JOSHUA 5:1 Now when all the Amorite kings west of the Jordan and all the Canaanite kings along the coast heard how the LORD had dried up the Jordan before the Israelites until we had crossed over, their hearts melted and they no longer had the courage to face the Israelites.
Joshua had just been handed the reigns from Moses. He had led the Israelites over the river Jordan (which had parted like the Red Sea) and into the promised land. The people of that land had heard about the God of Israel and were greatly frightened. The text tells us that their hearts "melted" and they no loonger had the courage to face them. Joshua was about to face his first battle as commander....at Jericho! Let’s skip down to vs 13...
13 Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, "Are you for us or for our enemies?" 14 "Neither," he replied, "but as commander of the army of the LORD I have now come." Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, "What message does my Lord have for his servant?" 15 The commander of the LORD’s army replied, "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy." And Joshua did so.
He was literally standing on holy ground! God was preparing him for battle! Did you know that God will always prepare you before He tests you? Joshua asked the angel "are you for us or a’gin us?"....or something like that.....but when he realized that he was in the presence of the "commander of the army of the LORD’ or KJV says "captain of the host of the LORD am I now come"...this wasn’t the arch-angel Michael it was Jesus Himself! It is interesting to note here that, unlike Moses, Joshua had not been personally face-to-face with God....until now.
By the way, don’t you like that part where He says....."I have now come"...WOW! That’s what you want to hear whenever you are about to do battle! So Joshua submitted to the Lord and worshipped Him. I imagine He and the Lord had themselves a good visit, don’t you? You can’t begin a difficult task without a visit from the Lord....remember that!
You know the story in Chapter 6....Joshua fit de battle of Jericho..and the walls came tumbling down! Joshua followed the Lord’s instruction perfectly and conquered the city. Verse 27 tells us "the LORD was with Joshua, and his fame spread throughout the land." But then something happened. Let’s look quickly at vs 17 "The city shall be under the ban, it and all that is in it belongs to the LORD; only Rahab the harlot and all who are with her in the house shall live, because she hid the messengers whom we sent. 18 But keep away from the devoted things, so that you will not bring about your own destruction by taking any of them. Otherwise you will make the camp of Israel liable to destruction and bring trouble on it.
The "devoted thing" was everything in the city...it was already devoted to God...nothing was to be taken out of that city! It was customary in those days to collect the "spoils of war" whenever you defeated you enemy...but this time God said NO! Listen, don’t ever try to take what belongs to God.....let’s see what happens!
Chapter 7:1 But the Israelites acted unfaithfully in regard to the devoted (banned) things ; Achan son of Carmi, the son of Zimri, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of them. So the LORD’s anger burned against Israel. 2 Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth Aven to the east of Bethel, and told them, "Go up and spy out the region." So the men went up and spied out Ai. 3 When they returned to Joshua, they said, "Not all the people will have to go up against Ai. Send two or three thousand men to take it and do not weary all the people, for only a few men are there."
Listen, Joshua was feeling pretty good about himself. Here he was...famous throughout the land...commanding an unbeatable army....you might say he became a little overconfident. It is easy to feel that way in the sftermath of a big victory. Relaxed, confident...that is a moment that is prime time for sin to enter our lives! Let’s read on.....
4 So about three thousand men went up; but they were routed by the men of Ai, 5 who killed about thirty-six of them. They chased the Israelites from the city gate as far as the stone quarries and struck them down on the slopes. At this the hearts of the people melted and became like water. 6 Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell facedown to the ground before the ark of the LORD, remaining there till evening...........
Most of us know what it’s like to miss the mark or to experience failure in some way. Most times that failure is the result of sin....sometimes just poor judgement and not listening to God. Sometimes we feel as though we have done our best, but we still didn’t achieve our goals. Disappointment is painful, but it does NOT mean that we are failures! It simply means that we didn’t get the result we expected for our efforts. Failure isn’t always bad. It teaches us to grow and to learn to trust God more...and to turn to Him first, before we do something that we may regret later.
The battle of Ai was supposed to be a slam-dunk...and would have been had they obeyed the Lord. Achan took some spoils of battle...I’m sure he thought no one would notice...and he hid it in his tent. How many of you know that sometimes "you just got to leave it behind?"
Achan didn’t. The Bible says that the Lord’s anger "burned"...whew....that don’t sound too good, does it? Now, Achan didn’t sin for lack of knowlege. He knew the rules, but chose to disregard them. There amy be times when we sin that we do so out of ignorance...but this act was willful and purposeful. He knew exactly what he was doing when he did it, and he put the lives of his family and the Israeli warriors at risk because of his selfishness.
