Messianic Perspectives

Liz Aiello: Are you in trouble? Well, if so, we have good news. The Bible has specific instructions about what to do when you're in trouble. We'll talk about it today, right here, on Messianic Perspectives.

Shalom, and welcome to Messianic Perspectives, a daily program where we look into the scriptures from a distinctly first-century Jewish point of view. This is Liz Aiello. Today, Dr. Gary Hedrick is leading our discussion of what to do when you're in trouble. If you have your Bible handy, we invite you to turn to Joshua chapter five and join in. I'll be back a little later with information about a special offer, so have your pencil and paper ready. Now, with today's study, here is Dr. Gary Hedrick.

Gary Hedrick: All right, thank you. And welcome, listening friend, to another edition of Messianic Perspectives. It's good to have you with us today as we continue this series of studies on what to do when you're in trouble. Now, in this series of studies, we've been looking at Joshua chapter five. This is a revealing passage because it shows us how Joshua responded to trouble in his life.

Have you ever been in trouble? Some people think once you become a believer, all your troubles are over, but nothing could be farther from the truth. In fact, we've already seen during the course of this study that many of God's people get into more trouble after they become believers than they ever did before they were believers. If you think you're just going to commit your life to Jesus Christ and then sort of coast your way into heaven, you're in for a rude awakening because that's not how it works.

We're all going to have trouble of one kind or another. In Joshua's case, his problem was that he was leading a nation of farmers and shepherds, probably about three million people, into the Promised Land. There were tremendous logistical problems associated with moving that number of people through a barren wilderness. To make matters worse, they were going to have to fight the Canaanites. So here in Joshua chapter five, Joshua is checking out Jericho.

This is a huge, walled city. It was built like a fortress. We've been to the site of Jericho many times. In fact, we've got a tour to Israel coming up here in a few months, and if you go with us, and I hope you will, you will see the Tell of Jericho. It's an amazing place, probably the oldest city on the face of the earth. So Joshua is in trouble here in chapter five. He's the successor of Moses, and it's his responsibility to lead the children of Israel into Canaan.

The problem is the Canaanites. What a responsibility. A lot of lives are on his shoulders. Responsibility for a lot of lives is on his shoulders. What is he going to do? This is where we learn about Joshua's character because he's under pressure. He's feeling the weight of this responsibility. You can't tell much about someone's character by watching them when things are going well. You're not going to tell much about what that person is made of as long as everything is hunky-dory.

If you want to see what kind of character that person has, if you want to see what really makes him tick, then watch him when he's under pressure. Watch him when everything is falling apart. Watch him when his back is to the Red Sea and Pharaoh's army is bearing down on him like Moses, and there's nowhere to hide. That's when you find out what someone is really made of. Here we see Joshua in his time of trouble, and he does four things.

Remember, we said they all start with W, so they're easier to remember. The first thing is that Joshua waited. And it came to pass when Joshua was by Jericho, the Bible says, so he was just standing there doing some reconnaissance. He was waiting for instructions from the Lord. What we do a lot of times is we jump right into the battle, and then when we get knocked down and we're flat on our back looking up at the enemy, then we ask the Lord what we should have done.

We want to know what we did wrong. We want the instructions. But Joshua does the smart thing. He wants to get the Lord's instructions first, and then he'll fight the battle. That's the smart way. So the first thing he did was he waited. Then the second thing he did was he watched. It says he lifted up his eyes and looked in Joshua 5:13. We've already talked about the fact that sometimes we get so focused on the problem, we don't see what the Lord is doing right under our nose to solve the problem.

So Joshua waited, and then he watched. And then the third thing Joshua did was he worshiped. He waited, he watched, he worshiped. The Bible says in Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped in Joshua 5:14. The fact that Joshua worshiped this man, this captain of the Lord's host, shows that this was no ordinary angel. This was the Angel of Yahweh, the Angel of Jehovah, the Angel of the Lord.

This is an unusual angel because this angel is equated with God. I believe this is the same man, the same man Jacob wrestled with in Genesis 32. It says there that Jacob wrestled with him all night long, and finally the angel gave him the blessing he wanted. When it was all over with, what did Jacob say? He said he was going to name that place Peniel. Why? Because he said, "I have seen God face to face, and my life was preserved."

