Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - If God is Sovereign, Do My Choices Matter? | The Life of Joshua | Joshua 10:1-15

Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome to Tim Minna Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life and the time it takes to get to work. I'm Keith Simon. I'm Tanya Wilmuth. And I'm Patrick Miller. Right now, we're going through the Book of Joshua. Also, if you want to connect with us, follow us on Twitter at TMBT podcast. You can also check out our hashtag, hashtag, Ask TMBT, where you can ask us anything, and we'd love to connect with you. A lot of the biblical conversations that I'm in feel like they are on a winding,

Starting point is 00:00:34 road that inevitably leads to the difficult topic of God's sovereignty and human freedom or human responsibility. Now, I have to admit that I wish that wasn't true because I get tired of talking about the same thing over and over. And to be honest, sometimes it feels a little bit forced. Like, you can see that topic coming from a long way off and you'd like to avoid it, but you can't. It seems like wherever you start, it circles back. to, yeah, but how does God's sovereignty figure into this? Like maybe I'm talking with somebody about voting, but I see eventually they're going to end up asking whether your vote really matters in light of God's sovereignty. I mean, God is the one who sovereignly elects presidents, right? So

Starting point is 00:01:23 why does it matter if you vote at all? Or other times, the topic of God's sovereignty surprises me. Like we're talking about eternal rewards and what the Bible has to say about that topic. And then all of a sudden it gets to God's sovereignty. And you're like, boy, I didn't see that coming. I think one of the reasons that topic comes up so much is that it is both important and perplexing. There aren't many things more important than trying to answer the question, who is in charge of the universe? And of course, then who is in charge of our life? And it's perplexing because our minds can't fully comprehend how God is sovereign and yet human beings are free and responsible for the choices they make.

Starting point is 00:02:09 We can't quite comprehend how God is all good and completely sovereign over all things and yet there are sin and evil in the world. Now when we look to the Bible, what we find is that it assumes both things are true without trying to run. reconcile them. In other words, the Bible puts God's sovereignty right beside human responsibility and never acts like there's a tension, much less a contradiction. We see both God's sovereignty and human responsibility play out in the first half of Joshua chapter 10. Let me set the scene for you. Joshua is leading the Israelites into the promised land. And remember, it's called the promised land because this is part of what God promised Abraham and all of his descendants all the way back in the book of Genesis. But just because God is giving this land to the Israelites doesn't mean

Starting point is 00:03:04 that it comes easily. The Israelites encounter enemies that they must fight and defeat. The enemy they face in Joshua 10 is a king named Adani Zedic. He's introduced as the king of Jerusalem. Now remember, this is before Israel controlled Jerusalem. And so King Adonized Zedic, he was worried because Israel had made a peace agreement with an important and strategic city called Gibbon. So this is Joshua 10, verse 5. Then the five kings of the Amirites, the kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmouth, Lachish, Eglon, they all joined forces. They moved up with all their troops and took up positions against Gibbon and attacked it. Now Joshua and the Israelites, they had made an alliance with Gibbon so that when the five kings attacked Gibbon, Israel was obligated by their treaty to come to their defense.

Starting point is 00:04:00 Verse 7. So Joshua marched up from Gilgall with his entire army, including all the best fighting men. The Lord said to Joshua, do not be afraid of them. I have given them into your hand. Not one of them will be able to withstand you. Now, God clearly promises that he's given Israel's enemies, these five kings and their armies, into Israel's hand. Whatever happens, God is behind it. As I read the next verses, listen for what Israel does and what God does. So verse 9, here we go. After an all-night march from Gilgau, Joshua took them by surprise. The Lord threw them into confusion before Israel.

Starting point is 00:04:45 So Joshua and the Israelites defeated them completely at Gibbean. Israel pursued them along the road going up to Beth Haran to cut them down all the way to Ezeka and Makita. As they fled before Israel on the road down from Beth Haran to Ezeka, the Lord hurled large hailstones down on them, and more of them died from the hail than were killed by the sword of the Israelites. Now let's start with what Israel did. They marched all night, so there's a sense of urgency. and great effort. They attacked in the morning in order to take them by surprise. In other words, Israel was strategic. And then, of course, they fought these battles, which took a lot of physical

Starting point is 00:05:27 courage. What did God do? Well, he threw the enemies into Confucian. He hurled large hailstones down, killing more of the enemy than were killed by the Israelites. So God fought for the Israelites and got victory for them, but not in a way that made Israel passive. In other words, Israel doesn't say, hey, God's got this. God's going to give us a victory, so we don't have to do anything. We're just going to sit back and watch it happen. No, not at all. They were strategic, they put in great effort, and they were courageous. So you see that they were able to balance God's sovereignty and their responsibility. God's sovereignty didn't make them passive, and yet their role they had to play didn't cause them to trust in themselves instead of God. So now we have

Starting point is 00:06:15 apply this commitment to God's sovereignty and human responsibility in our lives. What does that look like? Well, let's say there's someone in your life that you hope comes to faith in Jesus. What's your role? Well, let's start with it. You should be praying for them and then you should live out your faith in front of them. And then you might even talk to them about Jesus and what he's done in your life. What's God's role? Well, God's role is to soften their heart, to give them faith, and draw them to himself. Both roles, our role and God's role, is absolutely essential. If God doesn't draw the person to himself and give them faith, then nothing we do matters. And yet, it's through our conversations and through our godly life next to them that God very well may use to draw them to himself.

Starting point is 00:07:13 or let's think of a health issue. You've got a serious health issue. What's your role and what's God's? Well, you might put in some research to find a doctor who is really good at addressing whatever your problem is. And then you would go see that doctor and follow the doctor's instructions, take medication, whatever it is. Now, what's God's role? Well, God's role is to give the doctor wisdom and to heal your body. Both are absolutely essential.

Starting point is 00:07:43 We don't say God's in control, therefore I don't need to go see a doctor or I don't need to do what the doctor tells me. But neither should we put our trust in a doctor so that we fail to recognize that it's God who heals. Or what about pursuing a conversation with someone that you have a conflict with? What's your role? Well, to pray for the person and for yourself and then go have a conversation to try to find healing. Maybe you need to ask for forgiveness or maybe. Maybe you need to grant forgiveness to someone else. What's God's role?

Starting point is 00:08:18 Well, God's role is to soften both people's hearts so that unity and reconciliation can be accomplished. Both are essential. Now, each of us are prone to fall off one side of the other. What I mean by that is that some of us will emphasize God's role, God's sovereignty, to the point that it makes us passive, sitting back, watching, waiting for God and blaming him if things don't go our way. Others of us will be prone to fall off on the other side, and that is that we will work as if it all depends on us,

Starting point is 00:08:52 and we'll neglect prayer and trust. But if we understand the biblical teaching in Joshua chapter 10, we'll realize that we must work, but always in a way that trusts God, knowing that our work will never accomplish what we hope unless God is involved in our work. Let's wrap up by looking at how Paul applies this in 1st Corinthians 15. He's talking about his ministry in the city of Corinth, and he says,

Starting point is 00:09:24 I worked harder than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. Paul worked hard in ministry. He shared Christ. He organized churches. He developed leadership. but he recognizes that the only reason that was successful is because it was God working in and through his work. It wasn't because of his work. It was because of God's blessing and God's favor. So hold both of these truths together. God is sovereign. And yet we are responsible creatures.

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Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - If God is Sovereign, Do My Choices Matter? | The Life of Joshua | Joshua 10:1-15

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