On Hamstringing Horses and Burning Chariots

Doubt, anxiety, and fear are, in effect, practical atheism. It is acting or living as though there were no sovereign God in control of whatsoever comes to pass. It is the knowledge of who God is that gives us confidence to face our mighty foes, to attack the sin in our lives, to stand our ground in a world that knows nothing of the truth of Lord Jesus. This grand truth is never to be an excuse for inactivity, but just the opposite: It makes us active and makes us so with grand confidence. In the text God not only emphasizes His sovereignty but also that His people must therefore rely upon Him, and Him alone. Have you wondered why the Israelites would hamstring the horses and burn the chariots? Why didn't they keep the horses? Why didn't they keep the chariots and put their own men on them and use them? Well, I think it is for the same reason that the Lord trimmed back the army of Gideon. You remember in the time of the Judges, Gideon was chosen of God to lead the army against the Midianites, another vast army. And yet God whittled down the army of Israel to a meager three hundred men to face a mighty army. And the reason was so that no one could doubt that God gave Israel the victory. Here in Joshua, the Lord does not want the people to depend upon themselves. He does not want them to depend upon weapons, nor speedy steeds. He wants our dependence to be cast upon Him and upon Him alone so that we do not fall into the sin of self-sufficiency and boasting and thereby rob God of glory that is His alone. As King Harry (King Henry V) said: "Death to him that boasts of this and takes that praise which is God's alone." King David said (Psalm 33:16-18, 20-21):

No king is saved by the size of his army;
no warrior escapes by his great strength.

A horse is a vain hope for deliverance;
despite all its great strength it cannot save.

But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him,
on those whose hope is in his unfailing love

We wait in hope for the LORD;
he is our help and our shield.

In him our hearts rejoice,
for we trust in his holy name.

Brothers and sisters we must always avoid the temptation to use human machinery as a substitute for God's aid. So much of the time we attack our problems on our own, without God, without seeking the Lord. So do not be surprised if the Lord should remove every prop in your hand that causes you to trust in anything but Him. Do not be surprised in His love for you that He might allow circumstances to be such that you find yourself at the end of your rope with no one to turn to and not knowing what to do and so then you run to the Lord, the very place we should have run at first. Do not see this as cause for alarm; but see it as God's love, hoping in his unfailing love as He makes Himself so very real to you. Can't you just see Joshua saying: "We don't need these war horses! And we don't need these chariots of death; we have Jehovah, strong and mighty. We have Jahweh, King of the earth.

Well, so do we. The same God is our God.

(This was excerpted from an old sermon from Joshua 11 by Pastor Kevin D. Skogen, Reformed Presbyterian Church, Lookout Mountain, Georgia)