Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. Psalm 20:7. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete. John 16:24.

They came out with all their troops and a large number of horses and chariots – a huge army, as numerous as the sand on the seashore. All these kings joined forces and made camp together at the Waters of Mormon to fight against Israel. Joshua 11:4-5.

The final battles. The commentary below said it took 7 years for the whole land of Canaan to be conquered. Now they face a formidable army and what does God tell them? The Lord said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid of them, because by this time tomorrow I will hand all of them, slain, over to Israel.” v. 6.

Some trust in chariots and some in horses…what do we trust in? Fast forward to Jesus’s time on earth. The land is no longer Israel’s. The people are under Roman occupation. Jesus does a remarkable thing. He talks with a Samaritan woman at a well and asks for a drink of water. Remember Israel expects a Messiah to conquer non- Israelites and elevate them as conquerors once again. The woman is naturally skeptical of a Jew speaking with not only a Samaritan but a woman. Jesus broke all the rules! She asked how he could ask her for a drink. Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water…Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” John 4:10, 13-14.

All of these different verses swirled through my mind as I read Joshua 11. Horses and chariots…gathered at the Waters of Mormon…if you knew the gift of God…

“Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know, we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming when the true worshippers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshippers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” The woman said, “ I know that Messiah (called Christ) is coming. When he comes he will explain everything to us.” Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you – I am he.” John 4:21-26.

Do we comprehend when we read Scripture that God is concerned with all people? One day all will worship God in the Spirit and in truth. Those armies with their strength of numbers, their war horses and chariots would not have understood, Israel fresh from the Lord’s work in them would not have understood, the Samaritan woman moments before her conversation with Jesus would not have understood…afterward, she ran to tell others.

Fast forward to today. Do we believe what Jesus said about the Kingdom of God he described? Do we trust God to make it so by His great love? Do we trust the One who knows to guide our hearts? It’s personal. Ask in His name and He will give you the living waters of His love for you and His love will begin to do its powerful work of faith and hope. With His love in us we will begin to understand how important love is; love for God and love for one another. It’s so hard to understand that kind of love today just as it would have been hard in any age past. Ask and receive and your joy will be complete.