“Do you want to go out to eat or have dinner at home?” I asked Lynne. She replied, “Yes.” Apparently, guys aren’t the only ones not paying attention to their spouse.
I’m a little confused at this point, so I have to clarify that it was an “either/or” question. We ended up going out to eat (it was a tough choice for her, don’t you know).
I was recently reminded of a biblical “either/or” question when listening to a Chris Tomlin song. The title of the song is “On Our Side,” and one of the stanzas goes like this: “If God is on our side, who can be against us? /
If God is on our side, we won’t be afraid /
Though the mountains may fall and the sky will crumble
/ There ain’t nothing gonna stand in our way.”
Don’t get me wrong, I love Chris Tomlin, and I have a lot of his albums. But I have to take a jab at the theology reflected here. Joshua found this out as he was doing a reconnaissance of the city of Jericho.
“When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, ‘Are you for us, or for our adversaries?’ And he said, ‘No; but I am the commander of the army of the Lord. Now I have come.’ And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped.” (Joshua 5:13-14, ESV)
Did you catch that? Joshua encountered the commander of the army of the Lord! Not knowing who He was, he asked the “either/or” question: “Are you for us or the enemy?” And the Lord’s response was, “No!” This is what Bible scholars refer to as a “preincarnate appearance” of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We know this is not just an angel because of what He said next to Joshua:
“And the commander of the Lord’s army said to Joshua, 'Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.‘ And Joshua did so.” (Joshua 5:15)
Sound familiar? Remember Moses approaching the burning bush? “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” (Exodus 3:5)
This is not an angel. Whenever an angel is offered worship, they always decline and direct the worship toward God. We see this in Revelation, where John, overwhelmed by a vision he had just seen, fell at the feet of an angel.
“Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, 'You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God.’” (Revelation 19:10)
Scripture tells us “God is for us” (Romans 8:31), but that’s only because we have received the gift of salvation through His Son. When we move to the realm of proclaiming “God is on my side,” we move to a self-centered approach. We think God exists to make us happy and we lose sight that we were created for Him, not the other way around.
Like Joshua, we often ask God “either/or” questions when the reality is God wants us to come stand on holy ground and receive His wisdom and direction as Joshua did.
“And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, ‘What does my lord say to his servant?’” (Joshua 5:14)
The next time I think about asking God an “either/or” question, I think I’ll first assume a position of worship and, like Joshua, ask, “What does my Lord say to His servant?”
What say ye, Man of Valor?Semper Fidelis!
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