Joshua 10:12–14 (ESV) “At that time Joshua spoke to the Lord in the day when the Lord gave the Amorites over to the sons of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, “Sun, stand still at Gibeon, and moon, in the Valley of Aijalon.” And the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, until the nation took vengeance on their enemies. Is this not written in the Book of Jashar? The sun stopped in the midst of heaven and did not hurry to set for about a whole day. 14 There has been no day like it before or since, when the Lord heeded the voice of a man, for the Lord fought for Israel.”

The book of Joshua just may be my favorite Old Testament book. It is filled with so much practical wisdom for the Christian life, it is virtually inexhaustible.

The juxtaposition of 2 passages I find enormously helpful. In chapter 7, the Israelites face defeat at Ai because Achan had stolen what God had said was to be destroyed. It taught us that prayer is no substitute for action. When Joshua falls in his face before God because of the defeat – God says “Get up!” Why have you fallen on your face? Israel has sinned.” (7:10-11) Conversely, in chapter 9 the Israelites are suckered by the Gibeonites into making a treaty with them because “the men took some of their provisions, but did not ask counsel from the Lord.” (9:14). This time, the problem was taking action – but without prayer. Great lessons to learn.

It is what grows out of this last, ill-conceived action on the part of Israel, that brings us to our text, and one of the most amazing displays of God’s power (if not THE greatest) in all of Scripture. But if all we see is the miracle, we miss the revelation.

Recap: The inhabitants of Gibeon, a large people group living in Canaan, heard what God had done in destroying Jericho, and then Ai, and decided they would NOT be next. They got a few guys together, put them in worn out clothes, gave the moldy bread, and sent them to the Israelites with the story that they were coming from WAY far away (their bread was hot from the oven when they left) and wanted to enter into a treaty with Israel. Since they weren’t near neighbors who God had said to vanquish – the Israelites (without asking God’s counsel) said “sure!” But shortly after, they found out they were hoodwinked. These guys were from the neighborhood.

Israel to its credit, though with mud on their faces, kept the treaty – even though it was obtained under false pretenses. However, that promise to honor the agreement soon gets put to test. Some of Gibeon’s neighbors weren’t happy about this treaty, and so they ganged up to wage war on Gibeon. Now that Gibeon had a treaty with Israel, what did they do? They got on the hotline and called for help. And Israel, still wanting to retain their integrity – says “we’re on the way.” It is in the ensuing battle that this miracle of the “sun standing still” takes place. While Israel is defending the people they had no business entering into a treaty with in the first place. Now – we know why the account is so important.

Here is the payoff. Think about this entire scene for one moment. Have you ever witnessed a more vivid or expansive vision of God’s unfathomable grace than this? God gives one of His most remarkable deliverances – if not THE most remarkable – while assisting Israel in defeating the foes of those Israel foolishly and sinfully bound themselves to. It is NO endorsement of their sin for sure. But it is, an inexplicable display of how much mercy and grace He extends to us – even in the aftermath of our own sin. WOW!

Deuteronomy 30:6 (ESV) “And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.”

Some parts of our Bibles don’t get read quite as often or as in depth as some others. Deuteronomy usually falls within that category. Its not the first place we run to when looking for comfort, like the Psalms often are. And truth be told, Christians are members of the New Covenant, not the Old. It is fitting that we spend more time looking at things this side of the Cross. Nevertheless, because the realities of the New Covenant in Christ is given to us in the types and shadows of the Old – when the light of the Cross shines back over those passages, it brings to light manifold treasures. Treasures like the one in the passage under consideration today.

As Moses is preparing to depart this world, he is pressing home a series of crucial truths on the people of Israel. Among them comes a warning about deceiving oneself by saying inwardly “I’ve heard and assented to the Covenant, so I am safe, and now can live any way I please!” (Deut. 29:18-21). Moses tells them in no uncertain terms that God will not let that kind of thinking go. In fact, He doesn’t under the New Covenant either – despite what some may think.

