Hailstones and Hornets.

March 23, 2018

Hailstones and Hornets.

My newest interest is all the stories I never heard in Sunday School. The ones that somehow got lost among lists of lands, peoples, names, and wars, and places of refuge. The ones that are absolutely nuts, but often skimmed over. There's so much more to be found, and I don't want to miss out. I almost did recently, and now they might just be my favorites. Sometimes all we get is a sentence, or at other times a whole 9 verses in Joshua 10. Oh how I wished the writers of the time would have given more detail, I wonder though if somehow at that time they didn't think it necessary, not that it wasn't important, but that it was yet another act of God, and an 'of course He did that' statement. Maybe they actually wrote with less detail because of their faith, they didn't need details. I want details, but perhaps to them it seemed reasonable? Normal? How crazy is that. I want to have a faith that never grows used to the mighty acts of God, but expects them as normal.

Both of these stories, I practically read over without a thought and then realized what I just read and had to go back and read it all over again. Guys. Guys! We serve a God that chooses to defeat armies with hailstones and hornets. I can't make this stuff up! And I think that that's just the point. I was recently encouraged to pray for things in a way that when they happen, you know that only God could have done it. No other reasonable explanation. Only God. And only God sent armies running with bees, and only God could cause hail stones to kill more than valiant warriors could manage.

You ready for this? It's absolutely ridiculous. It's the kind of stuff that just makes you want to belly laugh. What even.

"As they fled from before Israel, while they were at the descent of Beth-horon, the LORD threw large stones from heaven on them as far as Azekah, and they died; there were more who died from the hailstones than those whom the sons of Israel killed with the sword."

I just don't even know how to follow that up. And I was thinking, well maybe Israel didn't kill that many people that day...you're right they didn't, because God did, with hail. It tells you a few verses previous that Joshua didn't mess around, "So Joshua went up from Gilgal, he and all the people of war with him and all the valiant warriors." It gets better. Five kings and all their armies fought against them that day. Just dropped dead from stones falling from heaven. No big deal.

I won't mention that directly after this Joshua proceeds to ask for the sun and moon to stay where they are. So that they could avenge their enemies. The sun didn't go down. For a whole day.

And then it just gets down-right funny.

In the last book of Joshua, when Israel's history is being reviewed, it seems slipped in as a passing comment, a side note, it simply says this:

"Then I sent the hornet before you and it drove out the two kings of the Amorites from before you, but not by your sword or your bow."

I wouldn't have wanted to be those people. So why did you flee in battle? Well, we were driven out by hornets. Not by the enemies swords or bows, but we ran away because we couldn't handle the bees. And that's the kind of stuff that God does, folks. The God of hailstones and hornets. These are the stories my kids will be hearing about. And there's a lifetime to accumulate more like them. Keep seeking out the things that only God can do. He's waiting to use you too. And I'll be waiting to share all the details.