Fear Not

Joshua 10:5 “Therefore, the five kings of the Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, the king of Eglon, gathered themselves together and went up, they and all their hosts and encamped before Gibeon and made war against it."Recently, I saw an author named Jentezen Franklin on James Robinson’s program. He was teaching about this verse and I found it so interesting. These five kings were uniting to make war on the Gibeonites, who turned to Joshua and the Israelites for help. Jentezen Franklin made an interesting observation. He said that as he studied this one day, the Lord quickened to his heart that the five kings in this story are represented in our lives today, by our five senses. We enjoy the senses of hearing, taste, smell, sight, and touch..but honestly, these fives senses at times can be good evangelists for unbelief. We so often live by our five senses..we trust in what we can see with our physical eyes. We believe in what we hear with our physical ears..and on it goes..but the truth is..we have what I will call for lack of a better term, a sixth sense. (I say that because I am speaking of the Holy Spirit living in us..and He should be our Number One sense). Our five senses can often convince us that God’s word is not true. I told you the other day about my friend who reads every paper and watches every news show..she is extremely worried about the state of the country..and while the facts are that things may not be good, the TRUTH is that God is still in control. The TRUTH is that God has not changed any of His promises. The TRUTH is still that God knows the end from the beginning and we can trust Him..NO MATTER WHAT MAY BE GOING ON AROUND US!
Beloved, God IS faithful..whether we do or do not understand what we see, hear, smell, touch, or even taste..and faith in Him is actually BETTER than having answers to all of our questions. Job asked God 360 questions..and God’s answer to Job was simply..TRUST me. God wants us to trust Him..Maybe I write a lot about this, because this is an area of struggle for me..but I KNOW that trust based on His word and His promises is better than trusting facts that will never make any sense to us and will only bring confusion to our minds.In the story, five of Joshua’s captains put their foot on the necks of the five kings..then Joshua told the captains..”Fear not, nor be dismayed. Be strong and of good courage..for thus shall the Lord do to ALL your enemies against whom ye fight.” Beloved, when you are in a battle..no matter what kind of battle it is..remember that you can put your foot on the neck of unbelief. You can put your foot on the neck of doubt. You can put your foot on the neck of confusion..because you have a God who is faithful and in whom you can trust. There is nothing in this life that we need to fear when God is with us.