Tuesday, 24 January 2012

• The Victorious Life of Joshua Part 54

   

  Jos 7:13 Up, sanctify the people, and say, Sanctify yourselves against tomorrow: for thus saith the LORD God of Israel, [There is] an accursed thing in the midst of thee, O Israel: thou canst not stand before thine enemies, until ye take away the accursed thing from among you.

  Jos 7:14 In the morning therefore ye shall be brought according to your tribes: and it shall be, [that] the tribe which the LORD taketh shall come according to the families [thereof]; and the family which the LORD shall take shall come by households; and the household which the LORD shall take shall come man by man.

  Now, right here, if I was Achan, I would have gotten nervous. My mind would have done a flashback on all the things that God had done for the children of Israel...all the miracles, and I would realize there was no point in putting everyone through all of this. I would have pulled Joshua to the side and confessed, because I wouldn’t want my entire household to be embarrassed, let alone my entire family and tribe. I wouldn’t want to be shamed in front of the entire nation of Israel. Therefore, if it were me, I would have made a preemptive move in an attempt to lessen the blow of the punishment.

  Jos 7:15 And it shall be, [that] he that is taken with the accursed thing shall be burnt with fire, he and all that he hath: because he hath transgressed the covenant of the LORD, and because he hath wrought folly in Israel.

  See, right here, if I wasn’t already nervous about embarrassing my household, family and tribe, this part of the instructions would have scared the sin out of my flesh. I mean, he did say burned with fire, right? So I don’t even understand this guy Achan, because he never busted a move to confess prior to this official search began. This fool waited until they went through the entire process, as if despite all of the miracles of God; that somehow, He wouldn’t see. Somehow he wouldn’t know. How could this guy be so dense?

  Jos 7:16 So Joshua rose up early in the morning, and brought Israel by their tribes; and the tribe of Judah was taken:

  Jos 7:17 And he brought the family of Judah; and he took the family of the Zarhites: and he brought the family of the Zarhites man by man; and Zabdi was taken:

  Jos 7:18 And he brought his household man by man; and Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken.

  Jos 7:19 And Joshua said unto Achan, My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the LORD God of Israel, and make confession unto him; and tell me now what thou hast done; hide [it] not from me.

  Jos 7:20 And Achan answered Joshua, and said, Indeed I have sinned against the LORD God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done:

  Jos 7:21 When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and, behold, they [are] hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it.

  I believe that at this point, this guy realized that there was no point in lying. They had singled him out. If I was this foolish, I would at least have had the sense to beg for forgiveness and mercy. This guy confesses, and says nothing else. No apologies. No remorse or penitence.

  Jos 7:22 So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran unto the tent; and, behold, [it was] hid in his tent, and the silver under it.

  Jos 7:23 And they took them out of the midst of the tent, and brought them unto Joshua, and unto all the children of Israel, and laid them out before the LORD.

  Now, not only did the man confess, but clearly, he’s busted in front of the entire nation. Yet never once does he apologize, nor does he beg for forgiveness. Joshua demonstrates his leadership, especially as a man under the leadership of God. Leaders have to take the appropriate steps to remove those who block God’s blessings and work. When a team member like Achan compromises a core value, a Godly leader must move to counteract the ripple effect before it can hurt others.

  Jos 7:24 And Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the garment, and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his asses, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had: and they brought them unto the valley of Achor.

  Jos 7:25 And Joshua said, Why hast thou troubled us? the LORD shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones.

  Jos 7:26 And they raised over him a great heap of stones unto this day. So the LORD turned from the fierceness of his anger. Wherefore the name of that place was called, The valley of Achor, unto this day.

  Joshua dealt decisively with Achan, executing him at the command of God, amid no objections, nor pleads for mercy. Joshua could not allow compromise to derail the destiny of the people of God. Due to his convictions, Israel was able to re-launch their attack on Ai, and  win.

  Ai, then, is a beautiful picture for us of those inward problems arising out of our own lusts for that which God says we cannot, and must not have. We play the hypocrite and then discover that we are prey to every evil force that comes our way. We have no power to stand. We experience failure and defeat, as Israel did. But the minute this sin was confessed, they went up to Ai and it was no longer a problem. It was a battle, but no problem. Through it, they gained victory over the problem of the flesh.

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