Joshua 10:7-14 English Standard Version
7 So Joshua went up from Gilgal, he and all the people of war with him, and all the mighty men of valor. 8 And the Lord said to Joshua, “Do not fear them, for I have given them into your hands. Not a man of them shall stand before you.” 9 So Joshua came upon them suddenly, having marched up all night from Gilgal. 10 And the Lord threw them into a panic before Israel, who[a] struck them with a great blow at Gibeon and chased them by the way of the ascent of Beth-horon and struck them as far as Azekah and Makkedah. 11 And as they fled before Israel, while they were going down the ascent of Beth-horon, the Lord threw down large stones from heaven on them as far as Azekah, and they died. There were more who died because of the hailstones than the sons of Israel killed with the sword.
12 At that time Joshua spoke to the Lord in the day when the Lord gave the Amorites over to the sons of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel,
“Sun, stand still at Gibeon,
and moon, in the Valley of Aijalon.”
13 And the sun stood still, and the moon stopped,
until the nation took vengeance on their enemies.
Is this not written in the Book of Jashar? The sun stopped in the midst of heaven and did not hurry to set for about a whole day. 14 There has been no day like it before or since, when the Lord heeded the voice of a man, for the Lord fought for Israel.
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
Today I want us to consider a much more obscure and unknown prayer, a very short prayer given to us by Joshua. It’s a bold and courageous prayer of just 3 words – 3 impossible words.
In Joshua 10:12 it says …Sun, stand still. Joshua asked God to do the impossible and make the sun stand still in the sky and as we read on in Joshua 10:13 we see that the sun stood still.
God answered Joshua’s prayer and did the impossible.
God kept the sun from setting.
Now let’s look at the context of this prayer, see why Joshua asked God to do this.
JOSHUA was a remarkable man. He grew up to experience firsthand his nation Israel’s deliverance from Egypt. He saw the miracles of God and trusted Him.
• He spied on the land, and with Caleb, came back with a message of faith – that God would surely help them seize the Promised Land.
• But unfortunately the majority won that day, gripped by fear. So Joshua and Israel were thrown into 40 years of unnecessary wandering in the desert.
• Yet he kept his faith in God. No complaining, no blaming God. Eventually God chose him to succeed Moses and take the nation into Canaan.
Joshua had to lead his men to fight their way into the Promised Land. He never doubted God’s promise to Israel.
• We read here in Joshua 10 that five Amorite armies were planning to attack. Joshua went for a pre-emptive strike.
• He led his entire army on an all-night march towards the enemy’s camp, under the cover of darkness so that they could launch a pre-dawn surprise attack.
The distance from Gilgal to Gibeon is about 25 mils and it takes 2 or 3 days on a leisurely pace, but Joshua’s army covered the same distance in just one night!
• The long night march took the enemy completely by surprise.
• When the enemy lines broke, the Amorites started to flee into the valley.
• God got into the battle in verse 11: “As they fled before Israel on the road down from Beth Horon to Azekah, the LORD hurled large hailstones down on them from the sky, and more of them died from the hailstones than were killed by the swords of the Israelites.” (Joshua 10:11)
As the sun set toward the horizon, Joshua knew that his time was up. Once it got dark, the enemies would slip away.
• Perhaps he realized that if he didn’t destroy them now, he would have lingering problems. And anything less than a victory would not glorify God.
• So he uttered into this outrageous prayer: “O sun, stand still over Gibeon, O moon, over the Valley of Aijalon.” (Josh 10:12) It wasn’t a private prayer but a public one, before all the people.
• And if you think this is too ridiculous, God answered him! Without delay!
(1) DARE TO SAY GOD-SIZED PRAYERS
Joshua has the audacity to ask God to do something, not just miraculous, but unbelievable and unprecedented.
• The fact that he could even thought of that was remarkable. Faith knows no limits, because with God, nothing is impossible. Joshua believed in a BIG God.
• Have you ever asked God for the impossible?
Does your unbelief limit what God can do for you?
That is, you believe God only for the achievable, the believable, the possible and so you pray only decent prayers; prayers that are more reasonable to answer.
When Peter saw Jesus walking on water, he did not stretch out his hand to help Jesus get onboard.
