Is our idea of God too small? How often do we think of God in terms of things going on in our own lives? It’s always encouraging to see athletes proclaim Christ on live TV. But oftentimes athletes will show that they just want God to give them and their team a victory. We like to assume that our team is God’s favorite team. But if we convince ourselves that God is “on our side,” aren’t we really reducing God to something smaller than our lives?
It's our natural inclination to see our lives as the center of the universe. Our own thoughts are the only ones we’ve ever thought, and so what’s most important to us seems to be what’s most important. Joshua was in a similar boat; his mind was focused on the coming battle at Jericho. But when we think that way, we start to treat everything else as secondary, even God. But God is not a secondary part of our universe; if anything, we are a secondary part of his!
God has a purpose that is higher than any of ours, more important than ours, and more perfect and eternally-lasting than ours. His purpose is for his love and righteousness to abound across creation for the sake of his glory. Any other purpose we come up with is microscopic in comparison. This means we are to conform our purposes to God’s, rather than trying to conform God to ourselves. The commander of the army of the Lord had to remind Joshua that the Almighty does not take sides in human matters—he is the Almighty God, who does not exist to serve men but rather for all men to serve him.
Incidentally, Christ would later say that for the time that he was on earth, he was there to serve rather than to be served. But let’s not misinterpret that and think God is our servant! God was in fact fighting with the Israelites against Jericho, but this is not because he had aligned his desires with those of Joshua and the Israelites—rather, they had aligned their desires to his. We will know God is walking with us only when we have decided to obey and walk with him.
Is our idea of God too small? He rules in sovereignty over the universe! When he moves with us, we are standing on holy ground.
