Scripture Daily

Context No. 1349 of 4322 · Joshua

Context · Reflection

Joshua 10:12-17: in context

12Then Joshua spoke to the LORD in the day when the LORD delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel. He said in the sight of Israel, “Sun, stand still on Gibeon! You, moon, stop in the valley of Aijalon!” 13The sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the nation had avenged themselves of their enemies. Isn’t this written in the book of Jashar? The sun stayed in the middle of the sky, and didn’t hurry to go down about a whole day. 14There was no day like that before it or after it, that the LORD listened to the voice of a man; for the LORD fought for Israel. 15Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to the camp to Gilgal. 16These five kings fled, and hid themselves in the cave at Makkedah. 17Joshua was told, saying, “The five kings have been found, hidden in the cave at Makkedah.”

In the middle of a great battle, as the LORD is delivering the Amorites into Israel's hand, Joshua does something astonishing. He speaks to the LORD, and then, in the sight of all Israel, he addresses the sun and the moon: Sun, stand still over Gibeon, and moon, over the valley of Aijalon. And the sun stood still and the moon stopped until the nation had avenged itself on its enemies. The text marvels: the sun stayed in the midst of heaven and did not hurry to set for about a whole day. There has been no day like it before or since, when the LORD listened to the voice of a man; for the LORD fought for Israel.

What the passage itself marvels at is not only the standing sun but the boldness of the prayer that asked for it: there has been no day like it, when the LORD listened to the voice of a man. Joshua, in the heat of battle, dared to ask God for something enormous, to halt the heavens themselves so the day would be long enough to finish the work, and he asked it out loud, in front of the whole nation, staking his credibility on God's answer. It was an audacious prayer, and God heeded it. The wonder the text names is that the LORD listened to the voice of a man, that the God who governs sun and moon bent the day itself in response to one man's bold request. There is an encouragement here about the scale of what we dare to ask. We often pray small, cautious prayers, careful not to ask for too much, half expecting nothing to change; Joshua prayed as though God's reach had no ceiling and his own request might actually move it, and it did. God is not diminished by bold prayer; the God who fought for Israel that day and heard the voice of a man is the same God who invites his people to ask, to ask greatly, trusting that he is able to do far more than we imagine. Joshua's long day stands as a witness that the LORD listens to the voice of those who dare to ask him boldly.

Do I pray small, cautious prayers that half expect nothing, or can I dare, like Joshua, to ask God boldly for what only he could do, trusting that he still listens to the voice of those who ask him greatly?

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