Seventh-Day Devotional For Children: “The Lord Is A Warrior”

*DAILY BREAD – A DEVOTIONAL FOR CHILDREN*

Eastern Nigeria Union Conference Children’s Ministries

*THEME: I WILL GO*

Monday, February 28, 2022

*Topic: THE LORD IS A WARRIOR*

_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.” Joshua 10:8._

The big idea of Joshua 10 is that the LORD is a warrior. While Joshua is the leader on the ground, his prayer to God indicates who stands behind the victory. Moreover, the passage repeatedly speaks of God’s action on behalf of his people.

God’s action begins in verse 8, where he says to Joshua, “Do not fear them, for I have given them into your hands.” It continues in verse 10, where “the LORD threw them into a panic before Israel.” The debate turns on the next three verbs, but if the pronoun ‘who’ relates to Yahweh, the rest of the verse continues, the LORD, “struck them with a great blow at Gibeon and chased them by the way of the ascent of Beth-Horron and struck them as far as Azekah and Makkedah.” In short, the Lord is the warrior who defeated the armies of the five kings.

Moreover, verse 11 confirms the Lord’s actions when it says, “while [the kings’ armies] were going down the ascent of Beth-Horron, the Lord threw down large stones from heaven on them as far as Azekah, and they died.” Thus, the victory is directly a result of God’s actions. So much so that, verse 11 concludes, “There were more who died because of the hailstones than the sons of Israel killed with the sword.”

Finally, the Lord’s role as a warrior is highlighted again when Joshua goes to prayer in verses 12–15. In these mysterious verses (see #6) we discover two things related to God’s actions. First, Joshua’s prayer is answered by God as the Lord uses creation to give the battle to Israel. Secondly, verse 14 states, “the LORD fought for Israel.” Hence, the entirety of this section posits the battle to the Lord. He is the victor and should be honoured accordingly.

*SONG* :
A mighty fortress is our God,
A bulwark never failing;
Our helper He, amid the flood
of mortal ills prevailing:
For still our ancient foe
Doth seek to work us woe;
His craft and power are great,
And, armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal.

*PRAYER*
Dear Lord, our hearts are filled with praise that indeed we have a mighty warrior, who fights and avenge for us. We humbly submit to your supremacy and we ask that you keep fighting our seen and unseen battles in Jesus name, Amen!