This week I was reading the Bible in Joshua 10:1-43 and was stopped by a passage I’d seen before ~ but it was one of those rhema revelation moments, when God’s word explodes in your mind and spirit and soul and makes you see how tiny your faith has been up to now and how big God really is.
To give you some background, Joshua and the people of Israel had just taken Ai and destroyed it, just as they had done to Jericho and its king.
The king of Jerusalem, Adoni-Zedek, heard that the army of Israel had demolished Ai and the people of Gibeon had made a peace treaty with Israel and had become their allies. He was alarmed, so he appealed to the five kings of the Amorites to join forces with him to attack Gibeon.
The Gibeonites came to Joshua at the camp of Gilgal to ask for help against their fierce enemies. Joshua marched with his best fighting men because God had given him the word of the Lord: “The Lord said to Joshua, “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)
After an all night march, Joshua took them by surprise and defeated them at Gibeon. They pursued them going on the road to Beth Horon all the way to Azekah and Makkedah. As they fled. God sent a hail storm, and more of them died by hail than by the swords of the Israelites.
Now it gets really good and exciting! This was my WHOA word.
On the day the Lord gave the Amorites over to the Israelites, Joshua said to the Lord:
“Sun, stand still over Gibeon,
and you, moon, over the Valley of Aijalon.”
So the sun stood still,
and the moon stopped,
till the nation avenged itself on[b] its enemies,
as it is written in the Book of Jashar.
The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day. There has never been a day like it before or since, a day when the Lord listened to a human being. Surely the Lord was fighting for Israel! Then Joshua returned with all Israel to the camp at Gilgal.
I stopped. Joshua commanded the sun and the moon to stand still. And they obeyed!
Do I have the kind of faith it takes to command the sun and the moon to stand still?
I don’t think so.
I thought back over my life. There had been many situations which required faith. Through the years of my life, God has been building my faith, testing and trying it. Delivering me of many fears. Showing me He was trustworthy and I didn’t need to be afraid.
There were certain things I knew I had faith for:
- Faith that God is real and good.
- Faith that God loves me and would never leave me.
- Faith that God protects me and my family and His angels surround us.
- Faith that God provides all we need.
- Faith that God heals.
- Faith that God still does miracles today, as I share about our daughters’ miracles of healing in my books Walking With God and The Hands of a Woman.
- Faith that God wants to use me for His glory, despite myself – in ways I can’t even imagine.
But command the sun and the moon to stand still? I’m not there yet. I want to be. I want to have mountain-moving, sun-and-moon-stand-still faith.
Sometimes it’d be really nice to command the sun and the moon to stand still. I could get more laundry and dishes done, and certainly would have more time to work on my business. Sometimes I feel like night and sleeping are a big waste of time and feel impatient for the morning to come. But that would be selfish to throw off the entire rest of the world just so I could work on another speaking presentation or my blog!
Yet if I needed that kind of faith, do I have it? Will I need it this year? Dare I command the sun to stand still -or some other just as wild, huge faith statement?
The kind of faith that pastor Steve Furtick says is audacious faith. Faith to ask God for the impossible. (I just ordered the book last night and can’t wait to read it!)
Joshua was a human, a created being just like you and me. He had no creative power in and of himself to make the sun and the moon stand still. But he had the faith to speak to God and because of his great faith, God honored his word.
Faith pleases God. (Hebrews 11:6)
After I read the passage this week, I received Sandi Krakowsi’s ezine in my email box with a video about Steve Furtick and a link to his website about his Sun Stand Still book. I’ve walked with God long enough by now to know that when I hear a word twice within a short time frame, to sit up and pay attention because God is speaking and confirming His word.
I am now incredibly excited about how God is about to show up.
Do you have sun-stand-still faith? What do you want to ask God for today?
Go ahead. And see God answer, just as He did Joshua.
