Deuteronomy 28, Joshua 2, 6-7, 24, Judges 6
I was talking to one of my best friends this morning and he was talking about how he was going through the Old Testament. He keeps seeing God being "harsh" (his words). And lately he has been seeing God in the OT, start to fit into the God of the NT.
I think the biggest mistake ("sin" seems to harsh, but is probably more accurate) the church in America has made is the Jesus we present to the world. We present Jesus as a nice guy who loves everybody and just wants to be your buddy.
And while Jesus is loving, He also had every aspect of the God we see in the Old Testament. The same God who sent His Son to die on the cross led the Israelites into war over and over and over again. The same God who loves you told Joshua to annihilate everyone in Jericho.
But in American churches, God just wants to be your buddy or your friend or something like that. That's not the God I see in the Bible.
How many times have we seen a preacher or evangelist beg the audience to accept Christ as Savior? How many times do we sing "just one more verse"?
What happened when people wanted to follow Jesus? He said "take up your cross and follow Me!" Whether that meant giving all your possessions to the poor or leaving your job and family or being homeless... Jesus said it's either all or nothing. And usually He wasn't to "kind" about it.
He didn't beg anyone to follow Him. In fact, He usually said "No, don't waste My time."
As I read God interact with Joshua and Gideon, He says "Trust Me with EVERYTHING!"
Joshua is a brand new leader and his great war plan is to walk around a city quietly for a week. God says "trust Me... even though it seems pointless." God tells Gideon to send home 99% of the troops that show up to fight (when they are already outnumbered 10 to 1 before the start).
But we know that Jericho's walls fell, and the Midianites slaughtered themselves. Only God could do that. God just wanted someone to trust Him with everything... He provided the victory.
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