Joshua 7

 “But the people of Israel broke faith...”

Keep the faith. That is what I want for my soul and for the church this morning. I want to believe the Lord and to grow in Him. I live in the midst of continual temptation. Pride. Self-centered thinking. Visions of glory that are not really about Jesus, but about me. Sinful worry. The Slough of Despond... When will it all be over? When will I not have to pray, “Lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from evil?” Come quickly, Lord Jesus!

The Lord's providence is mysterious. I do not understand it. But I need to trust Him. I cannot evade my responsibility for sin by claiming that it is all part of the sovereignty of God, though it is. I want to keep the faith. One man's lust for the riches of Jericho, for “the devoted things,” led to trouble for the whole nation. How much trouble comes upon the church from the lust or bitterness of even one member of the body?

When military defeat came at Ai and 36 Israelites were killed, “the hearts of the people melted and became as water.” This was God's army and God's conquest of Canaan. How could they lose like this after God had shown such great power at Jericho? What would they do now? Had God let them down? Joshua and the elders fell before the Lord. They knew Him to be the sovereign Lord of the conquest, and they immediately concluded that the problem was His.

God's response: “Get up! Israel has sinned.”

Why do we complain against the sovereignty of God? Why don't we come to Him and ask for Him to reveal to us how we might best glorify Him in every disappointment? We may not ever be able to figure out the mystery of His providence, but we can know this for certain. In the words of the Apostle Paul in Romans 9:6, “It is not as though the Word of God has failed.”

There is never any problem that comes to us from God's failure. There is nothing wrong with God's Word. There is nothing amiss in His sovereignty. Something else is going on. We do not even need to know why disaster has come, although God reveals the root of the problem here to Joshua. What we need to know is how we can glorify God through the trial.

I do not know why God chose to show the glory of His righteousness regarding this particular garment, these pieces of silver, and this bar of gold. I do not know why He overlooks so many other offenses. I do not know why 36 fighting men had to die before the sin of Achan was exposed. I only know that the Judge of all the earth and the King and Head of the church is always right. The error or immorality is never His.

We need to give glory to God in every providence. He is just and good. We can be rightly humbled when the walls of Jericho come down, and we can be rightly brought low before Him when the sin of Achan is exposed and he is destroyed before our very eyes along with all that are named by his name.

Thou shalt not covet.

I am desperate for a substitute, not only for me, but for my household, and for the church that I serve. I am desperate for the One who can bring me peace with a just and holy God.

Thank you for a better man than Achan. Thank you for Jesus. He is not only the Captain of my salvation. He is my Guide and Friend.

“Lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from evil.”