The Last Battle:
The Northern Campaign of Canaan
Joshua 11
Good morning. I invite you to turn with me in your bibles to Joshua 11. Today we are going to finish the conquest of Canaan. We’ve only been involved in this war for about 4 months, so to speak. We started this series back in April. So it probably has felt like this conquest has gone pretty fast. And, as I mentioned last week, it reads so quickly. But the truth is, these wars lasted at least 5 years, if not more.
How do I know that? One reason is that over in chapter 14 Caleb talks about his age. He says that he was 40 years old when he first came to spy out the land. And then he says, “Here I am today, 85 years old, and I am still as strong as the day Moses sent me out.”
So obviously, if you take at least 40 years in the wilderness that puts him at 80 years old when he begins the conquest. That leaves you with 5 years. There could be more because it talks about how Caleb goes on to fight more battles against the Anakim to take possession of his inheritance. (Can you imagine this old man still strong, swinging his sword?).
I mention all this because our text today is going to say that the wars lasted a long time. And it helps you to get some perspective on the timeline and how long things did take.
But as we look to our text today we are going to conduct the Northern Campaign. We are going to circle back from the south and bring the remaining land into subjection. And we have here a rather wild story of how that came about. So let’s give our attention to God’s holy and inspired Word.
[Read Joshua 11]
Introduction:
Today we come to the last battle, so to speak. We are at the end of the conquest. This northern territory is the final section of the land. And we find ourselves facing the largest opponent. The book of Joshua has been nothing more than an ongoing crescendo of wars to this point. As we have progressed through the book we have met with greater opposition each time.
You may remember the people of Jericho were basically cowering in their homes. It was one city easily taken. Then we met with the people of Ai who came out to fight. They at least put up some resistance. Then we went into the Southern territory and met with an alliance of kings and their hostilities.
Now, as we march out from Gilgal to the north, we meet with the most daunting forces yet. I would assume that many of you do not know much about this chapter of Scripture. We know a lot about Jericho. Ai is a rather common story. But It’s likely that this battle is a little less known. If you have any knowledge of it, it is probably a little fuzzy. But yet, it is the biggest battle; it would be the most intimidating of all foes up to this point.
John Calvin points out that God usually prepares us for the big things in life this way. God starts with small things and gives you endurance and strengthens you little by little to take on the harder things in life. The Lord doesn’t just throw you into the deep end, so to speak. But by His wisdom and grace he gives you smaller challenges to help create deeper faith in you.
But this morning, as we come to study the Battle of Merom, we want to really get the feel for the battle. We want to understand what God has said. And to do so, you have to grasp that this is, you might say, the Armageddon of the Canaanite wars. This is the Battle of Battles for Joshua and his army. And we should feel the sheer size and power of this foe—and, in doing so, we should feel the real sense of victory that the Lord gives.
This morning we are going to look at just a portion of this battle. We’re going to take in three points. The first thing I want you to see is the advantage they had.
I. The advantage they had [1-6a]
Did you notice that there was unfair advantage? I mean these Canaanites came out with everything they had. They had an alliance which was even greater than the one that they had formed in the southern region. They gathered from every part of the northern territory. From the lowlands and the highlands. They came from the east and the west. There were Canaanites, Jesubutes, Hivites, Amorites—every possible kind of ite you can imagine. It was like they came crawling out of the woodwork.
The Scripture says that it was a great horde, the number of which was like the sand on the seashore. I mean Joshua could not even begin to count how many people there were. If you’ve seen the Lord of the Rings movies, you may have an idea here. You might recall the scenes where there are what seems to be seas of orcs advancing against the strongholds.
Not only do they have overwhelming numbers, but they had more sophisticated technology. Verse 4 says that they had man horses and chariots; these would be comparable to tanks in our day. The cavalry and the armament of chariots would have been tremendous in comparison to Israelite foot soldiers with their swords, bows, and spears.
Imagine what this would be like. This would be like you taking a little single shot rifle up against a German Panzer. Imagine that thing coming rolling at you as you try to take your ball and load your rifle. Can you imagine the sound of the galloping of all these horses as the charged into battle. It would have been thunderous.
Then you have to also add on top of the horses and the chariots and the masses of people the fact that there were the Anakim. These were human tanks. Scripture tells us that these people were giants. You have to think in terms of men like Goliath. If you remember back before the wilderness wondering, Moses commanded 12 men to go in and spy out the land. And they saw these Anakim and they came back and said that they were grasshoppers in comparison. Imagine trying to fight a someone who was a good 3-4 feet taller than you and who were mammoth like in terms of their strength.
