We have talked before about the fact that there are consequences to our actions. These five kings ganged up on a weaker neighbour and God was not happy about that. God used Joshua to carry out his judgment on these five kings. Lets be clear about one thing, this is not the norm. In other places, God reminds us that he is the one who will judge and that we should leave revenge to him. However what we can learn from Joshua’s actions is that we should help the weak and defenceless. It’s right to help those who can not defend themselves at school. It’s right to defend countries that can not defend themselves. But in both cases, we had better understand our motives. If we choose one side to help at school, because we dislike the other side, then we have missed the point. If we help one country because we have something to gain, whilst we ignore other countries, then once again we have missed the point. It’s tough to be consistent in our actions but that is what we must try to do, when we are defending the weak. We must also be clever about the way we defend them. We probably don’t need to charge in and start punching the bullies at school. In the same way, war must be our last choice, when defending other countries. Comparing war to bullies at school might seem a bit daft, but if you and I can work out how God would have us deal with bullies at school, then maybe as we grow we will also manage bullying countries better too.
