Joshua 16 is about the Ephraimites receiving their inherited lot. There is a mention of not driving out all the Canaanites. Some of the Canaanites were made into forced labor instead of being driven out or destroyed.

This reminds me, actually, of Caleb’s daughter. She came out with the win… but did she?

They forced the Canaanites to be their slaves. They were the victors, but were they really? We know the future because we’ve read the story. The Canaanites become a snare to the Israelites and the Israelites get caught. They worship the gods of the Canaanites. They intermarry and lose themselves. They turn away and lose their land.

Then God will be silent. Then Jesus will appear. Some Jews will surrender their lives to their God, to their God revealed in the flesh. Others will reject Him completely. Their nation and the last symbol of their collective religious identity in Israel, their temple, will be destroyed.

Was it a win?

This is now making me think of commanding the sun, which of course wasn’t really commanding the sun. God commanded the sun or whatever He did. The Lord took it as Joshua “commanding” Him. Joshua has no authority over the heavens.

I don’t believe people are lying when they tell testimonies of, for example, telling a cloud to move, rain to go. But I don’t necessarily think they are all operating in the Spirit.

One man I greatly respect, Leonard Ravenhill, has such a story. They gave him a raincoat and fisherman’s overalls to preach in because it was going to rain. He said no and told the clouds to part. It rained to his right and to his left, but he and his audience stayed dry. That comes off differently to me than the stories told by preachers who just wanted a pleasant drive or sunny day at the beach.

We know from the book of Job, from the example of the windstorm that killed Job’s kids, that Satan can control weather, within the boundaries God sets for him, of course.

I don’t think Satan is beyond giving people victories in small battles when they are part of a larger strategy to destroy God’s people. He likes to deceive and is willing to appear as an angel of light.

Winning isn’t the goal. Surrender is the goal. There’s your catch phrase for the week. Winning isn’t the goal. Surrender is the goal.

Being a Christian means believing in the God of the Bible and choosing Him to be your God.

Choosing Him. That’s the surrender. Winning? That’s the playing at God, trying to get what we want, instead of giving up our lives for Him.