So you have incredible numbers, sophisticated technology, and elite warrior giants…and you have to feel so bad for these poor Canaanites; they didn’t stand a chance. It was so unfair. This pitiful bunch was going up against Joshua who was armed with the powerful promises of God.
Right there in verse 6, “The Lord said to Joshua, ‘Do not be afraid of them, for tomorrow at this time I will give over all of them, slain, to Israel.”
That was the advantage. That is what made the battle completely lopsided. Those Canaanites could have brought bazookas and Hellfire missiles and Apache helicopters. You could have armed them to the teeth and it would not have mattered. Because Joshua had an unfair advantage. God had given him a promise that the gates of hell would not prevail. He had a promise from a God who cannot lie.
The promises of God are unassailable, unmovable, and unbreakable. And not even a horde of angry demons can stand a chance against them.
I want to ask you, do you see the promises of God this way? Do you see them as that resilient and that reliable? Do you really recognize how firm and how true and how trustworthy the promises of God really are?
Well, I don’t know if I’m truly saved or not: What does the Scripture say? “Anyone who calls upon the name of the Lord WILL BE SAVED.” “He who believes in me though he die, yet SHALL HE LIVE.”
Let me ask you this: What will separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or famine, or persecution or distress or danger or sword? I tell you, “No, for we are more than conquerors.” Not even death or life, angels or principalities, nor any powers or anything else in all creation!
Why is it that we are inseparable from the love of God in Christ? It’s because he’s given us a promise. In Christ that promise is sealed up tightly with the blood of Jesus Christ. To say it is guaranteed is not to speak emphatically enough about how secure you ought to be about your salvation. Nothing can break or damage what God has promised.
I don’t know that people recognize how advantageous it is to have the promises of God. God has promised to crush the head of Satan. That should send shivers up your spine and embolden you to pray “Thy Kingdom Come!” God my workplace needs to know Jesus, my community needs revival.
What do the promises do to you when you are unemployed? Does God’s promise to never leave you nor forsake you really impact the way you think while you’re without an income? If you’re like most people, you’ll be strung out. But you have the sworn promise of God.
Do you recognize you have an unfair advantage over this world? The dominion of Satan, no matter how ugly, proud, or overbearing it may seem, has nothing on you. For God has spoken. And you can take your little single shot rifle and march out confidently.
When we read of the advantage they had in these first six verses we should be confident.
The second point I want to highlight is also found in verse 6. It is the second half of that verse on down to verse 9. And what I want you to notice here is the purge they made.
II. The purge they made [6b-9]
After God made his promise he said, “I want you to hamstring their horses and burn their chariots with fire.” And that’s exactly what they did. Verse 7 tells us that the battle ensued. Joshua pounced upon the Canaanites in a preemptive attack and took them by surprise. And the Lord gave them into their hand. Then in verse 9 we are told that Joshua went and hamstrung their horses and burned their chariots with fire.
What does it mean to hamstring a horse? It is when you cut the tendon on their leg and essentially sever the muscle. When you do that you completely debilitate the horse, and it becomes useless as a war machine.
I had something of this this past week. At our workout we had to run some sprints. I haven’t run sprints for a very long time. So my hamstring in my one leg was pretty sore. So when I went to play soccer with Tuman’s team, I was pretty embarrassed because there was one little guy who has never played soccer before. He came up and kicked the ball away from me in a little game we were playing. I couldn’t run and do any tricks with the ball like I normally can because I’d been crippled to some degree.
That’s kind of what Joshua did to these horses. And I want you to understand that this was nothing other than a purge. God did not want his people to keep these machines of war. He did not want them to take these horses and start building their own cavalry. He wanted them all gone. Just burn them up and get rid of them.
Now, that may seem rather silly. Doesn’t it make more sense to keep them? I mean, you could further ensure the military prowess of your army if you confiscate these things for your own. Imagine how powerful you’d be if you add to the promise of God the mighty horse and the indomitable chariot.
But that’s just it. God wants you to rely upon Him and Him alone. His means of gaining victory and bringing life are powerful enough. You saw what they did to these chariots and horses. Isn’t that a testimony enough that He’s able to use the feeble tools at His disposal. You don’t have to put your trust in horses or chariots or whatever other fancy, technologically advanced thing comes along.
