Today’s
Scripture Reading (January 7, 2019): Joshua 11
Bangambiki Habyarimana in his work “Pearls of
Eternity” argues “Don't be afraid to bite on a giant, learn from the mosquito.”
Of course, there is the other side of the equation. Being a mosquito and coming
close to me, which many seem to like to do during mosquito season, is a dangerous
proposition. Many mosquitos find their death by coming a little too close to me,
especially when they approach in a way that allows me to hear them.
It is not that there is no danger in coming close to
the giant. But as far as the mosquito is concerned, biting the giant is a
matter of survival. The mosquito may die if they come close to me, but they
will die if they don’t at least try to take their bite out of the giant in
their midst. We all face giants in our lives, but sometimes we fail to
recognize that giants, with all of the
dangers that they present, must be faced and cannot be avoided.
Israel’s reality was they knew that they had to take
Canaan, and their great fear was that there were giants in the land. But the
other reality is that, notwithstanding some of the comments that we find in the
Book of Joshua, Israel seemed to do the minimum that they needed to do when
they took the Promised Land. This passage indicates that Israel did not clear
out and take Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod, a
decision that would come back to haunt them later in their history. But there
were also other cities that Israel did not attempt to defeat in Joshua’s taking
of the land. One of the most prominent undefeated cities within the vicinity of
Israel was the city of Jebus, the home of the Jebusites, and probably better
known as Jerusalem. Jebus or Jerusalem would not be taken for another four
hundred years, only falling to Israel during the reign of David.
David and Israel would also have to deal with
another holdover from the failure of
Israel during the days of Joshua. His name was Goliath, and he was a descendant
of Anakite giants that Joshua failed to deal with living in Gath. Instead of
Joshua, it was the young David who had to play the role of the mosquito
attacking the giant, because not dealing with the giant’s in our lives does not
mean that the giants will go away, it just delays the confrontation to another
time and place. Confronting the giant is always dangerous, but it also
necessary. Don’t leave the confrontation until tomorrow. We can confront our
metaphorical giants knowing, just as was true with Joshua and David, that God
has promised to be with us, and that he will stand with us in the midst of the
fight.
Tomorrow’s
Scripture Reading: Joshua 12
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