Day 38 in the Wilderness: Nature heeds the voice of our Creator.

“And the Lord said to Joshua, “Do not fear them, for I have delivered them into your hand; not a man of them shall stand before you.” Then Joshua spoke to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel: “Sun, stand still over Gibeon; And Moon, in the Valley of Aijalon.” So the sun stood still, And the moon stopped, Till the people had revenge Upon their enemies. Is this not written in the Book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day. And there has been no day like that, before it or after it, that the Lord heeded the voice of a man; for the Lord fought for Israel.”

‭‭Joshua‬ ‭10:8, 12-14‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

I heard that in its war studies program, West Point does not study the Six Day War (June, 1967). The reason for not studying it is said to be that the war victory was so improbable, that studying it would render no understanding of the strategy leading to the victory.

Time and again the Lord has fought for His people. In fact, the Lord’s intervention in the battles fought by the Jews is ubiquitous throughout the Old Testament. But, God’s fighting for Israel did not stop in biblical times. Indeed, the above mentioned Six Day War was won against all odds when Israel faced a coalition of its Arab neighbors intent upon erasing the young country. Amazingly, not only did Israel win the Six Day War, but would come out of it with four times the land they had before they were attacked.

But this attack was nothing new. Even as the announcement of the formation of a state for Israel still hung in the airwaves (1948), they were attacked by their Arab neighbors, yet successfully fended them off.

One miraculous modern day intervention by the Lord on behalf of the state of Israel, happened during the Yom Kippur war of 1973.

Nine Jewish soldiers became surrounded by Arab forces. In their attempt to find a way to escape, they suddenly realized that they were in the middle of a minefield. The leader of the group decided that their only chance for survival was for them all to get down on hands and knees and use the end of their bayonets to try to push through the soil to find the mines. Then they would have to disarm the found bomb before going on to the next of the hundreds of mines. But, before they could accomplish this last ditch effort for survival, a strong windstorm came down upon them. Unbelievably, when it was over, massive amounts of topsoil had been removed by the wind, leaving every single mine exposed so that they could successfully navigate their way through.

In this case the Lord used the forces of nature to help His people win a battle. Now, this was not uncommon in Bible days—as we will further discuss in a moment—but it’s interesting to note that the Lord will still use, whatever He needs to use, to defend His people.

I remember that when I was a teenager there was a tornado headed straight for the wonderful little church my father had built on Defoor Avenue in Atlanta. The tornado was already leaving a path of destruction and our church was in its inevitable path. My father cried out to the Lord. Then, the tornado, as if following instructions, after having damaged a business just down the street from the church, took a large horseshoe path around our church before resuming its path of destruction in a straight line from where it had been. On that path it would even damage the Georgia governor’s mansion.

“But He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. So the men marveled, saying, “Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?””

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭8:26-27‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

The disciples were astonished at the power of our Lord when they saw that the forces of nature obeyed His voice. However, we should not be surprised to know that the One Who created and controls all things can use, whatever He wants to use, including the forces of nature. And that brings us to today.

In our opening scripture we see the Lord performing a miracle of letting the Sun stand still at the word of Joshua. This miraculous phenomenon allowed Israel to completely rout the five kings of the Amorites who had come against them as they defended the Gibeonites (who we discussed yesterday).

Whatever you are facing, don’t worry about the “odds” that are against you. Put your trust in the One Who will—if need be—shake heaven and earth to help you!

For today write this in your “wilderness journal”:

Nature heeds the voice of our Creator.

#40daysinthewilderness