That’s why later on in the Bible God would say that kings should not accumulate horses. He didn’t want them building up a military industrial complex. He wanted them to always remember that they do not need these fancy things to accomplish God’s purposes in this world. His ordinary means, no matter how small and feeble they may seem in comparison, are sufficient to accomplish all that He desires.
It seems foolish, but that’s the way God works. He uses the foolish and the weak things of the world.
I like how Joe Morecraft, in his sermon, ties this to the preaching of God’s word. He refers to the world of education. In the world of education you know how they say that lectures are the absolute worst way to educate people. What you need is hands on learning and interactive studies. People retain less and are much less likely to gain any real profit from someone who just stands up in front and talks at you. If you really want to get people to have a serious base of knowledge and mastery then you need to have them do projects and group discussions and create dioramas and incorporate videos and you name it. The last thing you want to do is have someone preach at you or catechize you.
But the thing that is the most foolish to man is the thing that God deems to be the most important. He says this is the way I want to be known: it’s through the ministry of the Word. I want it read and I want it to be proclaimed. I don’t care what the new and sophisticated thing is in the world of education. You can say that it is outdated, but what I want is the good old fashioned single fire rifle of Bible proclamation.
The last thing that I want you to notice in our passage is the strategy they used.
III. The strategy they used [10-15]
Joshua’s strategy is laid out in verses 10-15. There are a number of things said there, but you’ll notice what is repeated. In verse 12 it says that Joshua did all this “just as Moses the servant of the Lord commanded.”
Then it is basically repeated in verse 15: Just as the LORD had commanded Moses his servant, so Moses commanded Joshua, and so Joshua did. He left nothing undone of all that the LORD had commanded Moses.
Joshua’s whole strategy can be summed up in this one thing: He was obedient to what God had revealed. Why was he so successful? It’s because he put his faith in God and sought to be faithful to what the Lord had commanded. There wasn’t one bit of humanism or human thought that guided him. He just obeyed the Lord.
Now, just think about it. Earlier in the book we saw how the Gibeonites had become their slaves. They had free wood cutting and all the water that their new servants could haul. That had to be a pretty nice luxury. I mean how would you like someone to stock pile your wood for the winter and do your laundry? That’s a nice perk.
And Joshua could have said, “You know, there’s a lot of labor here to be had.” Why shed all this blood when we can make use of some of these guys and make them slaves? That was the common practice and it still is. When you defeat an enemy you rub it in their faces by making them your servants.
But Joshua didn’t let that kind of thought control him. He wasn’t going to let his own thoughts or intentions guide him. He was simply going to let God’s word rule over his military strategy and in all he did. And that’s why he was successful.
That’s the strategy you and I are to have too. We are not involved in battles that use swords and spears, but we have battles that we’re fighting every day. We have cranky co-workers and obstinate children and all kinds of things that we are trying to accomplish. The question is, how are you going to get any kind of success?
One pastor gave the illustration of being married to an unbelieving husband. He said he’s counseled women time and time again on the subject. He will take those ladies through 1 Peter 3 and he’ll say, “This is how God says you’ll win your husband.” And he says that they come back a week later and say, “I did that and it’s not working. What else you got?” And his counsel is always the same, “Go do it again."
What other kind of strategy is really going to win it than seeking to demonstrate the meekness and quietness that the Lord lays out there?
Or think about it like this: How is it that you can get along with a crank of a person? Let’s say your brother rolls out on the wrong side of the bed in the morning. He comes down the stairs with a cloud hanging over his head. You can tell the storm is just brewing. And sure enough, it doesn’t take long for him to start snapping at you. He’s just all kinds of angry and it seems that he’s got it out for everyone, especially you.
How do you deal with that? Should you take the tit for tat approach? He calls you a name, so you call him a name? He smacks you, so you smack him back? That’s the approach we normally take. That’s the one that is natural for us. We want that revenge. We want that satisfaction of burning him as bad as he’s burned us, right?
But what’s going to be the payoff? It’s only going to make things worse, isn’t it? He’s just going to get more angry and become more hostile, isn’t he? That isn’t going to solve anything. That strategy isn’t God’s strategy.
What does God say? He says, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” He says, “Go away from the angry man.” Scoot to the other room if you can. Don’t hang out there. If it’s possible, get some space. That way you won’t end up with the shrapnel hitting you when he explodes. And if you can’t get away, “overcome that evil with good.” Instead of seeking revenge, show kindness and be tenderhearted towards him.
