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A Definitive Neither

“Are you for us or against us?”

“Neither!”

We seem to have this predisposition to want to know whether people are for us or against us.  If they are for us, meaning they are in agreement with what’s important to us, then we can associate with them.  If they are against us, then we can’t associate with them.

In this day and age of polarization, the “for or against us” predisposition seems to be even more prevalent.  Compounding it all, we seem to focus our “for or against us” on single issue items.  Perhaps it’s being for or against abortion or where we fall on gender and sexuality issues or our level of commitment to the environmental or our position on immigration. 

But polarization really understates things as positions have become even more extreme and entrenched.  There doesn’t seem to be any room for common courtesy or looking for common ground or trying to understand the positions that we disagree with.

So if I am asked if I’m for something or against it and I answer ”neither”, it could mean that I don’t have an opinion or that I’m unsure of my position.  But it can also mean that I’m trying to avoid stating a position so that I don’t get caught up in the “for or against us” predicament and either endear myself to others or oppose them.

However, the “neither” answer that started off this post was, in the context of where I read it, spoken with total certainty and there was no hedging in the answer.  In fact, it was  given with full knowledge of all the circumstances surrounding the question.  But, first some background information…

Joshua had been appointed leader of Israel.  They were to go in and take possession of the land.  There would be resistance and battles.  So when Joshua was confronted with a man armed for battle (Joshua 5:13), his question was somewhat normal.  In this case, the answer to “are you for or against us” would normally communicate friend or foe.

So when Joshua asked the question and the answer was “neither” (Josh 5:14), the person wasn’t saying that he was there for Joshua or that he wasn’t there for him.  His answer indicated he was not there to take sides but to take charge as Commander of the Lord’s army.  As Commander, he was there to fulfill God’s plans and purposes.

So what can we learn from this?  It was not for Joshua to claim God’s allegiance for his cause no matter how right it might have been. Rather, it was intended for Joshua to acknowledge God’s claim over him for God’s purposes.

Similar to Joshua, we tend to approach our battles and causes backwards, that is, we to try to get God to be on our side when we really should be submitting to Him and following His plans and purposes.

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