cont: https://westpalmbeachchurchofchrist.com/old-testament/joshua/faith-to-stop-the-sun.html
There has never been a day like it before or since. But be careful to consider what made this day unlike any other day. Notice that the point being made is not that there has never been a day like this where God stopped the sun in the middle of the sky. That is not the point. Look at it again. There has never been a day like this when the Lord listened to mortal humans. Notice that the point is not the miracle itself. The point is that Joshua requested this amazing miracle and God listened. The big point is not the miracle but what the miracle meant: that the Lord listened to the voice of a human. God listened to Joshua and did an unbelievable act: stopping the sun in the sky.
In Joshua 9 we learned about the need to have the faith to ask God. Rather than making decisions based on what looks right, sounds right, and seems right, we need to ask God. Now Joshua 10 presses this point even further. We need to not only have the faith to ask God, but we need to have the faith to pray audacious prayers. We need to have the faith to be willing to pray for the things that we would consider impossible. We need to think about what this looked like. Joshua, standing before the armies of Israel, announces for the sun and the moon to stand still. Do you think people in the army thought that this was ridiculous or impossible? Who would ask God to stop the sun in the sky? Who would believe that God would stop the sun in its place? Maybe a people who had seen God make fortress walls fall down after walking around them! I try to think about what we might being doing when Joshua said this. We might argue the science with Joshua. Joshua, God can’t stop the sun because it will have all kinds of cosmic problems. If the earth slows its rotation or even stops is rotation it is going to mess everything up! In fact, this still happens today. People read this text and argue how this could not happen because of the science. We do this with God. We tell God what he cannot do. Worse, we do not pray as we can because we think there are things that are impossible with God.
Now we will never say that there are some things are impossible. We will say that God can do anything. But do we really believe it? Jesus said it was true. When Jesus is about to face the cross, Jesus went off by himself and prayed, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you” (Mark 14:35). Was Jesus right? Jesus also said, “What is impossible with man is possible with God” (Luke 18:27). There is a moment when a men brought his son to Jesus who had an unclean spirit that caused him to have seizures, foam at the mount, throw him into the fire and the water, and try to destroy him. The father says to Jesus, “But if you can do anything, have compassion on him and help us” (Mark 9:22). Do you remember what Jesus said? “If you can! All things are possible for one who believes” (Mark 9:23). The hindrance was not with Jesus but with the father. What do we think that God cannot do? Moses did not think God could feed Israel meat in the wilderness. God made so much meat appear in the wilderness that was waist deep for miles. What is too great for God? Do we believe that nothing is too great for God?
If we believe that nothing is too great for God, then what are you not praying about? I believe that we do not pray because we do not believe that God will do something. We have problems in our lives that God will not do something about. We think our problems are too difficult for God. We think it is impossible for God to heal a disease or a sickness. We think it is impossible for our family member or friend to become a Christian. We think it is impossible for God to redeem and restore our marriage or family. We think it is impossible for reconciliation to occur between yourself and someone else. How many things are we going to tell God that he cannot do?
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