The strategy for success and for gaining victory in all of life’s battles is laid out right here in His word. If you follow the pattern of sound words, then you are most likely to see good things abound from that.
How do I know that? One reason is that over in chapter 14 Caleb talks about his age. He says that he was 40 years old when he first came to spy out the land. And then he says, “Here I am today, 85 years old, and I am still as strong as the day Moses sent me out.”
So obviously, if you take at least 40 years in the wilderness that puts him at 80 years old when he begins the conquest. That leaves you with 5 years. There could be more because it talks about how Caleb goes on to fight more battles against the Anakim to take possession of his inheritance. (Can you imagine this old man still strong, swinging his sword?).
I mention all this because our text today is going to say that the wars lasted a long time. And it helps you to get some perspective on the timeline and how long things did take.
But as we look to our text today we are going to conduct the Northern Campaign. We are going to circle back from the south and bring the remaining land into subjection. And we have here a rather wild story of how that came about. So let’s give our attention to God’s holy and inspired Word.
[Read Joshua 11]
Introduction:
Today we come to the last battle, so to speak. We are at the end of the conquest. This northern territory is the final section of the land. And we find ourselves facing the largest opponent. The book of Joshua has been nothing more than an ongoing crescendo of wars to this point. As we have progressed through the book we have met with greater opposition each time.
You may remember the people of Jericho were basically cowering in their homes. It was one city easily taken. Then we met with the people of Ai who came out to fight. They at least put up some resistance. Then we went into the Southern territory and met with an alliance of kings and their hostilities.
Now, as we march out from Gilgal to the north, we meet with the most daunting forces yet. I would assume that many of you do not know much about this chapter of Scripture. We know a lot about Jericho. Ai is a rather common story. But It’s likely that this battle is a little less known. If you have any knowledge of it, it is probably a little fuzzy. But yet, it is the biggest battle; it would be the most intimidating of all foes up to this point.
John Calvin points out that God usually prepares us for the big things in life this way. God starts with small things and gives you endurance and strengthens you little by little to take on the harder things in life. The Lord doesn’t just throw you into the deep end, so to speak. But by His wisdom and grace he gives you smaller challenges to help create deeper faith in you.
But this morning, as we come to study the Battle of Merom, we want to really get the feel for the battle. We want to understand what God has said. And to do so, you have to grasp that this is, you might say, the Armageddon of the Canaanite wars. This is the Battle of Battles for Joshua and his army. And we should feel the sheer size and power of this foe—and, in doing so, we should feel the real sense of victory that the Lord gives.
This morning we are going to look at just a portion of this battle. We’re going to take in three points. The first thing I want you to see is the advantage they had.
I. The advantage they had [1-6a]
Did you notice that there was unfair advantage? I mean these Canaanites came out with everything they had. They had an alliance which was even greater than the one that they had formed in the southern region. They gathered from every part of the northern territory. From the lowlands and the highlands. They came from the east and the west. There were Canaanites, Jesubutes, Hivites, Amorites—every possible kind of ite you can imagine. It was like they came crawling out of the woodwork.
The Scripture says that it was a great horde, the number of which was like the sand on the seashore. I mean Joshua could not even begin to count how many people there were. If you’ve seen the Lord of the Rings movies, you may have an idea here. You might recall the scenes where there are what seems to be seas of orcs advancing against the strongholds.
Not only do they have overwhelming numbers, but they had more sophisticated technology. Verse 4 says that they had man horses and chariots; these would be comparable to tanks in our day. The cavalry and the armament of chariots would have been tremendous in comparison to Israelite foot soldiers with their swords, bows, and spears.
Imagine what this would be like. This would be like you taking a little single shot rifle up against a German Panzer. Imagine that thing coming rolling at you as you try to take your ball and load your rifle. Can you imagine the sound of the galloping of all these horses as the charged into battle. It would have been thunderous.
Then you have to also add on top of the horses and the chariots and the masses of people the fact that there were the Anakim. These were human tanks. Scripture tells us that these people were giants. You have to think in terms of men like Goliath. If you remember back before the wilderness wondering, Moses commanded 12 men to go in and spy out the land. And they saw these Anakim and they came back and said that they were grasshoppers in comparison. Imagine trying to fight a someone who was a good 3-4 feet taller than you and who were mammoth like in terms of their strength.
