Lookahead:  Scripture specifically mentions the multitudinous chariots.  Joshua had some history with chariots.  He had probably watched the Egyptians wreak havoc for years with their chariots—the tip-of-the-spear technology of 12th century B.C.  And in fact, the Israelites were pushed into a hard Red Sea stop by chariots.  Just like Indiana Jones said, “Why did it have to be snakes?!” it wouldn’t have surprised me one bit if Joshua had said, “Why did it have to be chariots?!”  It was bad enough that a huge, confederated army had amassed at Meron.  But hundreds of chariots too! ☹

Last week I shared a personal Kingdom “Moment” that I experienced.  But while I was putting that post together, I think I stumbled across a testimony of someone who was a Kingdom Occupier (KO) for life.  I don’t know if anyone’s ever heard Anita Dittman’s testimony.  But I had read her book years ago and then came across the documentary video about her life last week.  It was one of the more unbelievable accounts of a Jewish Holocaust survivor that I have ever heard.  Dittman was actually a fulfilled Jew—at the age of seven she accepted Jesus as her Messiah.  And then she developed a near-perfect trust relationship with Him.  In the documentary, Dittman described many horrors that she experienced and witnessed at the hands of the Nazi’s.  She was ripped from her home as a young teenager, separated from her family, incarcerated in slave labor camps, starved, forced to do brutal work in the worst of weather conditions, sent out on at least two death marches, plus she eventually experienced pain and immobilization due to a Nazi-induced injury.  Dittman would frequently tear up/cry when discussing these awful experiences.  But I was astounded as I watched—never having seen this reaction from a Holocaust survivor…she was actually weeping because of God’s faithfulness to save her out of every situation.  

My heart weeps for the many others, but most survivor accounts are full of bitterness and anger at the Nazi’s.  You can tell that the elderly person has been tormented by the terrible memories for years—memories that, many times, were still fresh, as the survivor continued to suffer from PTSD in a state of mourning for their loved ones.  Dittman was crying because she was bowled over by how good God was to her. 

The documentary was made when Dittman was in her 80s.  I believe that she cried in her early teen years as well, as the memories were being formed…because she couldn’t believe how good He was and what He was doing; and now here she was still crying 65 years later.  Absolutely amazing!  Her trust never wavered even, case in point, when she was unable to make it into a Fallout Shelter during the Dresden bombing.  At that juncture, she had been kicked out of the hospital.  She could not walk without assistance and the Nazi nurse, who had been trying to murder Dittman for weeks, confiscated her cane upon release because the latter was Jewish.  So Anita needed people to lean on to move from point a to point b.  The bombing started and everyone was racing for the bomb shelter.  To save her friends who weren’t going to make it in time, as they tried to carry her, she said, “Just leave me here outside. I’ll be OK.”  When the bombing was over, everyone emerged from the shelter to find Dittman standing outside the entrance celebrating about how the Lord had protected her!  And the blood poisoning/horrific leg infection that had made her lame (and that caused people to continually question why God allowed it), protected Dittman from being molested when the Russians came.  Shortly after that the Lord asked her to comfort the Nazi nurse who experienced major molestation by the Russians.  Dittman pushed back at first and said she wasn’t going to do it unless God “did the heavy lifting.”  With the Holy Spirit she held the nurse in her arms and cried with her. I’m certain that nurse never forgot the memory of God’s heart that was revealed that day. 

N.B., I’m not saying that we have to suffer for God to have this incredible Kingdom relationship with Him.  (Kingdom Wrecker Lie #3 in Kingdom Post #24 is that we have to suffer to gain entrance into the Kingdom of heaven-on-earth. Lie #3: God is not happy that we fall short of perfection. Also, God disciplines/punishes us to make us more holy like Christ. And along the same lines, KO’s must suffer like Paul—or worst case, Jesus.)

However, if we find ourselves having to endure physical attacks, I believe that the Lord will mitigate them. For example, He gave Dittman a very high pain threshold.  He additionally gave both her and her mother prophetic gifts, which subsequently gave them the will to live—and evangelize; and the gifts also helped them to find each other and reunite at the end of the war.  (Thank God Anita had been instrumental in leading her mother to the Lord before the Nazi’s came.  The latter had been sent to a concentration camp in another country—a transit camp in which 3 out of 4 prisoners perished while 60% were sent on to the Auschwitz Death Camp.)  But Dittman was able to achieve the status of another KO whom I described in Kingdom Post #4:

“David prayed to God: Oh God Thou art my God. Early will I seek Thee. My soul thirsteth for Thee, my flesh longeth for Thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is, that I might see Thee as I have seen Thee in the Sanctuary.  Psalm 63:1,2  David’s flesh longed for God. When we have evolved to the point where, not only our spirits and soul long for God, but our flesh is impervious to worldly temptations and distractions—like mouth-watering meat with the addictive seasoning/spices of slavery—and when our eyes can only see the Pillar in our paths, I would venture to say that we have become KO’s.”

But how do we achieve that same spiritual status?  Basically…seek the Kingdom and the King—in everything. (Matt 6:33)  2 Peter 3 counsels us to ignore the desires of our flesh, keeping our constant focus on the LORD.  Psalm 37:4 says let God instead give you the desires of your heart. So the solution is, look to God…in all things.  But it can’t be a Christian platitude that we rehearse for others.  It has to come from the heart.  There is a beautiful song called, I Look to You.  I remember hearing Whitney Houston’s rendition of that song.  In ultimate irony, as Houston ministered to thousands with that deeply inspirational song, precious deliverance was slipping out of her very hands—because, for whatever reason, she wasn’t looking to God.  Was it because she thought that God wasn’t looking back at her anymore…perhaps as a result of perceived failures?  Had she trusted in God for her salvation early on then lost the Joshua perspective?

Well, it is probably true that those who have the Joshua perspective today are in the minority.  When Jabin king of Hazor heard of this, he sent word to Jobab king of Madon, to the kings of Shimron and Akshaph, and to the northern kings who were in the mountains, in the Arabah south of Kinnereth, in the western foothills and in Naphoth Dor on the west; to the Canaanites in the east and west; to the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites and Jebusites in the hill country; and to the Hivites below Hermon in the region of Mizpah. 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 Merom to fight against Israel. Joshua 11:1-5

Scripture specifically mentions the multitudinous chariots.  Joshua had some history with chariots.  He had probably watched the Egyptians wreak havoc for years with their chariots—the tip-of-the-spear technology of 12^th century B.C.  And in fact, the Israelites were pushed into a hard Red Sea stop by chariots.  Just like Indiana Jones said, “Why did it have to be snakes?!” it wouldn’t have surprised me one bit if Joshua had said, “Why did it have to be chariots?!”  It was bad enough that a huge, confederated army had amassed at Merom.  But hundreds of chariots too! ☹

Fortunately, God had been grooming Joshua to be a mighty wily warrior, who understood the recipe for success. Joshua knew what success meant from being Moses’ Lieutenant for many years (Exodus 3:12a and 4:12).  Following Joshua’s job offer/acceptance, God immediately reinforced this during OnBoarding:  As I was with Moses, so will I be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you…Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.  Joshua 1:5,9  At Merom, Joshua now rested in the Lord’s promise:  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. You shall disable their horses and burn their chariots.” Joshua 11:6  So Joshua looked to God, essentially maintaining eye-lock throughout until he saw the fulfillment of that promise.