Joshua 5

And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, a Man stood opposite him with His sword drawn in His hand. And Joshua went to Him and said to Him, "Are You for us or for our adversaries?" So He said, "No, but as Commander of the army of the LORD I have now come." And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped, and said to Him, "What does my Lord say to His servant?" Then the Commander of the LORD's army said to Joshua, "Take your sandal off your foot, for the place where you stand is holy." And Joshua did so.

(Jos 5:13-15)

THE WRONG QUESTION. Joshua asks the Angel of the LORD (AKA Jesus) the wrong question. It is a question we are often guilty of asking God, putting ourselves in a place we should never be in… “Who’s side are you on?!”

Joshua sees the Angel of the LORD come and immediately asks, “Are you for us, or for them?” You see, all of the nations were now scared of Joshua and his men, and I think maybe this was going to Joshua’s head a little. “Are you gonna join us, or am I gonna have to kill you?” That is how I take this question he asks.

I love the answer Joshua gets… NO! I am not for you, or for your enemies… I command the LORD'S armies. It is almost as if the implied question thrown out to Joshua is; “are you for the LORD?” It wasn’t Joshua and His armies that would be winning these battles; it was the Lord and HIS armies. It shouldn’t have been Joshua doing the asking… It should have been him doing the answering.

I love Joshua’s response; he humbly worships, and offers his service. We can learn a lot from this. Often when we face challenging times, we say to God, “just who’s side are you on anyway?!” This isn’t right at all. The real question is: Will I take the Lord’s side? Will I serve Him and fight for Him? Will I await His command rather than trying to give Him orders?

We need to remember who is really in control. Even when the Lord puts us in positions of leadership, we need to realize that He is still the commander in chief… we are taking orders from Him, not giving them. This was a real turning point for Joshua. It was here that he learned just whose battles these were, and who would be doing the real fighting. I pray that we can learn the same lesson!