So you have incredible numbers, sophisticated technology, and elite warrior giants…and you have to feel so bad for these poor Canaanites; they didn’t stand a chance. It was so unfair. This pitiful bunch was going up against Joshua who was armed with the powerful promises of God.
Right there in verse 6, “The Lord said to Joshua, ‘Do not be afraid of them, for tomorrow at this time I will give over all of them, slain, to Israel.”
That was the advantage. That is what made the battle completely lopsided. Those Canaanites could have brought bazookas and Hellfire missiles and Apache helicopters. You could have armed them to the teeth and it would not have mattered. Because Joshua had an unfair advantage. God had given him a promise that the gates of hell would not prevail. He had a promise from a God who cannot lie.
The promises of God are unassailable, unmovable, and unbreakable. And not even a horde of angry demons can stand a chance against them.
I want to ask you, do you see the promises of God this way? Do you see them as that resilient and that reliable? Do you really recognize how firm and how true and how trustworthy the promises of God really are?
Well, I don’t know if I’m truly saved or not: What does the Scripture say? “Anyone who calls upon the name of the Lord WILL BE SAVED.” “He who believes in me though he die, yet SHALL HE LIVE.”
Let me ask you this: What will separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or famine, or persecution or distress or danger or sword? I tell you, “No, for we are more than conquerors.” Not even death or life, angels or principalities, nor any powers or anything else in all creation!
Why is it that we are inseparable from the love of God in Christ? It’s because he’s given us a promise. In Christ that promise is sealed up tightly with the blood of Jesus Christ. To say it is guaranteed is not to speak emphatically enough about how secure you ought to be about your salvation. Nothing can break or damage what God has promised.
I don’t know that people recognize how advantageous it is to have the promises of God. God has promised to crush the head of Satan. That should send shivers up your spine and embolden you to pray “Thy Kingdom Come!” God my workplace needs to know Jesus, my community needs revival.
What do the promises do to you when you are unemployed? Does God’s promise to never leave you nor forsake you really impact the way you think while you’re without an income? If you’re like most people, you’ll be strung out. But you have the sworn promise of God.
Do you recognize you have an unfair advantage over this world? The dominion of Satan, no matter how ugly, proud, or overbearing it may seem, has nothing on you. For God has spoken. And you can take your little single shot rifle and march out confidently.
When we read of the advantage they had in these first six verses we should be confident.
The second point I want to highlight is also found in verse 6. It is the second half of that verse on down to verse 9. And what I want you to notice here is the purge they made.
II. The purge they made [6b-9]
After God made his promise he said, “I want you to hamstring their horses and burn their chariots with fire.” And that’s exactly what they did. Verse 7 tells us that the battle ensued. Joshua pounced upon the Canaanites in a preemptive attack and took them by surprise. And the Lord gave them into their hand. Then in verse 9 we are told that Joshua went and hamstrung their horses and burned their chariots with fire.
What does it mean to hamstring a horse? It is when you cut the tendon on their leg and essentially sever the muscle. When you do that you completely debilitate the horse, and it becomes useless as a war machine.
I had something of this this past week. At our workout we had to run some sprints. I haven’t run sprints for a very long time. So my hamstring in my one leg was pretty sore. So when I went to play soccer with Tuman’s team, I was pretty embarrassed because there was one little guy who has never played soccer before. He came up and kicked the ball away from me in a little game we were playing. I couldn’t run and do any tricks with the ball like I normally can because I’d been crippled to some degree.
That’s kind of what Joshua did to these horses. And I want you to understand that this was nothing other than a purge. God did not want his people to keep these machines of war. He did not want them to take these horses and start building their own cavalry. He wanted them all gone. Just burn them up and get rid of them.
Now, that may seem rather silly. Doesn’t it make more sense to keep them? I mean, you could further ensure the military prowess of your army if you confiscate these things for your own. Imagine how powerful you’d be if you add to the promise of God the mighty horse and the indomitable chariot.
But that’s just it. God wants you to rely upon Him and Him alone. His means of gaining victory and bringing life are powerful enough. You saw what they did to these chariots and horses. Isn’t that a testimony enough that He’s able to use the feeble tools at His disposal. You don’t have to put your trust in horses or chariots or whatever other fancy, technologically advanced thing comes along.
That’s why later on in the Bible God would say that kings should not accumulate horses. He didn’t want them building up a military industrial complex. He wanted them to always remember that they do not need these fancy things to accomplish God’s purposes in this world. His ordinary means, no matter how small and feeble they may seem in comparison, are sufficient to accomplish all that He desires.
