Joshua’s Conquest of Southern Palestine
29 Then Joshua and all Israel with him passed on from Makkedah to Libnah, and fought against Libnah. 30 The Lord gave it also with its king into the hands of Israel, and he struck it and every person who was in it with the edge of the sword. He left no survivor in it. Thus he did to its king just as he had done to the king of Jericho.
31 And Joshua and all Israel with him passed on from Libnah to Lachish, and they camped by it and fought against it. 32 The Lord gave Lachish into the hands of Israel; and he captured it on the second day, and struck it and every person who was in it with the edge of the sword, according to all that he had done to Libnah.
33 Then Horam king of Gezer came up to help Lachish, and Joshua [r]defeated him and his people until he had left him no survivor.
34 And Joshua and all Israel with him passed on from Lachish to Eglon, and they camped by it and fought against it. 35 They captured it on that day and struck it with the edge of the sword; and he [s]utterly destroyed that day every person who was in it, according to all that he had done to Lachish.
36 Then Joshua and all Israel with him went up from Eglon to Hebron, and they fought against it. 37 They captured it and struck it and its king and all its cities and all the persons who were in it with the edge of the sword. He left no survivor, according to all that he had done to Eglon. And he [t]utterly destroyed it and every person who was in it.
38 Then Joshua and all Israel with him returned to Debir, and they fought against it.39 He captured it and its king and all its cities, and they struck them with the edge of the sword, and [u]utterly destroyed every person who was in it. He left no survivor. Just as he had done to Hebron, so he did to Debir and its king, as he had also done to Libnah and its king.
40 Thus Joshua struck all the land, the hill country and the [v]Negev and the lowland and the slopes and all their kings. He left no survivor, but he [w]utterly destroyed all who breathed, just as the Lord, the God of Israel, had commanded. 41 Joshua struck them from Kadesh-barnea even as far as Gaza, and all the country of Goshen even as far as Gibeon. 42 Joshua captured all these kings and their lands at one time, because the Lord, the God of Israel, fought for Israel. 43 So Joshua and all Israel with him returned to the camp at Gilgal.
God had called Joshua and the Israelites to an impossible task. And Joshua had at first been overwhelmed. However, here he was, leading the Israelites into battle with victory after victory.
Joshua could do this, because he knew that he was following God’s command, and that God was fighting for Israel. Joshua didn’t have to win the battles, God would see to that. He just had to lead the people to follow God’s command.
God may call us to some big things, some impossible things. They may seem overwhelming, but when God asks for it, He also provides a way. He does not call us to something, and then leave us on our own to accomplish it. The beauty of who God is, is that everything we do is done because of Him. We breathe because He gave us lungs, and air that is fit for our bodies to take in. From the simplest to the most complex, all is the same. We can do these things, because of God and what He has provided.