The power and the glory - topical thoughts

Power is wielded by all sorts of people in all sorts of ways for all sorts of reasons in our world.

• The American people have exercised the power of their votes to send Barack Obama to the White House.
• The defeated John McCain has exercised his power as a politician and media figure to call his country to unite behind the President-elect.
• In DR Congo, government troops, rebels and UN Peacekeeping forces are all caught up in a power struggle, with disastrous consequences.

Closer to home, in a dramatic bid to kick-start our floundering economy, the Bank of England has exercised its power to cut interest rates. And a jury has exercised its power to judge Corporal Daniel James guilty of abusing the power entrusted to him in his role as a translator for a British General in Afghanistan by spying for Iran.

Whilst the exercise of power for good or ill in our world is always everywhere in the news, the all-powerful God revealed in the Bible is seemingly nowhere. Our culture shapers and storytellers just don’t ‘do God’.

The book of Joshua, however, does – and what a God it does! This week’s readings remind us that God has the power to control nature, sustain life, is sovereign over the land, establishes justice and acts mightily on behalf of his people.

This God is our God. He may not make the headlines, but according to the Bible, he continues to work out his purposes through history. As God’s people, we should view the affairs of this world and the events in our lives through the eyes of faith, alert to the reality of God’s involvement in all things.

Such was the perspective of Joshua, who prepared to relinquish his God-given power as Israel’s leader by renewing the covenant, calling them to unity and obedience to God, whose saving initiative defined their national history. This radical perspective is sorely needed in our times, suffering as we are from the consequences of our idolatrous pretensions to God’s throne.

Nigel Hopper

Follow Joshua this week at WordLive