“We are most vulnerable after a spiritual victory.” These were introductory words for the lesson in Joshua chapter 7, and I could not say it better than my husband.
Israel was on a roll (“Call em’ butter!”, John said). They had re-dedicated themselves to God, crossed the Jordan during flood stage, were obeying God’s orders to the T and had just successfully defeated Jericho without breaking a sweat. It was just one HUGE victory after another! They had even set up memorials specifically so that they wouldn’t forget the fact that God was the reason for all of these victories and the ones to come. Suddenly they were blindsided by God’s response to a “secret” sin among the Israelites…”I will not be with you any longer.” (Joshua 7:12)
A couple of friends and I used to joke with a girl who always got every one of her prayers answered. She always seemed to know what the Lord desired of her and was always quick to obey. We joked that she had a “bat phone” to God. For those of you unfamiliar, in the Batman television show and comic book, Commissioner Gordon had a secure line to Batman whenever and wherever he wanted. It was basically his direct, personal, and privileged access to Batman himself. Need help? No worries! I’ll just call good ol’ buddy Batman on my secure line! He will come running to the rescue!
Sometimes we feel like that with God. Everything is going great, we are experiencing victory in our lives, and all of our prayers seem to be getting answered just as quick as we can pray them. We feel like God is even closer than our next breath. We feel almost invincible!
But what we learned on Monday night is that there is great danger in having such a flawless winning streak. These kinds of circumstances make it easy for us to get prideful and self-confident. They can also cause us to feel so close to God that we almost begin to lose that crucial sense of reverence for Him that we so desperately need in order to remain humble. We begin to see Him as our “buddy” who always does everything for us, and not our Lord. Achan was a prime example of this. Maybe he thought because things were going so well that God wouldn’t mind if he took a few of the spoils. I mean, they were going to get burned anyway, right? We gasp in shock when we read the first couple verses of chapter 7 and think to ourselves, “Now why would he do such a stupid thing?!” But how many times have we unsuspectingly had this same kind of mindset? “God understands, He’s my buddy! He won’t mind.” Now that we think about it, probably more times than we’d like to confess to.
From the big picture perspective, Achan was just one tiny, insignificant person out of over two million. But from God’s perspective, one tiny person out of two million is still a part of that two million. The Bible tells us that the body is not made up of one part, but of many (1 Cor. 12:14) and that if one part suffers, every part suffers with it (1 Cor. 12:26). Whether it’s made up of five parts or two million parts doesn’t matter. The bottom line is that we are all in this together! In fact, when Joshua finally decides to consult God, God tells Him that Israel has sinned. Even though it was just one man Achan who had stolen, God says in verse 11 that they have stolen and they have lied! All of Israel is held responsible. How sobering was that! (Not to mention the fact that to God, a lie is not just saying something untrue, but it can also be not saying anything at all!) Our sin not only affects us and those closest to us, as most of us already know, but we learned on Monday that our sin affects our local body, the church, and even more significantly, our leaders! They don’t even have to know about our sin in order to be affected by it. We may think it’s a secret, but God’s Word never returns to Him void (Isaiah 55:11) and in it He promises that our sin will always find us out (Numbers 32:23).
Sin in one man’s life led to self confidence in the entire body, which in turn led to an easy defeat by the enemy. These things were written for our instruction (Romans 15:4, 1 Cor. 10:11)! And let’s also remember that being forced to confess isn’t really much of a confession at all, at least not in the eyes of the Lord. Achan confessed, but only after a long and drawn out process of being picked out of a line-up, so to speak. He did not offer up his confession with a willing heart, even after being given plenty of time to step forward on his own. Finally, after being singled out and asked to “give glory to the Lord”, Achan admits that it’s true. Because of this, the outcome for him and his family was not a good one.
The act of confession is not enjoyable. The benefits of it are great, but the act itself can be pretty excruciating. This is why I think it’s so important to remember Joshua’s statement here in verse 19. He directly relates confession to giving glory to the Lord. We have to remember that despite how it feels while we’re confessing, the TRUTH is that we are giving glory to the Lord. Don’t let your emotions get in the way when it comes to confession. Truth must always be the engine car and emotions the caboose! It may feel like the end of the world. It may even feel like God is disgusted with us while we are confessing, but take heart! When words of confession are coming out of your mouth, as bad as they may sound to you or the one you are confessing to, your words are like sweet praise to God. You are giving Him glory! Let’s not be afraid to confess, no matter what the cost. We give glory to God when we do this!
We have to be SO very careful to seek the Lord consistently and never allow ourselves to think we can do anything apart from Him (John 15:5). Remember from chapter 6 that the Lord does not want to go anywhere or do anything unless you go with Him and do it with Him. For Him, it’s not about getting your help, we all know He doesn’t need it. It’s all about BEING with you. Being in fellowship with you is the most important thing to Him. So this week let us trust in the Lord with all our hearts and lean not on our own understanding. Let us acknowledge Him in all our ways and He will direct our paths. (Proverbs 3:5-6)
In Chapter 8 Israel will give Ai another go, but not before consulting the Lord this time. We will see the difference! Come prepared to be refreshed and cleansed by the water of the Word of God. We look forward to seeing you all on Monday night and remember to bring a friend or two!
God bless,
Sara