The Unseen Army

Joshua, Chapter 7, begins with an ominous, "BUT". Let's refer back to the verse just before it and see why: So the Lord was with Joshua; and his fame was noised throughout all the country. Joshua 6:27. Chapter 7 then starts, BUT.... Something was about to change with Joshua.

Up to this point, the people of God had been completely victorious. God had miraculously backed up the river and they had crossed Jordan. Joshua then learned the first lesson that he needed to learn, and it is still the first lesson which every Christian needs to learn, moreso now than ever before.

Canaan is a type of full salvation (Christ in us). God promised the fleshly descendants of Abraham a land, in completeness from river to river, but they had to go in, and step by step, drive out those things which hindered them from possessing the land. Likewise, God has blessed us: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Ephesians 1:3. Yes, with spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus. God has ordained that every one of us enjoy Christ in His completeness and fullness, but we face things in our lives and in our daily living which must be driven out by the grace of God and by the power of God's Spirit. God wants us to enjoy a full, victorious life.

It was God's plan for Israel to easily overcome every enemy they faced, and at Gilgal, as soon as they set foot in Canaan, Joshua learned a great lesson. He was leading a great people. God had promised him, ...as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest. Joshua 1:5, 7. The first enemy Joshua was to take was Jericho, a walled city with high walls and wide walls, a condition which appeared impossible.

Joshua 5:13-14 tells us that while he was standing there, ...he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand: and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries? And he said, Nay; but as captain of the host of the Lord am I now come... The angel of the Lord was telling Joshua (in so many words), "God knows that you cannot conquer Canaan, but the host of the Lord can. I am the Captain of an unseen army, and I will do the fighting; you just do the marching." That is exactly what he meant.

At another time in history, Syria was trying to rule Israel, and every time they would get ready to attack, God would tell Elisha. He (Elisha), in turn, would tell the King of Israel. Now the King of Syria became troubled and thought he had a spy in his camp:

Therefore the heart of the king of Syria was sore troubled for this thing; and he called his servants, and said unto them, Will ye not shew me which of us is for the king of Israel? And one of his servants said, None, my lord, O king: but Elisha, the prophet that is in Israel, telleth the king of Israel the words that thou speakest in thy bedchamber. And he said, Go and spy where he is, that I may send and fetch him. And it was told him, saying, Behold, he is in Dothan. Therefore sent he thither horses, and chariots, and a great host: and they came by night, and compassed the city about. And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do? And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. II Kings 6:11-17.

Elisha's servant couldn't see that unseen army until Elisha asked the Lord to open his eyes and allow him to see the "great host". Did you catch it there when Elisha said, "For they that be with us are more than they that be with them." Let me tell you, God has an unseen army which is going to do the fighting. Too many today knock themselves out of the race by trying to fight their own battles.

Failure Is NOT Necessary

The Apostle Paul tells us to Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Ephesians 6:11. Then he lets us know what we will be fighting against: ...not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Ephesians 6:12. Yet nowhere in there does he tell us to fight! So what are we supposed to do once we have garbed ourselves in the whole armour of God? Verses 13 and 14 of that same chapter tells us specifically: Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore... It said what? S-T-A-N-D. And verse 18 of that same chapter tells us what to do while we're standing: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.

That's right: STAND. When you have done your all, then stand and watch the Lord fight for you! You may have to be in the battle, but you don't have to fight. Oh yes, you will feel the heat of the battle, you will hear the clanging of the swords, you will hear the spears hitting the shields, but Thank God! you don't have to pick up a hand. ...Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord... Exodus 14:13. Oh, how we need to learn this lesson--we do NOT have to fight our own battles!

The Lord appears to every new convert as Captain of the host of the Lord. He is the Captain of our Salvation: For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. Hebrews 2:10. It is a blessed thing to know. This is why we don't have to be disturbed when we hear people say that we cannot live free from sin. They are not throwing off on us--they are throwing off on the Captain of the host of the Lord. Nowhere does the Word of God say that I can keep myself, but over and over and over, it promises that He will keep me.

When Joshua heard the words of the Captain of the Lord's host, he fell on his face and worshipped and said, ...What saith my lord unto his servant? And the captain of the Lord's host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so. Joshua 5:14, 15. When you get in that position before God, you are getting in good shape to be a winner. Yes, you are.

