Hi how was your week? Mine was busy with Christmas events but it will settle down after this weekend. Have you ever known a leader that was maybe small in stature but was a mighty leader. I have – they seems to have the attitude that I can do it no matter what. David had this attitude when he faced Goliath but David was different – he relied on God for his strength.
There is a town that I want to look at in the Bible that fits this statement – small but mighty. It is the town of Ai in the book of Joshua. Joshua and the Israelites eventually defeated this town but I want to look at this town from two perspectives. The first perspective is what the Israelites saw and the second perspective is what other kings around them saw.
Let’s look at the Israelites first. Just remember that the Israelites did not know their reputation. In Joshua 7:2, Joshua sent two spies to go and look at Ai. They were there to see how big the town was, whether there was any security and how the people lived. When the spies came back, they reported to Joshua in verse 3 that there aren’t many people so let’s not take many to fight them as they are small.
Verse 4 tells us that Israel was soundly defeated. There were a couple of reasons for this:
- They didn’t seek the plan from God. They didn’t even get any instructions from Him. That was a bad move.
- There was sin in the camp. A man named Achan had taken what God told them not too. I blogged on that story last week.
- The Israelites looked at their size but didn’t know their reputation.
Israel eventually defeated them but it was at great cost – the death of Achan and his family, not seeking God and the death of a number of their warriors.
Let’s look at the second perspective. This comes from the other kings around them. In Joshua 10, the king of Jerusalem, at that time, made mention of them and couldn’t believe that the Israelites had defeated them, along with the other kings. But it is interesting that Ai was mentioned first before Jericho, so their defeat was obviously a shock.
What was more outstanding to this king was that the Gibeonites had surrendered to Israel and they were mighty warriors.
Sometimes we look at circumstances surrounding our lives and think they can never be defeated. We look at the reputation of that circumstance and how others have succumbed to it. But the Bible tells us that there is no name (or circumstance) greater than the name of Jesus in Philippians 2:9.
We look at ourselves and in the natural we look smaller than those big circumstances. But just like the Israelites defeated Ai, we can defeat those circumstances. But only when we get God involved. We are small in the world but mighty in God, exactly the opposite of Ai.
This week whatever you are facing, seek God. He wants to be involved in your circumstances and the Holy Spirit wants to guide you. You can keep living the life God intended for you, with God.
Bless you and have a great week
Karen
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