So the Lord said to Joshua: “Get up!” why do you lie thus on your face? Joshua 7:10
Joshua found himself on his face before the Lord after the defeat at Ai - a defeat that wasn’t supposed to happen, a defeat that didn’t need to happen, but a defeat that happened nonetheless. Joshua’s had accordingly made his petition to the Lord, ending with “For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear it (the great defeat), and surround us, and cut off our name from the earth. Then what will You do for Your great name?”
What Joshua did wasn’t a wrong thing to do. He had a history with the Lord. He was the one who “lingered” after Moses would meet with the Lord outside the camp at the tent of meeting. And the Lord’s response to Joshua’s petition:
“Get up!” why do you lie thus on your face?
It’s not necessarily a harsh response, but neither is it a coddling response. For there is a time to present our petitions to the Lord, and there is a time to rise up. We cannot stay always in our prayer closets. We cannot always stay in a place of weeping and mourning. We cannot always stay in a place of receiving comfort. For there will always come a time to take action. And to adhere to the admonishment of 1 Corinthians 16:13:
Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong.
For the times in which we live, as we approach the end of this age, require bravery, courage, and fortitude. For we are not exempt from the battle, rather we are called to it. We were enlisted and conscripted and at times we will have to endure hardship as a “good soldier for Christ.” And one of the best ways to learn to endure hardship, as Paul admonished Timothy (2 Timothy 2:3) is to learn to encourage ourselves in the Lord.
David is another who models this well for us. At Ziglag, he and his men lost everything. Everything. Their wives, their children, all of their supplies and possessions. There was a time for them to lift up their voices and weep, but then there came a time for them to rise up from that place of defeat, as we must also do. But for David, as their leader, he carried the burden of the responsibility for the calamity that had befallen them and his men rose up against him. In their place of grief they spoke of stoning him. And there only one thing David could do in that moment and he did it:
“David strengthened himself in the Lord” (1 Samuel 30:6).
And this is what we must also do at times. In the times when comfort and consolation cannot be found in the hearts of men. When only one Heart is big enough to shoulder the pain and the grief (or disillusionment) we carry. Only one heart in which we can release that pain to. Only one heart in which to receive comfort and counsel. This is God’s heart, and this is our starting place in times when we need to move forward in courage and confidence. As David wrote:
Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; but we will remember the name of the LORD our God (Psalm 20:7).
David was given many keys in his life, and this was one of them – the knowledge that the Lord was His source of strength. David knew – the Lord was on his side and the Lord would always fight for him. This is one key that allowed David to be strong and courageous, first as a shepherd and then as a leader of a nation (and as an emerging leader, Joshua too would come to know this). David always knew when it was time to lean into the Lord. To receive the courage he needed for the things he had to face. And we can and must do the same in this day and time in which we find ourselves. For the time is now to “Get up!” As it was in the time of David and in the time of Joshua so it is now.
Meditative Verse:
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. (2 Timothy 1:7 NKJ)