Big Idea - The people of Israel had met with a great defeat at Ai, but God revealed it was because they had broken faith and had taken some of the things devoted to destruction. That sin had been dealt with, so now they get a second chance. God speaks to Joshua, "Do not fear and do not be dismayed." One of the natural results of failure and defeat is that we lose courage, and we are tempted to give up. Our faith is shaken, and we may feel stuck, unable to move forward, fearing that we will only fail again. As followers of Christ, we are fighting different battles than Joshua and Israel, but we are fighting battles nonetheless, and they are just as serious and the need for victory just as significant and vital to our survival. Like Israel, sin can creep into our lives, and the result is that we meet with significant failure and disappointment. The immediate consequences may not be as great, but the spiritual consequences are every bit as damaging and real. It can result in a spirit of fear and dismay that robs us of faith and leaves us feeling like giving up because we have come to believe that it doesn't work. We settle for a life that is marked with defeat and fails to take possession of all that God has for us. The result is that we never really enter into life in the Kingdom, the life with Christ and all its blessings and all the victories that God has promised us! But this will not do. God comes to us and proclaims, "Do not fear and do not be dismayed!" There always stands before us a second chance to go into battle with the great hope of victory and success. The reason for this confidence is that we do not fight in our own strength but in the power of God. He has guaranteed our success. The Israelites went into battle for the first time in their own strength, without God's help or power, and they failed. They got a second chance, and this time they went in the power of God and gained an incredible and total victory. The big question for us is what they did right the second time to ensure that they fought this battle in the power of God, which was the only way to win? How can we be certain we are fighting our battles and confronting our enemies by the power of God and with the certainty that we will be victorious?

First of all, we need to deal decisively with sin through confession and through faith in the perfect work of Christ to remove our sin and guilt. Second, we need to check that we are living for God's purpose and plan and not our own. Our great worry is that God's plans have nothing to do with what we want or need. But this is the great lie of Satan. The truth is, God's plans are ultimately for our greatest good and blessing! The heart of the matter is really about who is in control. Living for myself means I seek my good my own way. But when we submit our lives and plans to the purpose and will of God, we are seeking our own good and best life, but God's way, in God's time, allowing Him to be in charge of everything! Third, if we are truly submitting fully to God's purpose and plan, then we must be diligent to be directed and led by Him. Joshua listened to God, and God spoke to Joshua His plans. God told Joshua what to do, what the results and rewards would be, and He gave him the specific strategy to use to be successful. We do not know how God spoke to Joshua, and that is not really important. The fact is that He did speak to Joshua, and likewise He speaks to us. God speaks to us through His Word, the living Scriptures, through His Holy Spirit living in us, through the counsel of godly people, through circumstances, and in our hearts through our own thinking. God will make His plans and purpose known to us, and He will make it clear. The problem is not so much with God speaking as with our willingness to submit to what He is telling us to do! We will never hear the voice of God until we are fully surrendered to His rule over our lives and committed to following Him no matter what!

Fourth, we do our part, walking in obedience and faith, and at the same time keep our eyes firmly fixed on the true source of our power and success. Sometimes God does work supernaturally, apart from anything we do. But more often, God works in us and through us. In other words, sometimes God holds the weapon in His own hand, and we only watch what He does. But other times, we are the weapon in His hand, and He uses our efforts and our labor to accomplish His plan. But there is always a great danger here that we begin to trust in our own strength and abilities rather than understanding that it is the power of God at work, giving us success and victory in what we put our hands to. The Israelites looked to the sword, or javelin of Joshua, as the symbol of God's power at work in their midst. But we look to the cross, fixing our eyes on Jesus, who is the guarantee of God's power at work in us. As this story shows, the cross is a picture of the most humiliating and crushing defeat imaginable. A king, hanging on a tree, is a picture of the most complete and humiliating loss possible. Jesus suffered total defeat on the cross, and Satan, the powers of darkness, and every enemy that hated Him so, gloried in triumph over the King of glory who seemed to flee in defeat before them. Jesus lay buried under a mountain of stone and rock. But then God turned the tide, from His throne in heaven, God stood and stretched out His mighty hand toward the tomb, and Jesus rose victorious over sin and death and the grave! And then Satan, and darkness, and every enemy of man fled in terror before the resurrected King. It is this King who goes before us into battle, and He is the one who guarantees our victory! So, do not fear and do not be dismayed!!