In the earlier part of chapter seven, we read about how the people of Israel had fallen into defeat through their disobedience, their self-sufficiency, and their prayerlessness. Often, you or I fall into defeat for the same reasons. But they did not stay in defeat for long. As we read on through chapter 7 and chapter 8, we discover that the people went from having fallen into defeat to rising again to victory. In chapter 7 they were defeated by Ai, but in chapter 8 they defeat Ai. What brought about such a dramatic change?
This is something that we should like to know, for many times, we, like the Israelites, fall into defeat. How can we rise again to victory? How can we pick ourselves up from the floor of failure and stand once again in the victory that is our’s in Christ? Let’s see what we can learn from the people of Israel in Joshua’s day.
If we are going to rise again to victory after falling into defeat, we must . . .
1. Deal With Our Sin - 7:14-26
God told Joshua that they would not be able to stand against their enemies until they had dealt with the sin that was among the people (v. 13). He therefore told Joshua what to do in order to remove the sin from their midst (vs. 14-15). Joshua did as God had said and discovered that the one who had sinned was Achan (vs.16-18).
Now, one question that we might ask is why God had Joshua to go through a tribe-by-tribe, family-by-family, house-by-house, and man-by-man search until the guilty party was found. Why didn’t the Lord just point out Achan immediately as the offender? There are two possible reasons why God did things as He did.
First, God was making a dramatic presentation of truth to the people that sin cannot be hidden and that sin affects everybody. Although Achan had attempted to hide his sin (v. 21), and had succeeded in hiding it from his fellow Israelites, he could not hide it from God! And even though this was a sin that only Achan and his family had participated in and that only they knew about, it nevertheless affected the entire congregation!
In the same way, we must realize that our sin cannot be hidden from God and that no matter how private our sin may be it will always, nevertheless, affect those around us.
Second, I believe that God was dealing graciously with Achan and his family by giving them a chance to repent. With each acknowledgement of innocence, the finger of judgment came one step closer to Achan. How many people were declared guiltless before Achan’s guilt was determined? At any point he could have confessed his sin. By every biblical precedent it appears that God would have been merciful and forgiving. For example, when David was confronted with his sin, he was quick to confess and was forgiven. Oh, Achan confessed alright, but notice that his was a forced confession (vs. 19-23) and as a result, rather than receiving the forgiveness of God, he received condemnation from God.
Please note the command of Joshua (v. 19), “Give glory to the Lord...give Him the praise. Tell...what you have done . . .” Both a willing confession and a forced confession give glory to God. Paul wrote that “every knee should bow . . . and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord . . .” Philippians 2:10-11 (NIV). If one willingly confesses Jesus as Lord now, it will be a confession unto salvation, but a forced confession at the judgment seat will be a confession of condemnation! Achan’s forced confession did not save him from the wrath of God and neither will the forced confession of the thousand upon thousands of unbelievers who will stand before Christ on the day of judgment, confessing that Jesus is Lord! The only kind of confession that brings salvation and forgiveness is a willing confession. The kind of confession Achan refused to give, but that the rest of the people of Israel apparently were willingly to give (v. 23). As a result, Achan and his unrepentant family were condemned, while the rest of the people were restored to a right standing with God.
Make no mistake about it! God hates sin! Therefore, as His children, if we are going to rise again to victory after falling into defeat, we must be willing to deal with our sin just as surely as the people of Israel were willing to deal with unrepentant Achan and his family! We must be open and honest about our sin, we must confess our sin to God, and we must be willing to turn from our sin if we are going to be in a position to once again experience the victory in life that we did before we fell into defeat.
But not only must we deal with our sin if we are to rise again to victory, we must also . . .
2. Decide To Seek God’s Guidance - 8:1-2
A young lady once went to Will Rogers for counseling and said, “Mr. Rogers, what can I do about pride? Every time I look in the mirror, I think I’m beautiful.” Will Rogers replied, “Honey, that’s not pride, that’s a mistake!”
When we fall into defeat, it is often because we have made the mistake of being so prideful that we think we do not need God’s guidance. Joshua had made that mistake before, but not again. This time, he sought the Lord’s guidance concerning how to defeat Ai.
In the same way, if we are going to rise again to victory after falling into defeat, we must decide to seek God’s guidance. We need to realize that God does know what He is doing!
A fellow once made the remark that if he were God, he could certainly do things much better than God seemed to. For example, he said, if I were God I would not have caused the fruit of such a tremendous tree as the oak to be an acorn. Such a mighty tree needs to bear a much larger fruit, like a watermelon! After having made these remarks, he then sat under the shade of an oak tree. While seated beneath the tree, an acorn fell and hit him on the head and he quickly decided that perhaps God knew what He was doing after all!
Even so, if we are going to rise again to victory after falling into defeat, we must realize that God does know what He is doing and seek His guidance!
But also we must . . .
3. Do What God Tells Us To Do - 8: 3-29
It was not enough for Joshua and the people to seek God’s guidance, once they had received God’s instructions they needed to then do what God had told them to do. When they did, they experienced victory over Ai, but not before.
In the same way, if we are going to rise again to victory after falling into defeat, we must not only deal with our sin and decide to seek God’s guidance, but we must do what God tells us to do! The longer we go without doing what God has told us to do, the longer we will go without experiencing the victory that we seek.
Willingness without action is like a cloud without rain - there may be lots of thunder and lightning, but no parched ground is ever watered!
Satan called in some of his lieutenants to help him develop a strategy for keeping God’s people living in defeat. One strategy after another was suggested. To keep God’s people living in defeat, it was decided that they could try to keep them from prayer, the Bible, and church. Satan liked all of these, but one strategy impressed him most of all as being quite effective. That strategy was to let them pray all they want, read the Bible all they want, and go to church all they want; just convince them that they don’t really have to do what God tells them.
Oh friend, don’t let the devil deceive you into thinking that it’s enough to seek God’s guidance; we need to go beyond finding out what God wants us to do, we need to do what God wants us to do!
Conclusion - 8:30-35
Chapter eight concludes by telling us how Joshua led the people to commit themselves to wholeheartedly following the Lord so that they might avoid falling into defeat again in the future. Notice that in so doing, he reminded the people of the blessings and the curses that are written in the book of the law. These are found in the book of Deuteronomy. In Deuteronomy 11:26-28 (NIV), the Lord told the people, “See I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse - the blessing if you obey the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today; the curse if you disobey the commands of the Lord your God and turn from the way that I command you today . . .”
Believers today have the same choice to make. Will we live in victory or defeat; under blessing or under cursing?
It has been said that commitments are keys that unlock doors to great opportunities. The people under Joshua were led to make a commitment to deal honestly with their sin, seek God’s guidance and do what He told them to do. As a result, before them lay great opportunities to experience the victory God had promised.
You and I can have the same opportunities in our life if we, like the children of Israel, will commit ourselves to dealing honestly with our sin, seeking God’s guidance, and doing what God tells us to do!