Instead he asked to be allowed to do the same – walk on water, and get to where Jesus was!
• In Acts 3 he saw a man crippled from birth, said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” (Acts 3:6)
and guess what happened … look it up for yourself.
• James says, “Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. 18 Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.” (James 5:17-18)
Read that again just to be sure you read it right – “and the heavens gave rain.”
Prayer is the arena where the measure of our faith meets all of God’s abilities.
We can pray prayers worthy of the God we’re praying to.
• “Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: 27 “I am the LORD, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?” (Jeremiah 32:26-27)
• We worship the same God.
The only difference is Joshua, Peter, and Elijah had the audacity to pray prayers that lived up to God’s mighty power and glory.
Could it be that we are not seeing so much of God’s greatness because we have been making timid prayers? We have not been asking more than the natural?
Let us go beyond just timid prayers – giving thanks for the food I eat, asking God for a good weather day, heal from a serious illness, God to restore our land.
These are worthy prayers but we can go farther than that.
• We don’t have to worry about putting God in an awkward or embarrassing position. You’re not going to back Him into a corner (does the universe have corners?). You won’t ever challenge Him to do something beyond His aptitude.
• Let’s stretch our faith and ask God for the supernatural.
Ask for what He is capable of doing.
What is God not capable of doing when asked for in His will, Jesus’ name?
We do the natural, and trust God to for the “super natural” and we will see His supernatural works in our lives.
• When that happens, everybody will know it was God who did it.
No doubt about it, His Son will shine and He will surely be glorified.
Are we so bold, courageous to actually pray for God’s promises to be revealed?
Why was Joshua so bold?
He knows God.
He knows God’s will.
• During the march, God spoke to Joshua and gave him a promise:
“Do not be afraid of them; I have given them into your hand. Not one of them will be able to withstand you.” (Joshua 10:8)
• Joshua believed what God had promised him.
It was God’s will to defeat the enemy.
Joshua wants to see God’s purpose fulfilled.
• Someone says, “God listens to the voice of a man who himself has listened to the voice of God.”
Joshua knows God well enough to ask for the sun and the moon to stay still.
• He saw all the miracles God did back in Egypt, when He freed them from slavery.
He saw God drop food from the sky for 40 years to feed his people, Israel.
He saw how the Lord produced water from a rock and has no doubt what God can do.
• Here he did what he could as a commander, to plan and strategize, to lead the army in an all-night march and a pre-dawn strike – and let God do His part.
His faith in God comes through knowing God, and to know Him, we need to hear Him, we need to listen to Him, we need to trust Him and to obey Him.
• Romans 10:17 “Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.”
• That’s where we need to focus at – if you want your faith to grow, get to know Him more. To know Him, you need to HEAR Him more.
• Matt 7:24-25 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.”
DON’T STAND IN HOPE, WALK IN FAITH
We can pray and stand in hope – in other words, we do nothing but just wait and hope that God will show up and do something.
• This is passive faith. James called it DEAD faith – faith without deeds is dead (James 2:26), it is useless. I need to show God my faith by what I do.
• We need to WALK IN FAITH – to move out, to do something to get to our destination (God’s destiny for us).
It is amazing to see the extent of human effort involved in this battle.
• Joshua’s army made a 25 mile overnight long march and launch straight into battle that lasted all the way to the next sunset. And he asked the Lord to stay the sun, for another full day! Can you sense how bold, how confident that was?
• Even though God was with them, had given them the promise of victory, and was personally involved in the battle (raining hailstones), it did free them from personal commitment.
• They knew God promised victory, they had to fight the war no matter what; they had to sweat it out, fight it out for night and days; they had to pay a price.
Success doesn’t come easy, even with God’s presence and promise.
• God wants us to be fully committed.
Victory wasn’t just a gift dropped down from the sky, right onto their laps.
• They had to believe God, have faith, trust God, fight for His ‘promised’ victory.
So too, even 4000 + years later, must we.
Possible?
Impossible?
• God has given us His promises.
God says He will be with us.
God will fight the battle for us.
But we need to do our part.
We need to put our hard work.
Walk in faith, don’t stand in hope.
