God’s power and obedience

​Joshua 5: 13–15

13 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 us or for our enemies?” 14 “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[a] have for his servant?” 15 The commander of the Lord’s army replied, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.

​Uncertainty is one of the most complicated burdens to carry when you are trying to move forward without enough information, or when you do have information, but it only makes you realize how high the risk is. When you begin a new season, marriage, parenthood, a new job, a move, a diagnosis, a financial decision, or a new year, you can feel the reaction in different ways. Sometimes it is loud: anxiety, fear, sleeplessness. Sometimes it is quiet: procrastination, irritability, the subtle urge to control everything and everyone. Sometimes it is almost invisible: you keep moving, keep smiling, keep planning, but deep inside you are asking, “What if I’m wrong?” “What if I’m not enough?” “What if this fails?” Yet here is the surprising thing: uncertainty is not always a sign that we are out of God’s will. Often, uncertainty is the very place where God trains us to listen, to surrender, and to walk by faith rather than by sight.
 
This is where our Wesleyan story becomes more than history; it becomes pastoral guidance. John Wesley knew uncertainty intimately. Before his famous Aldersgate experience, he was busy, disciplined, religious, and inwardly unsettled. He had done ministry, crossed the Atlantic, tried to serve God with effort and structure, yet he wrestled with assurance. Then, on May 24, 1738, in a small gathering on Aldersgate Street, hearing Luther’s preface to Romans, Wesley wrote that he felt his heart “strangely warmed,” and that he did trust in Christ alone, receiving assurance. Notice the shape of that moment: Wesley did not conquer uncertainty by willpower. He did not solve it by controlling outcomes. He met God in surrender, and God met him with grace and assurance. That is holy ground.
 
That is exactly where Joshua stands in Joshua 5. Joshua is not standing in a classroom; he is standing near Jericho, a real city with real walls, real soldiers, real danger. Moses is gone. The responsibility of leadership is now on Joshua’s shoulders. Israel has crossed the Jordan, but they have not yet taken the land. Promise is in front of them, but so is conflict. This is the moment where the future feels close enough to touch, and frightening enough to shake you. Then the Bible says Joshua looks up: “He saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand.” (Joshua 5:13) This is one of those holy interruptions, when God steps into a human moment and changes the meaning of everything. Joshua’s first question is so honest, so human, so familiar: “Are you for our enemies?” In other words, “Where do you stand in my situation?” “Are you supporting my plan?” “Are you going to protect my people?” “Are you going to make this go the way I need it to go?”
 
But the answer Joshua receives is not the answer he expects: “Neither… but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.” (Joshua 5:14) That response is not cold. It is clarifying. God is not coming to become a tool in Joshua’s strategy.

God is coming to establish the only strategy that truly wins: the Lord is in command.  Here is the first big lesson for every uncertain season: God’s power is not something we recruit to bless our agenda; God’s power is something we experience when we surrender to His authority. So, Joshua immediately changes posture. The man with the drawn sword is not just “another figure.” Joshua falls facedown. He shifts from analysis to adoration, from planning to submission, from “God, are You on my side?” to the only question that matters now: “What message does my Lord have for his servant?”

This is what uncertainty is meant to produce in us, not panic, not paralysis, not control, but humility that says: “Lord, I don’t need to be in charge if You are here. Speak.” And then comes the instruction that echoes Moses at the burning bush: “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.” (Joshua 5:15) Think about how profound this is. Joshua is near a battlefield, not a sanctuary. He is near Jericho, not the tabernacle. But the Commander of the Lord’s army says, “This place is holy.” Why? Because God’s presence makes the ground holy. That means the place of your uncertainty can become holy ground too, the place where you don’t know what to do next can become holy ground, the place where the walls look too big can become holy ground. Not because you feel strong, but because God is present, and He is faithful.
 
Early Methodism itself was born as a movement of people choosing obedience in uncertain times. They organized class meetings, accountability, prayer, practical holiness, care for the poor, not because life was easy, but because they believed God’s grace forms steady disciples in unstable worlds. Even Canadian Methodist history carries this theme. In 1925, a major denominational change occurred when the Free Methodists in Canada developed their own Canadian identity and structure, and the denomination was incorporated in Canada (1925). Whatever one’s denominational angle, the spiritual lesson is consistent: God’s people have repeatedly faced unfamiliar futures, and the faithful way forward has never been “perfect certainty,” but obedient trust in God’s presence and leadership. What Joshua teaches us about the winning plan.

So how do we choose to move forward with God when we feel uncertain? Joshua 5:13–15 gives us a “winner plan,” and it is beautifully simple, not easy: 1) Follow Jesus, not your fear. Joshua’s first question was about sides. But God’s answer was about lordship. Many of our anxieties shrink when we stop asking, “How do I protect my plan?” and start asking, “Lord, how do I follow You today?” 2) Fear the Lord more than the walls. Jericho was real. The sword was real. The risk was real. But the greatest reality in the scene is the presence of God. Reverence puts our problems in their proper place. 3) Do His will, step by step, on holy ground.
 
God does not give Joshua a ten-year roadmap at that moment. He gives him a holy posture: sandals off, heart bowed, ears open. And that posture becomes the foundation for obedience. Because here is the promise you can preach with confidence: God’s goodness is not fragile, God’s faithfulness is not seasonal, God’s guidance does not disappear when our clarity does, when you stand in uncertainty, you are not standing in emptiness. If the Lord is present, you are standing on holy ground. So, the question today is not merely, “Do I have enough information?” The deeper question is: “Is my heart surrendered to the Commander?” That is the winning plan: Follow Jesus. Fear the Lord. Do His will. And you will find, again, that God is good, and God is faithful, and you can go forward even in the middle of uncertainty, because the battle belongs to the Lord.