It seems foolish, but that’s the way God works. He uses the foolish and the weak things of the world.
I like how Joe Morecraft, in his sermon, ties this to the preaching of God’s word. He refers to the world of education. In the world of education you know how they say that lectures are the absolute worst way to educate people. What you need is hands on learning and interactive studies. People retain less and are much less likely to gain any real profit from someone who just stands up in front and talks at you. If you really want to get people to have a serious base of knowledge and mastery then you need to have them do projects and group discussions and create dioramas and incorporate videos and you name it. The last thing you want to do is have someone preach at you or catechize you.
But the thing that is the most foolish to man is the thing that God deems to be the most important. He says this is the way I want to be known: it’s through the ministry of the Word. I want it read and I want it to be proclaimed. I don’t care what the new and sophisticated thing is in the world of education. You can say that it is outdated, but what I want is the good old fashioned single fire rifle of Bible proclamation.
The last thing that I want you to notice in our passage is the strategy they used.
III. The strategy they used [10-15]
Joshua’s strategy is laid out in verses 10-15. There are a number of things said there, but you’ll notice what is repeated. In verse 12 it says that Joshua did all this “just as Moses the servant of the Lord commanded.”
Then it is basically repeated in verse 15: Just as the LORD had commanded Moses his servant, so Moses commanded Joshua, and so Joshua did. He left nothing undone of all that the LORD had commanded Moses.
Joshua’s whole strategy can be summed up in this one thing: He was obedient to what God had revealed. Why was he so successful? It’s because he put his faith in God and sought to be faithful to what the Lord had commanded. There wasn’t one bit of humanism or human thought that guided him. He just obeyed the Lord.
Now, just think about it. Earlier in the book we saw how the Gibeonites had become their slaves. They had free wood cutting and all the water that their new servants could haul. That had to be a pretty nice luxury. I mean how would you like someone to stock pile your wood for the winter and do your laundry? That’s a nice perk.
And Joshua could have said, “You know, there’s a lot of labor here to be had.” Why shed all this blood when we can make use of some of these guys and make them slaves? That was the common practice and it still is. When you defeat an enemy you rub it in their faces by making them your servants.
But Joshua didn’t let that kind of thought control him. He wasn’t going to let his own thoughts or intentions guide him. He was simply going to let God’s word rule over his military strategy and in all he did. And that’s why he was successful.
That’s the strategy you and I are to have too. We are not involved in battles that use swords and spears, but we have battles that we’re fighting every day. We have cranky co-workers and obstinate children and all kinds of things that we are trying to accomplish. The question is, how are you going to get any kind of success?
One pastor gave the illustration of being married to an unbelieving husband. He said he’s counseled women time and time again on the subject. He will take those ladies through 1 Peter 3 and he’ll say, “This is how God says you’ll win your husband.” And he says that they come back a week later and say, “I did that and it’s not working. What else you got?” And his counsel is always the same, “Go do it again."
What other kind of strategy is really going to win it than seeking to demonstrate the meekness and quietness that the Lord lays out there?
Or think about it like this: How is it that you can get along with a crank of a person? Let’s say your brother rolls out on the wrong side of the bed in the morning. He comes down the stairs with a cloud hanging over his head. You can tell the storm is just brewing. And sure enough, it doesn’t take long for him to start snapping at you. He’s just all kinds of angry and it seems that he’s got it out for everyone, especially you.
How do you deal with that? Should you take the tit for tat approach? He calls you a name, so you call him a name? He smacks you, so you smack him back? That’s the approach we normally take. That’s the one that is natural for us. We want that revenge. We want that satisfaction of burning him as bad as he’s burned us, right?
But what’s going to be the payoff? It’s only going to make things worse, isn’t it? He’s just going to get more angry and become more hostile, isn’t he? That isn’t going to solve anything. That strategy isn’t God’s strategy.
What does God say? He says, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” He says, “Go away from the angry man.” Scoot to the other room if you can. Don’t hang out there. If it’s possible, get some space. That way you won’t end up with the shrapnel hitting you when he explodes. And if you can’t get away, “overcome that evil with good.” Instead of seeking revenge, show kindness and be tenderhearted towards him.
The strategy for success and for gaining victory in all of life’s battles is laid out right here in His word. If you follow the pattern of sound words, then you are most likely to see good things abound from that.