A couple of weeks ago, the Pastor where I fellowship warned us to be careful, assuming God is “on our side.” Almost everyone thinks God is for them, though life is inundated with sin. We use terms like “I prayed about it” to keep people from questioning what we are about to do. We think, “God is on my side.”
Sports teams competing against one another have players who insist God is “with me.” The winner has more physical “proof” on their side, so they assume.
We can think of Scriptures such as Romans 8:31, “… if God is for us who can be against us.” We forget that follows Romans 8:8, “those who walk in the flesh CAN NOT please God.” We jump to “God is for me” before examining, “am I walking in my flesh?” We get deceived at times because we have a few wins behind us. That solidifies, “God is for me.”
Joshua was disabused of thinking God is for him or his opponent. God was picking his fight.; God had Joshua’s goal in mind. Joshua’s urgency was God’s goal. Here’s what Joshua tells us in God’s Word.
Joshua 5:13-14 “Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for our enemies or for us? Neither,” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the LORD, I have now come.” Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, ‘what message does my Lord have for his servant?’
The Christophany, the presence of The Word in the Old Testament who becomes flesh in the New, is who most theologians believe “the man” is in this passage because Joshua falls down in worship. Well, the answer to Joshua could easily have been, “Joshua, I’m on your side, of course. You are my special people.” He doesn’t say that. God picks his side. We should learn to ask, “God am I on YOUR side?" Then perhaps that will become commonplace. We may use it as a defense weapon like, “I prayed about that,” to keep from being questioned about motives. But I digress from the more significant point.
We’ve been so focused on our way, and off we go forgetting “The Way.”
We think, “I’m a Christian, living truth, but then we forget, “The Truth.”
We have our own “godly” life plans. We forgot “The Life.”
It’s not whether God is on “my side.” The goal for those IN CHRIST is to be On His Side. We cannot do that if we are not living a Spirit-filled life asking God for his blessings every day and never asking his forgiveness. Then turning from sin. I heard a Pastor once preach, “Christians don’t need to repent once saved. Our sins have been forgiven from first to last in Christ.” That man has not read God’s word. There are so many passages that instruct believers to examine themselves. Passages that tell us to remain or continue, to fight the good fight, take heed, I could go on.
We’d better find out if we are on God’s side. That takes knowing what he says in his word. We must know what he demands of us. Christianity isn’t, “now I’m saved, and I’m safe, I’m going to heaven, now God’s on my side.” That’s a dangerous mindset. Joshua learned that. He humbled himself in worship to the side that mattered.
Is God on my side? No! God is on His side. We’d better know we are too.
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