The Power of Submission – Part 3
Pastor Gary Mason – Medicine Hat Family Church
The last thing I want us to notice today is found in verse 21…
21 And all the people returned to the camp, to Joshua at Makkedah, in peace. No one moved his tongue against any of the children of Israel.
THE ENEMY WAS SILENCED! PRAISE GOD! That’s powerful usually your enemy has a lot to say about you, but at this time they were too afraid to even say anything. The even more wonderful thing about this is that the devil will often use those from within to speak things against God’s leaders and the plan. Not always in an obvious or blatant way, but more often in a subtle insidious way that slowly undermines the authority and the covering God provides for us as we submit to that authority. When this happens long enough we get ourselves out form where God wants us and the enemy can takes shots at us again. However it says that, “No one moved his tongue against any of the children of Israel.” This is great because when you can keep everyone speaking right you can keep the hedge around you tight. Often times the thing that causes a set back or even a defeat in our lives is dissention among the ranks this is what happens when people speak against authority.
In the military they have a term for it when someone does this they call it “breaking a hedge.” Ecclesiastes talks about what happens when you break a hedge in chapter 10 verse 8… He that diggeth a pit shall fall into it; and whoso breaketh an hedge, a serpent shall bite him. (Eccl 10:8 KJV) Wow, a serpent shall bite him. We set ourselves up to be bit when we break a hedge. There is not a lot of question here. It seems that the writer, inspired by the Holy Spirit, is telling us if we break a hedge we will get bit.
Sometimes Christians continue on doing these things for a while without getting bit, but the enemy is just waiting for the right moment to strike. He lulls them into a false sense of security and then strikes when they are most vulnerable. The great part is that when we don’t break the hedge we won’t get bit. We have to do as the Israelites and watch our tongues, watch what and how you speak about authority and the plan of God. Remember it may make sense the way you see it in the natural, but God seldom uses what makes sense in the natural. He is a God of the SUPERNATURAL.
But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; (1 Cor 1:27 KJV)
Thank God for strong leaders like Joshua who aren’t always perfect, but they are willing to submit their lives to God and His authority and then to walk in the authority God has for them. We need to keep them in our prayers and support them in every way possible so God can have His way, and His plan can happen, the kingdom way… Under His Dominion.
So let’s follow our leaders the way the Israelites did here and allow God to use them the way He needs to and make sure that we are not speaking in any way against them or their decisions, because they often times see things more clearly then we do simply because God graces them for it.