A Study on War

War, war, war.  Joshua is about war.  It gets a little tiresome after awhile.  Then Joshua killed this king, then that king, fought here, fought there, laid siege, struck down, devoted to destruction.....pretty gruesome stuff actually.  I was having a hard time trying to draw any principles from the book as it just all seemed like a book on war! 

Finally, at the end of chapter 11, this phrase jumped out at me, "And the land had rest from war."  So, it doesnt go on forever.  There is an end!  That made me go back and think about those chapters a little differently.  Suddenly I once again realized how much it does relate to me.  I had just been reading it strictly from an Israelite perspective - trying to inherit the land.  But, as I read it from the perspective of a Christian family, at war with the nations of creditors, I realized how much it related to us once again.  We are trying to inherit the land as well - a debt-free land.

Chapter 10 has Joshua and his army literally go from one city to another, day after day, accomplishing unbelievable victories in what seems to be a short amount of time.  There is no talk of rest.  There is no talk of regrouping.  There is no mention of fatigue, discouragement, lack of resources.  They just go, go, go.  Because their reputation is becoming quite well known in the area, the local kings band together to fight against Israel.  Bad idea.  When God is the commander of the army you don't have a chance.  They lost big time.

I could almost picture all the banks and credit card companies catching on to what we are about.  "Do you realize this family is trying to get us out of their lives?  What can we do to make them stay in debt?  We've got to do something to make them spend more money!  If they pay off their debt, we're out of a job!  What if they try to influence other families to pay off debt!  This is serious!"  Just like the nations around Israel, the nations of creditors are probably panicking as many people are trying to do what we are doing - trying to get rid of debt once and for all.  The little description of the blog says, "We have declared war on debt."  I hadn't been reading Joshua at that time when I wrote that.  I seems so perfect now.

For Joshua, it was a series of battles, probably some bigger, some smaller, but he just didn't stop.  He and his army were machines.  They were relentless.  There is no talk of complaining despite the fact they must have been so tired. The only time they lost a battle was when someone got greedy, lost focus and coveted!  Oh, I covet all the time!  I must remember how that was the only battle where they lost! 

Reading about the battles now inspires me to continue on this path to victory - no rest, no time for complaining, no discouragement, no worrying about what I think is a lack of resources, full speed ahead because.......finally......there will be "rest from war."  Joshua didn't have to fight forever.  There was an end in sight!  One day, I'll actually put this blog to rest!  I will start another one on another topic because I won't be fighting debt forever.  There will be an end!

Let us be like Joshua and "strike with a sword".  He "laid siege and fought against it".  He "captured it and struck it".  He "left none remaining".  He "devoted to destruction".  He "struck the whole land".  There were never any survivors.  I want no remaining survivors either.  I don't want a single bit of debt remaining ever in my life...."no mercy".

Joshua ends up being the best book on fighting yet.  I left reading it more inspired than ever.  Last night we read a part of the advent story where the characters were in the wilderness and they came across a river after travelling long distances in the desert.  The camels were near death.  If they hadn't arrived at the oasis, they would have died.  Yes, they can go long distances without water for sure.  So can we as Christians. We can drink from the living water once in awhile and be seemingly completely fine.  The author said, "Wouldn't it be better to have a healthy drink of Jesus every day?"  I was "this close" to turning on the snooze button this morning.   "This close" to saying "I can get a drink another day."  There was no way I wanted to get up.  I would have missed this great lesson.  But I never would have known that I missed it, that's the sad part.  God wants to inspire me through His Word.  Sometimes I don't even realize what I am missing.  This time of daily studying has been so good.  I've learned so many lessons in this wilderness/desert.  I got my drink this morning.  So glad I didn't press the snooze button!