Rest from war
So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the LORD said unto Moses; and Joshua gave it for an inheritance unto Israel according to their divisions by their tribes. And the land rested from war. –Joshua 11:23
God’s definition of deliverance is not avoidance but rather a confrontation followed by obliteration. Avoiding an enemy brings temporary relief but, in reality, gives the enemy time to organize and prepare a more potent next attack. We cannot simply hope that the enemy will leave us alone as long as we don’t provoke him because this is not how warfare is engaged. We cannot sit passively and expect to have meaningful and lasting victory. There must come a time in our lives when we lace up our combat boots, lock and load our spiritual weapons, then defiantly set out to engage the enemy.
It was GOD’S idea that they all would stubbornly fight the Israelites so he could put them under the holy curse without mercy. That way he could destroy them just as GOD had commanded Moses. –Joshua 11:20 (MSG)
Let us understand that many times when we are attacked on all sides by an enemy seemingly as enumerable as the sands upon the shore (Joshua 11:4), it is not a sign of our impending defeat. Instead, God sets an ambush to draw the enemy into our faces. God seems to do this so the battle will be in full sight. We can witness for ourselves how He obliterates our enemy (Joshua 11:6). What satisfaction it is to watch with our own eyes as the last breath of our enemy passes over his lips, rendering him incapable of further assaults on our minds (Joshua 11:11). God pummels him with His holy curse in a sweeping strike that shows no mercy as he crushes life and power from him.
“… the land rested from war” is the ultimate statement of victory. Joshua had fought all the kings of the land who had assembled themselves against him (Joshua 11:1-3), but on this day, the Lord thundered from His throne to decree and declared that the enemy would receive a fatal blow from which he would not recover. Can I encourage you today that the Lord will engage every enemy in your life, and when he releases wrath upon them, you will have complete victory and rest from war?
