Warm Greetings from Thailand, beloved brothers and sisters! We have now come to the midpoint of the book of Joshua, a ‘stock-take’ of where we are at within the story.

At first glance, Joshua 12 seems to be a laundry list of places and kings, listing the many victories that Israel had attained by the power of God. It doesn’t seem particularly significant or interesting. However, translating the names into a Singaporean context may help us to appreciate its significance a little more. Just imagine if Verses 1-2 read: “Now these are the towkays of the territories who the people of Singapore defeated and took possession of their land beyond the Singapore River toward the sunrise, from Bugis to Changi: Ah Boon, boss of the 369 Gang who lived at Geylang and ruled from Lorong 14, which is on the edge of Guillemard Road; and from the middle of Serangoon Road as far as the Punggol River, the boundary of the Hougang People”.

Suddenly, the places leap out to us. A mental map pops up in our head of the MRT stations there, good food places, schools in the area, the addresses of friends, etc. The point being, when we read a laundry list of places like that in the Old Testament, we should immediately be sensitive to the way the Israelite audience would have heard it – “Oh! The figs from that region are the best!” or “I remember celebrating Passover at my grandfather’s house over there as a child!”. Reading a list of the places that God had secured for them, we can imagine how the land they have always lived in suddenly becomes 'magical' in an Israelite’s eyes– “All of this, God gave it to us!”.

Just imagine that! If you looked all around and your first thought was - "We had no home and no land to call our own, but God gave us all this." All of our life’s joys, from festivals filled with dancing to weddings flowing with wine and homes glowing with safety and life - all these things and so much more, we owe it to God. Suddenly, there is so much to rejoice over. Joshua 12 reminds us that every home, every street and every land, is ultimately a gift from God.

But Joshua 12 doesn’t just end there. It points forward to the Christian’s reality, even now. Today, we don’t necessarily get commanded by God to conquer a new land by fighting with swords and arrows. However, in our personal lives and our battles with sin, the moment we decided to surrender ourselves to God, He conquers our laundry lists of sins and shames that we could never have defeated by ourselves. Not everyone understands each other’s laundry lists. A lot of the times they can seem boring and unrelatable, like the laundry list of Joshua 12. But whenever we hear how God conquers these laundry lists, whether in Joshua 12, or in the lives of our fellow believers – we remind ourselves of what God has done in our lives as well, and rejoice together with them!

Pray: God, thank you for saving us as a people and calling us out of our own Egypts. Thank you for driving away the sins and shames in our hearts and giving us new homes in You. Give us understanding about the work you are doing in the world that we might rejoice over your saving work in the lives of others even when they seem distant and far off. May we rejoice together in the battles that you have won! In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.