God, I Need More Time: Boldly Praying the Big Prayers


Joshua 10:1-15
1As soon as Adoni-zedek, king of Jerusalem, heard how Joshua had captured Ai and had devoted it to destruction, doing to Ai and its king as he had done to Jericho and its king, and how the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel and were among them, 2 he feared greatly, because Gibeon was a great city, like one of the royal cities, and because it was greater than Ai, and all its men were warriors. 3 So Adoni-zedek king of Jerusalem sent to Hoham king of Hebron, to Piram king of Jarmuth, to Japhia king of Lachish, and to Debir king of Eglon, saying, 4 “Come up to me and help me, and let us strike Gibeon. For it has made peace with Joshua and with the people of Israel.” 5 Then the five kings of the Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon, gathered their forces and went up with all their armies and encamped against Gibeon and made war against it. 6 And the men of Gibeon sent to Joshua at the camp in Gilgal, saying, “Do not relax your hand from your servants. Come up to us quickly and save us and help us, for all the kings of the Amorites who dwell in the hill country are gathered against us.” 7 So Joshua went up from Gilgal, he and all the people of war with him, and all the mighty men of valor. 8 And the Lord said to Joshua, “Do not fear them, for I have given them into your hands. Not a man of them shall stand before you.” 9 So Joshua came upon them suddenly, having marched up all night from Gilgal. 10 And the Lord threw them into a panic before Israel, who struck them with a great blow at Gibeon and chased them by the way of the ascent of Beth-horon and struck them as far as Azekah and Makkedah. 11 And as they fled before Israel, while they were going down the ascent of Beth-horon, the Lord threw down large stones from heaven on them as far as Azekah, and they died. There were more who died because of the hailstones than the sons of Israel killed with the sword. 12 At that time Joshua spoke to the Lord in the day when the Lord gave the Amorites over to the sons of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, “Sun, stand still at Gibeon, and moon, in the Valley of Aijalon.” 13And the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, until the nation took vengeance on their enemies. Is this not written in the Book of Jashar? The sun stopped in the midst of heaven and did not hurry to set for about a whole day. 14 There has been no day like it before or since, when the Lord heeded the voice of a man, for the Lord fought for Israel. 15 So Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to the camp at Gilgal.

Any student of the Bible can tell you story after story of miraculous events; the Creation, the global Flood, a man swallowed by a great fish, the resurrection of Jesus from the grave. And among those stories is this one from Joshua, where the sun stands still for an additional day. The God who created the entire universe and set it in motion chose to bring all of that to a standstill for 24 hours because one man asked it of Him. This miracle doesn’t receive much attention from Bible students – but it should.

There are several things going on in this story. First, the kings of the region look at the Gibeonites and see a people who have aligned themselves with God’s people. So, these 5 kings gather together and decide to marshal their forces to go against Israel and her new ally, the Gibeonites. Rather than attack Israel outright, which they know would be foolish, they go after the Gibeonites instead. While the treaty with Gibeah may have been without God’s consent, Joshua honors that treaty and gathers his forces to help their new neighbors. It is safe to equate Gibeah with the prostitute, Rahab, from Jericho who joined with Israel. Gibeah is now a part of Israel and as such, deserves God’s protection.

We find God’s support of all these actions as He engages in the battle with great effect. He sends hailstones – huge, dangerous hailstones, such as were seen in Egypt 40 years earlier during the plagues.

Hailstones come “from the heavens”, showing that this act of salvation is from the hand of God alone. By hurling the stones himself, the Lord demonstrates that he considers the Gibeonites to have been incorporated into his redeemed covenant people. Again, human sin does not prevent God from displaying his grace and accomplishing his salvation. Despite the Gibeonites’ deception, the Lord still saves them, just as Rahab and her family were saved through faith even though she deceived the men sent by the king of Jericho.
Harstad, A. L. ©2004. Joshua (p. 415). Saint Louis, MO: Concordia Pub. House.

These hailstones decimate the attacking armies of the five kings and then Israel marches in to finish the job. During that battle, Joshua sees the need for more daylight than a normal day would provide and prays a bold prayer. He asks God to stop the sun in the sky, providing the Israelite army with the light they need to finish the job. Now when I say “bold prayer” we need to really think about what Joshua is asking. With what we know about the operation of our universe you have to admit – this is a huge request. And God does it!

God’s power had been so ordered that the sun retained its course and motion; but when Joshua prayed in his distress and commanded the sun to stand still, the sun stood still at Joshua’s word. Ask the astronomers how great a miracle this is! But what is the reason? No other than that God does the will of those who fear Him and subordinates His will to ours, provided we continue to fear Him. … This is God’s ordered power, not His secret power. For God does not want to rule us in accordance with His secret will; He wants to do so in accordance with His will as it has been ordered and revealed by the Word. … And in Scripture there are more evidences of this kind; they prove that God allows Himself to be prevailed upon and subordinates His will to ours. Why, then, are we so remiss in regard to prayer? Why are we without faith to such an extent and so fainthearted, as though our prayer amounted to nothing?
(Luther, Martin. AE 3:289)

This is a common theme among preachers – being willing to pray the bold prayer. But there is reason to preach about this because we rarely pray the bold prayer. We rarely ask God for the big stuff. I think there are many reasons for that, and most of them are most likely situational. But in the end, I think we’re afraid to ask God for big things because He might say “no”. I think Joshua was prepared for a “no” but expected a “yes”. That’s an interesting dichotomy and one that requires some meditation time. Is God big enough to act upon your really bold prayers? Is your faith great enough to accept His answer?

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