“And these are the Kings of the land whom Joshua and the people of Israel defeated on the west side of the Jordan from Baal-gad in the Valley of Lebanon to Mount Halak that arises towards Seir, and Joshua gave their land to the tribes of Israel as a possession according to their allotments.”
– Joshua 12:7
And then what happens in verses eight down all the way to verse 24 is we have a list of 31 Kings who were given into Joshua and Israel’s hand. And I use that language intentionally. They were given into Joshua and the people of Israel’s hands. Given by who? By God. God gave them victory after victory after victory in the land he had promised to bring them into because Joshua and the people of God trusted God. This is the picture of the way grace works, the way God’s power works on behalf of his people, by faith, by trusting God.
God, we pray that you would give us strength in our weakness and joy in our suffering.
That was the problem back in Numbers 13 and 14. God’s people didn’t trust him to give them the promised land and as a result, they did not receive the promised land. An entire generation died, and now this generation is receiving the promised land. Why? By faith. Not because of their military might, not because of their ingenuity, but because they were trusting God and obeying God and doing what God had called them to do.
Joshua 12:7 Reminds Us to Trust God
Joshua believed God. He was strong and courageous in faith, and 31 Kings were given into his hand. And I read that and I just think, God, I want to live by faith. I want to trust you to give abundantly, generously, beyond what I can even ask, or imagine to use language from Ephesians 3, and to encourage us to do the same, to walk by faith, to trust in God day after day after day, and to ask extravagantly from him according to his word.
So can we just pray accordingly? Maybe get a glimpse of the extravagant faithful praying that God is inviting us into every day? God, we pray together today to you. You are the giver of all good gifts. There is nothing good that we have or could have apart from you. And so we ask you today in faith that you would grant us everything we need today to walk in obedience to you, for power today, for peace, for love, for joy, for the fruit of your spirit in us. God, please may it be.
This Verse Leads Us to Pray for Wisdom
God, we pray for wisdom amidst every decision we’re making. Amidst every challenge we’re walking through. We pray that you would give us wisdom, and we trust that you will give it to us as we ask. We ask for your blessing, for your help, for your mercy, for your strength, for your guidance in everything we are doing today.
God, we pray that you would give us strength in our weakness, that you would give us joy in our suffering. These are miracles that come from your hand that we ask for today. We pray that you would help us to grow in the image of Christ, that you would help us to be more and more like Jesus. God, we pray this for our lives. And God, we pray this for people around us. Make people around us look more and more like Jesus.
Conform our spouses, our kids, our friends, our family members, our co-laborers in the Gospel, those who are alongside us in the church, make us look more like Jesus. God, we pray for people around us who don’t know you. Oh God, we pray that you would show your power and bring salvation. So God, we pray that you’d give us boldness to share the Gospel. And you would help us to lead them to Christ. God, we pray that you would work the supernatural miracle of salvation. And the lives of friends, family members, co-workers, neighbors, who we’ve been praying for some of them for years.
Joshua 12:7 Leads Us to Ask God for Faith
May today be the day, may this week be the week, God, when they trust in you. We ask in faith, please show your power. And not just on behalf of our lives and things right around us far from us. God, we pray for the Joji people of Bangladesh. They are an unreached Muslim people group in Bangladesh and Hindu people group in India.
God, show your power, bring your salvation to the Joji people of Bangladesh. We’re asking together for this right now, send somebody, send laborers into the harvest field to make the Gospel known there, the good news of your love known there. Also, we ask, help us to live by faith in a Joshua-like way. Help us to not fear, not be dismayed, to trust in you every day. And we pray that you would give into our hand all that you have promised to give into our hand when we ask in faith. So Lord, help us to realize, to experience all that is possible by faith in you. In Jesus’ name, we pray according to Joshua 12:7. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