CONCLUSION
The lesson we learn from Joshua 10 is that we serve a God who can transform the most adverse situations we face into opportunities to display His glory.
• Like the people of Israel, you may be facing a very difficult situation.
I cannot promise that God will stop the sun for you, but we can be sure that He can work a miracle in your life.
• He can transform whatever you are facing into something that will show His glory.
It’s human nature to want to skip straight from the promise to the payoff.
Who doesn’t want to get right to the good stuff?
But the process is invaluable.
The process is a time of strengthening.
The process is the place where you lay down your pride and learn to rely totally on God.
Most importantly, the process is the way we grow – to know God.
And that’s really the whole point – to KNOW God!
The process is the point.
Do not Fear! Pray God-sized prayers because God is more than capable of that.
Cling on to His will and what He has promised, and move on in faith.
God will always come through for you.
When Joshua faced an impossible situation – he cried out to God to do what most people would have thought was impossible – he asked God to make the sun stand still. Joshua was bold and courageous and faithful and God responded.
I believe God is waiting for us to be bold, courageous and faithful in our prayers.
I believe God wants us to pray for that which many might think is impossible but we pray it anyway because we know that with God all things are possible.
All things are possible with God which means that there is no impossible prayer.
God doesn’t want us to pray for the impossible he wants us to pray with God like conviction and Jesus’ faith for that which we know can be possible with Him.
Jesus said if we faith the size of a mustard seed that nothing will be impossible.
Philippians 4:13 I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength.
Knowing that all things are possible with God, what are all those seemingly impossible situations God wants you to pray for with boldness and courage?
What impossible situation in your life is God just waiting for you to pray about so he can amaze you with his power and grace and goodness?
Is it a relationship that needs to be healed or a financial problem that needs to be fixed?
Is the impossible or possible situation a spiritual transformation in your life or in the life of someone you know or love?
Is it a prayer for physical or emotional healing, power to overcome temptation or finally to achieve a certain goal that has eluded you for an entire lifetime?
What is the impossible situation in your life that God wants to make possible?
Can you name it – write it down and start getting specific with God about what you want?
God is waiting for us to be bold and courageous in our prayers – so what is the impossible prayer (or possible prayer) you need to be praying today?
Now… what will take for you to pray this impossible prayer with boldness, faith and confidence?
What will it take for you to pray like Joshua knowing that God can 100% make it happen? What does it take for us to ask God to do that which is impossible to us?
Praying for the impossible means we stop trying to do it ourselves and start asking God.
Whether it’s in relationships, finances, health, our jobs, our community or finding our place in the church or in our world, when we finally stop trying to do it on our own, start asking God to do it for us, God can finally step in, do it.
So what it takes to pray for that which seems impossible is
- A vision of God’s Power
- An understanding of God’s love
- Being in synch with God’s word
- Humbling ourselves in the Presence of God.
That’s what it takes to pray for the impossible
– all that’s left now is to actually pray.
Are you praying yet?
One final thought, while Joshua prayed his prayer once and God did it, that prayer only came after a lifetime of Joshua praying and walking with God.
God may not answer our prayers the moment we pray them, it may take a bit of patience and perseverance and persistence in prayer until God answers – so don’t pray once and then give up when the sun sets. Pray every day until God reveals Himself and moves in your situation or moves in your heart and life.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Psalm 29 English Standard Version
Ascribe to the Lord Glory
A Psalm of David.
29 Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings,[a]
ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
2 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness.[b]
3 The voice of the Lord is over the waters;
the God of glory thunders,
the Lord, over many waters.
4 The voice of the Lord is powerful;
the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.
5 The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars;
the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon.
6 He makes Lebanon to skip like a calf,
and Sirion like a young wild ox.
7 The voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire.
8 The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness;
the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.
9 The voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth[c]
and strips the forests bare,
and in his temple all cry, “Glory!”
10 The Lord sits enthroned over the flood;
the Lord sits enthroned as king forever.
11 May the Lord give strength to his people!
May the Lord bless[d] his people with peace!
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
Loving God, Living God, Loving Hope, Living Hope, Loving Living Life His Way! "Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues." - Brother Lawrence (1605-1691), Practicing the Presence of God (1692). 