November 20, 2024

Joshua 8:1-9  (HCSB)
Conquest of Ai
8 The Lord said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid or discouraged. Take the whole military force with you and go attack Ai. Look, I have handed over to you the king of Ai, his people, city, and land. 2 Treat Ai and its king as you did Jericho and its king; you may plunder its spoil and livestock for yourselves. Set an ambush behind the city.” 3 So Joshua and the whole military force set out to attack Ai. Joshua selected 30,000 fighting men and sent them out at night. 4 He commanded them: “Pay attention. Lie in ambush behind the city, not too far from it, and all of you be ready. 5 Then I and all the people who are with me will approach the city. When they come out against us as they did the first time, we will flee from them. 6 They will come after us until we have drawn them away from the city, for they will say, ‘They are fleeing from us as before.’ While we are fleeing from them, 7 you are to come out of your ambush and seize the city, for the Lord your God has handed it over to you. 8 After taking the city, set it on fire. Follow the Lord’s command—see that you do as I have ordered you.” 9 So Joshua sent them out, and they went to the ambush site and waited between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai. But he spent that night with the troops.

Jessica Collier
My favorite bible stories are the ones where God shows off, His people accomplishing impossible feats because they’re aligning with His will and operating in the faith of His promises. In short, God says “stick with me, kid, we're gonna do some big stuff.” And the person answers “Yee HAW, let’s GOOOOO!” I’m drawn to these, I suppose, because it’s the assurance I need in this season of my life. A season I like to call “Now What?” I’ve been job hunting since my youngest started school `last year but nothing has been exactly right. Aside from a few side gigs, every opportunity that comes up feels outside of God’s plan for my life, even though I have no idea what that plan actually is. It’s frustrating. It’s scary. And it can be a little embarrassing, honestly. But I know the worst thing I can do is to try to MAKE something work. I know this because I’m dumb, too, and had to learn that lesson the hard way.  Bottom line, even though He isn’t laying a battle plan out before me like He did Joshua, I’m going to keep trusting that the end result will be the same. Victory! YEE HAW, LET’S GOOOO!