all Christian's can glean something valuable from it in these hostile, divided times.

Here is the article:

https://bible.org/article/captain-lord%E2%80%99s-army-joshua-513-15

Now this is when it becomes very personal. A few days after that, a family discussion began about an upcoming trip we had planned to AZ. Differing opinions led to misunderstandings and assumptions and then hurtful words erupted.  Only God truly knows the heart, but I sincerely believe no one really wanted to hurt anyone, but the individual desires and stress of things not working out brought heat to the discussion.  

When I finally had time to let the heat settle and ask God for His perspective, He once again came to my rescue and I realized that what He had spoken a few days earlier was just as relevant in this situation.

God, what is my part, why am I agitated?  How can I have peace.  He gently reminded me that I cannot see the whole story.  Only He has all of the information and although we think our cause is just and noble or even Christian, we must go to Him for proper perspective first.  I thought I already had that.  I repented and He opened my eyes to see other perspectives.  Immediately, peace and love came.

As for our personal family discussion - When I asked, Lord, are you for or against a family trip to AZ, the answer was NO.  Lord, are you supporting this family member's viewpoint or this one's?  The answer was NO.  

We so desperately need God's viewpoint even when we are sure our cause is righteous or our view is Christian.  

Today while in prayer with a few friends, my head was bowed and I was looking at my arm in a blurry kind of way.  You know the look you need when you are looking at a 3D picture?  It was kind of like that. Part of my arm looked see-through.  Then I realized it was because my eyes were trying to put 2 different images together.  I closed 1 eye and had 1 picture and then closed the other eye to see a different one, but when I opened both eyes, I had a whole different picture and it was the one that I needed to function properly in my body.  I believe that was symbolic of God's perspective and the church body.  He, and only He sees the whole story.  I need to humbly go to Him in  full surrender to put perspectives together and see it afresh. It will still be imperfect, but much better.

In this personal story, one daughter's focus was her pregnancy and baby.  My other daughter's focus was letting go and trusting God.  Both important and both from the heart of God.  Now, I pray God, that you would merge these 2 perspectives into your plan and purpose for all of us.

And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, “What does my lord say to his servant?