"What do you want your servant to do?"

Scripture Passage

Joshua 3:1-6:27

Scripture Focus

“I am at your command,” Joshua said. “What do you want your servant to do?” (Joshua 5:14 NLT)

Observation

What a great passage, huh? Hope you’ve read the whole thing before reading this! :)

I love the call to consecration—Joshua 3:5—in anticipation of something great from God. I love the call—Joshua 4:6—to build a memorial by which to remember the great thing God had done in parting the Jordan at flood stage (yep, just like he parted the Red Sea).

But I think most of all I love Joshua’s encounter with “the commander of the Lord’s Army.” Joshua is perhaps scouting out Jericho…considering a plan of attack…musing over and meditating upon God’s promise, when he sees a man standing in front of him—sword in hand!

“Friend or foe?” Joshua demands to know.

“Neither one,” he replied. “I am the commander of the LORD’s army.”

At this, Joshua fell with his face to the ground in reverence. “I am at your command,” Joshua said. “What do you want your servant to do?” (Joshua 5:14 NLT)

There are two things Joshua recognizes that I want, also, to always recognize. First, the battle Joshua was about to engage involved more than just the army he could see or count. The census that had just been taken of the fighting men (Numbers 26) was incomplete. The unseen, innumerable army of the Lord was present to fight on Israel’s behalf!

Second, Joshua wasn’t in charge—God was. Certainly from a human perspective, Joshua was Israel’s leader (look at Joshua 4:14). But Joshua wisely recognized a higher authority under whom he would need to function in order to be successful. And so—immediately—Joshua hits the dirt, face to the ground, with this response:

“I am at your command,” Joshua said. “What do you want your servant to do?”

I want that to be my immediate and ongoing response, as well.