{"id":12998,"date":"2020-12-08T21:00:47","date_gmt":"2020-12-09T04:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/joshua_7_19-26-copy\/"},"modified":"2020-12-06T17:34:16","modified_gmt":"2020-12-07T00:34:16","slug":"joshua_8_1-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/joshua_8_1-8\/","title":{"rendered":"The God of Second Chances"},"content":{"rendered":"

Joshua 8:1-8 \u00a0Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Joshua 8:1-8.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Joshua 8:1-8 (NIV)\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
\n1\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then the\u00a0LORD\u00a0said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Take the whole army with you, and go up and attack Ai. For I have delivered into your hands the king of Ai, his people, his city and his land.
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0You shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king, except that you may carry off their plunder and livestock for yourselves. Set an ambush behind the city.”
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So Joshua and the whole army moved out to attack Ai. He chose thirty thousand of his best fighting men and sent them out at night
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0with these orders: “Listen carefully. You are to set an ambush behind the city. Don’t go very far from it. All of you be on the alert.
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I and all those with me will advance on the city, and when the men come out against us, as they did before, we will flee from them.
\n6\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0They will pursue us until we have lured them away from the city, for they will say, ‘They are running away from us as they did before.’ So when we flee from them,
\n7\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0you are to rise up from ambush and take the city. The\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God will give it into your hand.
\n8\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When you have taken the city, set it on fire. Do what the\u00a0LORD\u00a0has commanded. See to it; you have my orders.”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 1-8:\u00a0\u00a0Joshua hears God\u2019s command to go attack Ai once again.\u00a0\u00a0Though Ai is a relatively small town, God commands Joshua to take his whole army with him to attack it (v1).\u00a0\u00a0This time they would be allowed to take plunder with them (v2).\u00a0\u00a0God also gives Joshua a new strategy for attacking Ai, which is to set an ambush (v2).\u00a0\u00a0Joshua chooses his 30,000 best fighting men to be part of the ambush (v3).<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0God is a God of second chances.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0For as long as we are alive, God doesn\u2019t dwell on our past defeats.\u00a0 Rather He is a forward-looking God who gives us second chances, and seventy seventh chances (Matthew 18:22).<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0God is a strategy giver.<\/strong>\u00a0 In this instance God inspires Joshua with a strategy for attacking Ai, namely, by an ambush from behind (v2).\u00a0 In my own life I’ve personally found that God is not just one who gives general direction; He can also give you a specific strategy for tackling challenges you face.\u00a0 So be open and humble enough to ask God for the strategy you need, and be patient enough to wait in His presence for any strategy He may want to give you.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0Successful people are teachable.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0The first time Joshua attacked Ai, Joshua gave less than his best. He relied on his own experience and wisdom instead of looking to God and was embarrassingly defeated (Joshua 7).\u00a0\u00a0The second time, Joshua learns from his mistake.\u00a0\u00a0He makes sure that he hears from God before he attacks Ai again.\u00a0\u00a0This time, just to be safe, he uses his best troops.\u00a0\u00a0Likewise,\u00a0successful people are not those who never experience failure.\u00a0\u00a0Rather successful people are those who respond to failure the right way \u2013 with humility, a teachable spirit, and a will to not give up.<\/strong><\/p>\n

4. Though Ai was a relatively small town, God tells Joshua nonetheless to mobilize his entire army.\u00a0\u00a0Joshua himself chooses to use his best troops for this second attack.\u00a0\u00a0From this I learn:\u00a0Don\u2019t underestimate an opponent or a challenge you are facing.<\/strong>\u00a0Believe you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you (Philippians 4:13), but don\u2019t let that belief lull you into complacency, laziness or arrogance.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0Instead, let your Philippians 4:13 attitude lead you to want to do your best in facing and overcoming what is in front of you.<\/p>\n

Heavenly Father, thank You that You are a God of second chances, and seventy-seventh chances.\u00a0\u00a0I pray that, like Joshua, I would be teachable and respond to failure well.\u00a0\u00a0Thank You that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.\u00a0\u00a0Please help me not to be lazy, complacent or arrogant when facing challenges that I think may be small.\u00a0\u00a0In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Joshua 8:1-8.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Joshua 8:1-8 (NIV)\u00a0
\n1\u00a0\u00a0Then the\u00a0LORD\u00a0said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Take the whole army with you, and go up and attack Ai. For I have delivered into your hands the king of Ai, his people, his city and his land.\u00a0
\n2\u00a0\u00a0You shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king, except that you may carry off their plunder and livestock for yourselves. Set an ambush behind the city.”\u00a0
\n3\u00a0\u00a0So Joshua and the whole army moved out to attack Ai. He chose thirty thousand of his best fighting men and sent them out at night\u00a0
\n4\u00a0\u00a0with these orders: “Listen carefully. You are to set an ambush behind the city. Don’t go very far from it. All of you be on the alert.\u00a0……<\/p>\n

On verses 1-8:\u00a0\u00a0Joshua hears God\u2019s command to go attack Ai once again.\u00a0\u00a0Though Ai is a relatively small town, God commands Joshua to take his whole army with him to attack it (v1).\u00a0\u00a0This time they would be allowed to take plunder with them (v2).\u00a0\u00a0God also gives Joshua a new strategy for attacking Ai, which is to set an ambush (v2).\u00a0\u00a0Joshua chooses his 30,000 best fighting men to be part of the ambush (v3).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13000,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12998"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12998\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12999,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12998\/revisions\/12999"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}