Stand up! What are you doing down on your face? (Josh. 7:10)
A young man who had been terminally diagnosed with cancer showed up for his usual treatment and was met by a new doctor who casually and cruelly said to him, “You know, don’t you, that you are terminal and won’t live to see the end of the year?” The young man left devastated. On his way out of the room, he stopped at the nurse’s station and began to weep. “That man took away my hope,” he snapped. “I guess he did,” the charge nurse told him. “Maybe it’s time to find a new one.”
I imagine Joshua must have felt similarly when his men returned with news of defeat. Defeat wasn’t what was supposed to have happened to them. The children of Israel were supposed to plow right through Ai, and any other city, who stood in their way. Joshua fell on his face seeking God to help him make sense out of what happened. He asked all kinds of questions and waited on God. And then it happened. God spoke and that gave him direction and hope.
If you are experiencing defeat or life isn’t going the way that you had thought it was supposed to go, listen for the Holy Spirit to tell you what to do. When he speaks, get up and obey. You will be filled with hope, inspiration, and encouragement.
Don’t stay down when God tells you to get up.
Devon Smith is district superintendent of the Tri-State District of The Wesleyan Church, and founder/director of the CROSS Training ordination program at Oklahoma Wesleyan University.
© 2020 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission.
Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.