The story for Joshua had been one of complete success, miracle after miracle. When we break into the seventh chapter (our text), however, it begins with a black mark (thus the "BUT"). Here, we find the children of Israel in full retreat, instead of shouting, rejoicing and going forward. Joshua and the elders are on their faces and putting dust on their heads. Why was Joshua so upset and discouraged??? Why he had counted on unbroken victory in the land. His hopes were built up in the string of unbroken victories with no failures. Now, they were running from people, a small group of people.

Now I want to say this much about unbroken victory: that is certainly God's plan. If God had His way completely, that is what you would have--unbroken victory. Defeat occurred in Canaan, but it did not need to. Failure can occur in our lives, but it does not need to. I might add to that for the benefit of new Christians: do not get too excited if it does, but do not not let that affect your picture of God's purpose for you. A life of unbroken victory over sin in the purpose of God for every born-again believer.

God does not make it impossible for His children to sin, but He does make it possible for them not to. Now read that one more time, slowly, and let it sink in, please: God does not make it impossible for His children to sin, but He does make it possible for them not to. Defeat may happen in the Christian life, but it does not need to. God's purpose was for Israel to go into Canaan, take every city and drive out every enemy, but they had failure. If defeat and failure does happen in our Christian experience, it is essential for us to discover the reason or reasons why we fail. If we will HONESTLY and SINCERELY deal with the reasons we fail, we will NOT fail again on those lines!

The Peril of Self-Confidence

I want to deal with three reasons why there was failure at Ai. As we deal with them, we pray that God will be able to expose some of the reasons people fail in the Christian life today. When God had purposed complete victory, the first reason for failure was self-confidence. A great percentage of people fail in their Christian experience because of self-confidence. The spirit of HUMANISM will affect us just the same as it did the Israelites.

Notice that Joshua sent men from Jericho, a place of great victory, to Ai, a very small city. They soon came to the conclusion that it was not necessary to put forth great effort. This argument was built upon the supposition that Israel had captured Jericho. Right there is the peril of our victory: when we build up ourselves in our own eyes--called "SELF-confidence". The truth of the matter is, all they had done was walk around the great city of Jericho: GOD took the city! The very silent ruins of Jericho were a testimony, NOT to the strength of the people of God, but to the power of God Almighty!

If you have had any victory in the past, YOU did not gain it: God gained the victory for you. Self-confidence is a dangerous thing. It can easily be built up in any of us. I have to pray against it, and sometimes I have to fast. God will give you a great victory, and self (which all of us will have until our bodies are redeemed) will begin to throw his (her) shoulders back and say, "Wow, we went some there, didn't we?" Then, faced with any small, insignificant task that any newborn Christian could easily do, we fall on our face. Why? Old self-confidence was allowed to build up.

If you ever had any victory, give God the glory for it! If you ever did any work for God which amounted to anything, it was not you, but God. If He could not have gotten you to do the job, He could have used a mule or maybe better.

Daily Strength

The Israelites were deceived in feeling that some quality of greatness and strength was imparted to them which would stand them in good stead through all their future campaigns. The truth of the matter is, however, we have to get our strength daily. In II Corinthians 4:16, Paul said ...though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. The inward man must be renewed through prayer and communion with God's Word, day by day. You must have your strength renewed. You cannot run today's race on yesterday's strength, no matter how powerful you perceive yourself to be.

There is no experience in Christian living so full of danger as a great flush of victory! More people backslide right after a great revival because they think they can live on the great victory they just gained. They fail to realize that tomorrow is a new day. Lamentations 3:22,23 tells us It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. You cannot carry yesterday's manna over for today. No moment is so perilous as when we have experienced great deliverance or victory.

There are those who will say, "If you are a Christian, pride is gone." No! No! No! There is a pride which remains there: that which causes me to comb my hair, wash my face, take a bath, etc. There is a pride that makes me proud to know the Lord Jesus Christ as my personal Savior and want to let all those around me know about Him, too. That type of pride is a God-given virtue. However, the same pride, if allowed to, can react in the wrong way and assert itself in the wrong way. Unless we stay humble at the feet of God, and in daily communion with Him, it is easy to take pride in ourselves and boast of our own arm for past great victories. By resting on them, sometimes referred to as "resting on our laurels", we may be misled into thinking we have the strength for the battles of today. This is utterly contradictory to divine truth!

When we are apart from (away from) the Grace of God and the blood of Jesus Christ, the smallest temptation is too powerful for us. That is the lesson, teaching us that no matter how greatly God has moved and taken us through trial and tempation, that small trial we next face may knock us out, unless we have the same God on the job.