There is a pathway to sin, and Achan chose it. Joshua was devastated. So what to do? Well, here’s what God said...vs 10 The LORD said to Joshua, "Stand up! What are you doing down on your face? 11 Israel has sinned; they have violated my covenant, which I commanded them to keep. They have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen, they have lied, they have put them with their own possessions. 12 That is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies; they turn their backs and run because they have been made liable to destruction. I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy whatever among you is devoted to destruction. 13 "Go, consecrate the people. Tell them, ’Consecrate yourselves in preparation for tomorrow; for this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: That which is devoted is among you, O Israel. You cannot stand against your enemies until you remove it.
You cannot stand against your enemies unless you remove it. Think on that for a minute! When Achan admited his sin, he was sorry...vs 20 Achan replied, "It is true! I have sinned against the LORD, the God of Israel. This is what I have done: 21 When I saw in the plunder a beautiful robe from Babylonia, two hundred shekels of silver and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. They are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath." So what happened to Achan? Well, it wasn’t good...everything he owned..including his family was destroyed!
But we probably aren’t going to be stoned when we make a mistake (thank God!) and we can learn to recognize the earmarks of defeat and so change the way we approach things. Here are 4 lessons that we can learn from this story....
1. We need to realize that we are vulnerable to attack. That sounds pretty simple, but sometimes we get things going pretty good and we forget that is when Satan will attack you the most...when you least expect it! The loss at Ai could have been avoided. Achan took his eyes off the Lord, but so did Joshua. Remember, listen to God, not men or your own flesh....many mistakes can be avoided by obeying God instead of our "gut instinct".
2. Past victories do not guarantee future successes. Joshua didn’t seek God before this battle like he did at Jericho. As commander, it was his duty to seek God before going into battle. Whenever we fail to seek God’s voice, we leave ourselves open to spiritual attack. Before Jericho, he was in the presence of the Lord. Before the battle of Ai, Joshua failed to seek His favor. We need God....especially whenever we have just won a mojor victory and are weary. Satan loves to stroke our egos and tell us how "we" did such a good job....how valuable and talented we are. If we buy into those lies, we are headed for defeat PROVERS 16:18Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. We can do nothing in ourselves, but all things thru Christ who strengthens us.
3. Don’t dictate to God. Instead of humbling himself, Joshua decided to only send a certain number of men into battle. God didn’t tell Joshua to cut back on the number of warriors he sent to fight...Joshua just decided he didn’t need all those men to win....it was easy at Jericho...because of a report that didn’t come from God! If he wanted to use less men, he should have asked God first! God wants us to seek Him first in any and everything we do! He knew that mingling with the enemy would be their downfall. The Israelites began to to intermarry and worship the gods of other cultures....instead of the one true God of Israel. God turned His back on them. It’s easy to be tempted by the things of this world....the gold and silver that Achan took...the accolades and recognition given to Joshua...but none of those things will ever bring real peace and joy like God gives freely thru our right relationship with Jesus.
4. Joshua listened to the counsel of others instead of going to God in prayer. There is a lot of people in this world and always an abundance of advice floating around. The opinions of others sometimes IS important.....sometimes even your humble pastor’s opinion can be helpful...but the Lord wants us to seek Him...and, as your pastors, Rhonda and I would never even offere advice to you that we hadn’t prayed about. Before you make any decision, make sure that God is in the mix and the advice you take is Godly advice that passes the litmus test of the Bible.
What can you do when you have sinned or failed? The very first thing we should all do is admit our mistake....no matter how small or large it is...and repent of it to God. In LUKE 15:21 the prodigal son tells his father.... Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. He was contrite and sincere. In turn, his father said in vs 22 Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: 23And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: 24For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.
Once Joshua realized that sin had entered his camp, what did he do? He fell on his face before God. That’s a pretty good example, don’t you think? But then what happened? Joshua didn’t have time to feel sorry for himself......God told Joshua to deal with the problem...and he did. They literally rocked Achan and his family to sleep!
God wants us to eradicate sin entirely from our lives ASAP! God didn’t tell Joshua to deal with it later....he made him deal with it right away...and that’s how we all need to deal with sin in our lives. It can be painful, as I’m sure this was for Joshua....but when we make bad decisions sometimes we have to learn a difficult lesson. Joshua didn’t want to lose any of his men at Ai...yet he lost 36 warriors and a whole family because he didn’t seek God first.
There are 2 things we all should remember;
1. Set a goal to spend at least 15 min a day with God. That’s not unreasonable, is it? There really is no excuse for ignoring our creator....plus, the blessings that come from that time can be immeasurable....just as the sorrow can be if we don’t take the time to communicate with Him about our lives.
2. When failure comes, keep your perspective. You belong to God. You are a child of the King and He has His seal of ownership on you. There are always consequences to sin, but if we confess our sins...guess what? He is faithful and just to forgive them! When you sincerely turn back to Him, He will not cast you out.
How are you this morning? Are you where God wants you to be? He can’t use you until you confess ALL your sin to Him. Nothing can be hidden from HIM, but all can be forgiven by Him!
