Grounded

“When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, A Man was standing before him with His drawn sword in His hand. And Joshua went to Him and said to Him, “Are You for us, or for our adversaries?” And He said, “No; but I AM The Commander of the Army of the Lord. Now I have come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to Him, “What does My Lord say to His servant?” And The Commander of the Lord‘s Army said to Joshua, “Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.”

– Joshua 5:13-15

From dust we have come, and from dust we shall return.

When Joshua comes face to face with God, he does not know it immediately. The impressive figure stands before him with a sword drawn as Joshua and his army contemplate how they can take the walled city of Jericho, the first obstacle upon their entrance into the land of promise. Getting up in the man’s face, Joshua asks, “Are you for us, or against us?”

Do we not also approach God in the same way? “Are You going to help me? Are You for my plans or against them?”

Joshua is the commander of the army, he is the one calling the shots; leader over himself and all of the Israelites. But now he’s come face to face with The Beginningless. Once he recognizes who he’s talking to, it is no longer Joshua who is the commander of his own life, rather he has met The One who commands him.

To Joshua’s question, God answers: “No.”

When we have an experience with God, we are no longer the ones dictating, but we duck down under The One who is. We’re no longer the general of our own lives, but with awe and reverence we do the only thing we can do, hit the ground, bow down, submit, and worship. Joshua goes from an uncertain man of insecure anxiety, getting up in the face of the man who turns out to be God, to immediately a man of humility. There, on his face in the dirt, in what looks like pathetic weakness to the world, we see the ultimate posture of power and strength, bowing before the Lord, the true commander, the eternal general, the limitless One. There, Joshua has laid himself down, died to his ego, his pride, his self-reliance, his self-confidence, his self-assurance, his self.