You see, the conventional wisdom was that no one could look upon God and still live. It's true that we have to be protected in these frail mortal bodies from the fullness of God's presence. Even Moses had to be shielded under the cleft of the rock. Remember that? He had to be shielded under the cleft of the rock as God passed by. But here's the thing. God has the ability to manifest himself in human form in a way that shields us from harm.

That's why Jacob was surprised. He knew he had wrestled with God, yet he lived to tell about it. So here in Joshua chapter five, it says Joshua worshiped. Do you know what? Worship is never a waste of time. Joshua could have said, "Listen, I'd love to stay here and chat with you, Lord, but we've got a major military operation coming up, and I'm responsible for many, many lives. This is very, very important, and I've got to get going. Maybe some other time."

No, that's not what he said. It says Joshua fell on his face and worshiped. Do you know what? It would have been easy to worship God after the battle, after the victory was won, when the pressure was off, when the whole ordeal was over. That would have been an easy time to worship the Lord. But here is Joshua before the battle, in the midst of his troubles, in the midst of his pressures, in the midst of his uncertainties, and he takes time to fall on his face and worship God.

When you're in trouble, one of the best things you can do is just set aside everything else and just worship the Lord. Just have your own little private church service right there in the midst of all your troubles. You say, "Gary, you don't know what it's like. My heart is broken. It's like everything has just drained out of me. I don't have anything left to worship him with." But did you know that the kind of worship that really touches heaven is the worship that flows out of a broken heart?

The late Angel Martinez, the great Mexican Baptist evangelist who meant a great deal to me in the early years of my ministry, was a man who went through great heartbreak in his own personal life. Dr. Martinez used to say, "God can heal a broken heart if you bring him all of the pieces." There's wisdom in that. God can heal a broken heart if you bring him all of the pieces. And notice something else here in Joshua chapter five.

Joshua didn't just give the Lord lip service. He put his faith into practice. Joshua had the right profession, but he also had the right practice. His profession is in verse 14. It says he fell down and worshiped and said, "What does my Lord say to his servant?" Now, that's a good profession. My Lord, Adonai in Hebrew. That makes it personal. It's not "the Lord," but "my Lord." There's a difference. Joshua says, "What does my Lord say to his servant?"

So that is a good profession. But that's not enough. My profession must be backed up by my practice. In other words, what you say must be backed up by what you do. Look in verse 15. It says there, "Then the commander of the Lord's army said to Joshua, 'Take your sandal off your foot, for the place where you stand is holy.' And Joshua did so." And Joshua did so. Four little words. But they speak volumes about this man Joshua.

He did exactly what he was told to do. His practice matched his profession. He didn't just worship with his lips. He also worshiped with his life. So Joshua waited, he watched, he worshiped, and then number four, he never wavered. The Lord gave him a battle plan that was probably the most utterly ridiculous battle plan anyone had ever devised. Jericho was surrounded by these high walls, but the Lord said, "Listen, Joshua, you're not going to need ladders. You're not going to need a battering ram."

"Just march around the city once a day for six days. Then on the seventh day, I want you to march around seven times, and then I want the priests to blow their horns, to blow their shofarot, their horns, their rams' horns." Now, you can imagine how much faith that took. In my mind, I can just picture those people of Jericho looking over the walls down on the Israelites as they circled around and around the city.

The Jerichoites are jeering at the Israelites. They may have even been throwing things down on them from up on those walls. So the Israelites circled the city the first day, then the second day, then the third day, all the way up to the seventh day. That took some faith. Then they marched around seven times on the seventh day and they blew the horns, and the Bible says the walls came crashing down. Israel won a great victory that day because Joshua never wavered. He waited, he watched, he worshiped, and he never wavered.

So that's what Joshua did when he was in trouble. Well, that brings us to the close of this study on what to do when you're in trouble. I hope you've learned something that you can put into practice in your own life. We'll be here next time, Lord willing, so I hope you'll join us. Until then, this is your friend Gary Hedrick saying God bless, take care, bye-bye.

Liz Aiello: Thank you, Gary. And thank you, listening friend, for tuning in today. It's always good to have you with us, whether you're listening from home, at work, or in your car. By the way, if you found today's program helpful, you'll be glad to know that the entire series is available on one convenient compact disc. The title is simply What to Do When You're in Trouble. And it's yours for a gift of just six dollars or more to help us keep this program on your station.

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