The Second Question

I heard this teaching from K. Yoder a number of years ago. I was reading the scripture again lately, and am going to try to explain it here.
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Joshua 5:13-15~
"And it came to pass , when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, a Man stood opposite him with His sword drawn in His hand. And Joshua went to HIm and said,"Are you for us or for our adversaries?"

So He said,"No, but as Commander of the army of the LORD I have now come." 

And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped, and said to Him, "What does my Lord say to His servant?"

Then the Commander of the LORD's army said to Joshua, "Take your sandal off your foot, for the place where you stand is holy." And Joshua did so.
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Like Joshua, when we are facing a conflict,
 we want to know whether God is on our side. 
 We want to know if we are right and the opposing side is wrong.

  Sometimes, we can be watching a conflict in a church body and we can hear the different points of view and we think we have to decide who is right and who God is pleased with.

  We ask the first question or something like it.
" Are you for us or for our adversaries?"
Or "Is this person right or is this other person right?" 
 
How did the Commander of the Army answer that question?

"No".

(NO-I am not for you?
 Or, NO, I am not for your adversaries?
What kind of "NO" do you mean?)

"No, but as Commander of the Army of the Lord, I am now here."

So, it appears, Joshua asked the wrong question as so often do we.
The Commander did not really answer the question that was asked him.
At least, he did not answer the question in the way Joshua had hoped.

So Joshua tried again.
He fell on his face and worshipped,
and he asked a Second Question.

"What does my Lord say to His servant?"
 
And the answer? " Take off your sandal~the place where you stand is holy." 

  Remember the significance of the sandal in the story of Ruth? 

The surrender of the sandal , according to my Bible notes, symbolized the surrendering of all rights to what went with it. Like removing a hat, this was a sign of humility and respect.

In other words, God was saying to Joshua and now says to us,
"Worship Me. I am here.  Don't be set on being right or winning. Worship Me. Give up your rights. Give up your ownership of needing to be right or of knowing for certain who is right.
  Ask the Second Question,'What do you want to say to me?'
And worship Me by giving Me what is yours."
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Joshua fought the battle of Jericho, and the walls came tumbling down.