Moses then goes on to describe the tragic results of such a mindset in God’s refusal to forgive such thinking, and the destruction it will bring upon both the individual, and the corporate group of God’s people. So drastic is God’s response, that one might even wonder “what will become of the God’s promises in the end?” The answer to which is given in 29:29 – and then later unpacked in detail by Paul in Romans 9-11.

What then is to be done? Should individuals go down this path, should God’s people as a whole suffer greatly as a result – what is the cure? How is it to be turned around? What is needed? And to the shock of many – God’s answer is NOT to be found in a re-commitment to being better law-keepers. No, the answer is found in a heart, circumcised by God – to love. Love. Law is not the answer. It never is. Love is the answer. For the heart and mind governed by an all consuming love of God – will bring us to a life that no law, or number of aggregate laws could ever produce. This, is our text. Love.

Beloved, maybe you’ve strayed from the Lord you God. Maybe you’ve been guilty of the very heart and mind Moses warned the Children of Israel about – presuming on God’s grace by refusing to deal with sin because you were “in.” And now, the results have seen your life turned upside down and the weight of your guilt is crushing the very life out of you. The answer is not to “get your act together” – it is to have your “love” restored. It is to go back to the Cross – to see Him there, dying for your sins – and to bathe in the glory of His love, until it washes, revitalizes, cleanses and renews your heart and mind. Until you are so enamored with His love, that you cannot help but love Him back. Go to Calvary again. Learn to love again, by seeking out the depths of His love for you. Nothing else will do.

Deuteronomy 28:47 (ESV) “Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all things”

Rejoicing in the Lord is serious business. The text above falls nearly in the center of a 2 chapter section that finds the Children of Israel at the end of their wilderness wanderings. Before entering the Promised Land, much time is devoted to rehearsing God’s commands to them. In the process, representatives of the 12 tribes are called up onto opposite mountain tops (Gerizim and Ebal) where God pronounces His “blessing and cursing.” It is a digest of His economy with them. Should they follow the Lord closely in all He has set out for them, they will enjoy great fruitfulness. And should they refuse to follow after Him – they will suffer appropriately as well.

Now as Christians, our inheritance, our chief blessings are not to be found in earthly goods. As with Israel too – the earthly things they are promised, are meant to be symbolic of spiritual realities. Yes, the material things were REAL, but not an end in themselves. Yet how many, even in the Church today have made the mistake of thinking that God’s “blessings” are to be understood in the same material way. We fail to recognize how these are meant to be picture of how our souls are to be blessed in Christ – prospered IN HIM, irrespective of any external circumstances.

The curses contained in these portions are to be understood the same way. When it is all said and done, the Believer’s failure to walk closely with our Lord, results above all in falling victim to the remnants of our own indwelling sin. And it isn’t pretty. To be ruled over by sinful impulses and tendencies cannot be further removed from what we are to enjoy in our salvation. But how often that is exactly the case.

Enter our text today. Smack dab in the middle of this amazingly clarifying passage – comes these words. Not so secret secrets to a life lived in freedom from the dominion of indwelling sin. It is found in “serving the Lord you God with joyfulness and gladness of heart” – and that, not abstractly or in a vacuum, but “because of the abundance of all things.”

The idea dear one is simply this: When we fail to take into account all that God has done for us in Christ, won for us by His blood, promised and sealed to us by His Spirit – it is just there that our sinfulness will rise up and capture us again. Read the balance of chapter 28 and see what that looks like. It is painted in the most abhorrent terms. The depictions are of very kind of grief, woe, opposition, bondage and horror.

Forgetting all He has done and is still doing on our behalf for eternal and spiritual good – we grow insensitive to it all. It takes on the cast of being more mythical than real. We treat Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf as less and less amazing. His gifts to us are taken for granted. We grow forgetful and ungrateful and no longer have hearts filled with joy over what IS ours, but wail and moan over earthly things that aren’t. And it is at this point we are in the most danger. This, is when we will be overcome. This is where our indwelling sin will rise up and throw into its dark prison.

Believer – become as serious about your joy in the Lord as though your life depended upon it. For in some sense – it actually does.