After Moses died, Joshua led the people into the Promise Land. The first city encountered was Jericho. Not wanting Israel to assume the conquering of the city was due to their fighting skills, God instructed them to walk around the perimeter of the walled city once a day, carrying the Ark of the Covenant towards the front, behind seven trumpets that were blown. The soldiers, however, were to remain silent. This was repeated for six days.
On the seventh day, the people marched around the city seven times. At the conclusion, the trumpets sounded and the people shouted. When they did so, the thick walls around the city fell and the Israelite soldiers entered the city. No arrows. No battering rams. Only a shout. God had commanded them not to take any of the loot from Jericho’s defeat for themselves.
Feeling invincible coming off this miraculous victory at Jericho, Joshua did not send the entire army against the small city of Ai. But, to everyone’s shock, Ai routed Israel. When Joshua complained to the Lord about the defeat, God said, “Israel has sinned; they have violated My covenant, which I commanded them to keep. They have taken some of the devoted things.” (Joshua 7:11)
God pointed out that the guilty man was Achan. When Joshua confronted him, he admitted, “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.” (Joshua 7:21)
Here are some lessons for us.
One, the Lord’s will may seem strange (just shout, fight a giant with just a sling, step into a raging river), but He’s looking for obedience from us, not for our opinion or another idea. “’For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,’ declares the Lord. ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.’” (Isaiah 55:8–9)
Two, no situation is too small to seek His help. Joshua thought his men could handle Ai. Sometimes I forget that I need the Lord … until things don’t go well, then I remember to ask for His assistance. “Apart from Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)
Three, we need to be careful what we fix our eyes on. Remember that the lust of the eyes got Eve into trouble and is how coveting gets started. As Christ-followers, the Bible tells us to “fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.” (Hebrews 12:2)
Four, defeat will come upon any nation that refuses to follow God. Because of “sin in the camp,” Israel was not under God’s protection. Neither is any nation that turns its back on God.
Just because a person has accepted the Lord Jesus as Savior and Lord, doesn’t mean he can disobey and take advantage of God’s grace and mercy. We have a greater responsibility to live to please the LORD. “We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?” (Romans 6:2)
Israel defeated some cities. Jesus defeated sin and death. Repent of your sin, receive Jesus, and follow Him.
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