Finding Rest

 DEVOTION

JOSHUA

FINDING REST

Josh 11

11:1 When Jabin king of Hazor heard of this, he sent word to Jobab king of Madon, to the kings of Shimron and Acshaph, 2 and to the northern kings who were in the mountains, in the Arabah south of Kinnereth, in the western foothills and in Naphoth Dor on the west; 3 to the Canaanites in the east and west; to the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites and Jebusites in the hill country; and to the Hivites below Hermon in the region of Mizpah. 4 They came out with all their troops and a large number of horses and chariots — a huge army, as numerous as the sand on the seashore. 5 All these kings joined forces and made camp together at the Waters of Merom, to fight against Israel. 6 The LORD said to Joshua, "Do not be afraid of them, because by this time tomorrow I will hand all of them over to Israel, slain. You are to hamstring their horses and burn their chariots." 7 So Joshua and his whole army came against them suddenly at the Waters of Merom and attacked them, 8 and the LORD gave them into the hand of Israel. They defeated them and pursued them all the way to Greater Sidon, to Misrephoth Maim, and to the Valley of Mizpah on the east, until no survivors were left. 9 Joshua did to them as the LORD had directed: He hamstrung their horses and burned their chariots. 10 At that time Joshua turned back and captured Hazor and put its king to the sword. (Hazor had been the head of all these kingdoms.) 11 Everyone in it they put to the sword. They totally destroyed them, not sparing anything that breathed, and he burned up Hazor itself. 12 Joshua took all these royal cities and their kings and put them to the sword. He totally destroyed them, as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded. 13 Yet Israel did not burn any of the cities built on their mounds — except Hazor, which Joshua burned. 14 The Israelites carried off for themselves all the plunder and livestock of these cities, but all the people they put to the sword until they completely destroyed them, not sparing anyone that breathed. 15 As the LORD commanded his servant Moses, so Moses commanded Joshua, and Joshua did it; he left nothing undone of all that the LORD commanded Moses. 16 So Joshua took this entire land: the hill country, all the Negev, the whole region of Goshen, the western foothills, the Arabah and the mountains of Israel with their foothills, 17 from Mount Halak, which rises toward Seir, to Baal Gad in the Valley of Lebanon below Mount Hermon. He captured all their kings and struck them down, putting them to death. 18 Joshua waged war against all these kings for a long time. 19 Except for the Hivites living in Gibeon, not one city made a treaty of peace with the Israelites, who took them all in battle. 20 For it was the LORD himself who hardened their hearts to wage war against Israel, so that he might destroy them totally, exterminating them without mercy, as the LORD had commanded Moses. 21 At that time Joshua went and destroyed the Anakites from the hill country: from Hebron, Debir and Anab, from all the hill country of Judah, and from all the hill country of Israel. Joshua totally destroyed them and their towns. 22 No Anakites were left in Israelite territory; only in Gaza, Gath and Ashdod did any survive.  So Joshua took the entire land, just as the LORD had directed Moses, and he gave it as an inheritance to Israel according to their tribal divisions. Then the land had rest from war.

NIV

This is a whole chapter, but we could not break up the time the war waged on against Israel and how the LORD gave all the kings and their cities into the hand of Joshua. He destroyed them all, just as the LORD had commanded Moses and how Moses had commanded Joshua. He did not spare anyone who breathed. However, the truth for us today comes from the last verse in the chapter, “Then the land had rest from war”. We remember a time when we were at war with God. Of course, we did not realize it was a futile war because we could never win against God. Yet, spent time as a rebel, refusing to submit to God, even to the point of questioning whether God existed. Our life was a war, battling to survive from childhood to arrive at an age  when we could learn to take on our enemies, and still it was a war that ultimately was against God. There was hatred in our hearts that would not allow us rest. Our soul was disturbed, and we could not find any rest. However, God was not about to give up on us and brought us to a place where he could intervene through someone where we would hear his words that caused us to see the truth. It was nothing less than a miracle that God performed so that we could come in from the battle we had been waging and find rest for our souls. Everything we had been fighting against in life, he gave into our hands, for through faith we found true life instead of death. Just as God gave the land of Canaan as an inheritance to Israel, He has given us the promised land, the place Jesus went to prepare for us, as an eternal inheritance. Jesus promised that he would give us rest, just as the LORD God told Moses, “My presence would go with you, and I will give you rest”, There is no longer any war to wage for the Lord fights our battles for us, although he has dressed us, or given us his armor so that we can put on the full armor of God. We do need to be dressed with his armor because someone is waging war against us, yet as long as we are properly dressed we still have rest in our soul for we know the battle is the Lord’s and he will defeat all the forces of evil sending them all into the lake of burning sulfur. We just need to be still and know that He is God, and He told us that if we are weary and burden from waging war, if we take his yoke upon us, that is we travel the same way he does, we go with him wherever he goes, he will give us rest for our souls.