Just as in Joshua's case, God sometimes lifts a cup of failure to our lips. That is a bitter one to drink--the cup of failure. It was necessary in Joshua's life that he drink from the cup of failure. It was not God's purpose, but it became necessary because he had to learn a lesson. God still chastens everyone whom He loves. We have to daily look to the Lord, without whom we are nothing.

The Peril of Neglecting Prayer

The first reason for failure was self-confidence; the second reason was neglect of prayer. Notice something: Joshua did NOT pray about Ai. On his own, he sent men up to Ai. He did NOT pray about it, at least not FIRST. He was certainly on his face afterwards, wasn't he? If he had prayed before he made the decision about Ai, there would not have been a failure. God would not have said that Ai was a little thing. He would have said that Ai takes just as much of the power of God as did Jericho. It takes just as great an effort over little things as it does the big things. That is noteworthy, let's repeat it: It takes just as great an effort over little things as it does the big things. Yet, this is ALWAYS where we get into trouble: we think we can handle the little things and call on God for the big ones. There is no scriptural basis for that way of thinking. The Bible tells us that it is the LITTLE foxes that spoil the vine (Song of Solomon 2:15).

The Lord had already told Joshua that the ONLY way he was going to win was for him to call in the Captain of the host of the Lord. Evidently, Joshua thought Israel could do it, and not even all of Israel, but just a few. Evidently, Joshua was saving the "big stuff" for God. God doesn't want that: He wants to be Lord of ALL that is in our lives. And remember, Ai was not nearly so large a city as Jericho was--and that was how Joshua got into trouble.

That same spirit of "humanism" is alive and well today. While we might not rise up and say, "There is no God; I do not need God," it is that spirit of humanism that causes us to divide up the things in our lives: this is little, I can handle it, that is large, God has to handle it. This, this, this, little, little, little; that, that, large, large. God of the mountain is God of the valley. God in the daytime is God in the dark. The God is over both large and small in our lives and we need to remember it. We think, "I had a good day Sunday, so I am going to coast on Monday. I got so much out of Sunday, I don't need to pray Monday. I do not see anything so big I can't handle it." Watch out!

If I have that attitude of "I can handle it", what am I doing? By my actions and my attitude, I am saying, "I do not need God today. I can take care of it myself." Too many think preachers should quit preaching that people need to have a steady, daily, prayer life. No, No! My friends, we NEED to pray, E-V-E-R-Y day. We need strength: without communion with God, we will surely fail.

Joshua 7:2 makes it very clear that Joshua failed to wait on God. He did not bother to go back up to Gilgal, where he had a good talk with the Lord, where he received instructions for Jericho. We need to go back to our own Gilgals and receive some instructions from the Lord. Joshua did not get on his face and take his shoes off before the Lord [before he sent the small army to Ai]. If we would spend more time on our faces before the Lord in prayer prior to taking those "little things" that we think we can handle, we would have to spend less time afterwards in that position!

Joshua got up that morning and told the men, "Go up and view the country." And they did. But then that spirit of humanism took over and they reported back to him, "Ai is a small place. No need for us to take very many with us--we can take them easily." The poor, deceived men, just like so many today. My friends, when the leaders get off track, the people follow. If we could only get the leaders straightened out, we could get the people straightened out, too!

Then what is the very next picture we see with the children of Israel? Why they were running for their very lives, fleeing from Ai. Even so, thirty-six were killed. And Joshua rent his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the Lord until the eventide, he and the elders of Israel, and put dust upon their heads. Joshua 7:6. Had Joshua "fell to the earth upon his face" before he sent the 3,000 to Ai, he wouldn't have had to do so in sorrow afterwards.

Prayer Is Prevention

Now notice there how Joshua reproached God: And Joshua said, Alas, O Lord God, wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over Jordan, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? would to God we had been content, and dwelt on the other side Jordan! O Lord, what shall I say, when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies! For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it, and shall environ us round, and cut off our name from the earth: and what wilt thou do unto thy great name?

If that doesn't sound like us today, I don't know what does! "God, I just cannot believe YOU did this!" We TRY to blame God for our own mistakes. We leave Him out of our equations and then try to blame Him for not stepping in and keeping us from doing what we did! Joshua said, "Would to God we had been content, and dwelt on the other side Jordan!" Sounds like us today: "Well, God, I did what I thought..." Therein lies the problem!

Now look at verse 10 of that same chapter: And the Lord said unto Joshua, Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face? Know why God said this to Joshua? In Joshua 1:5, God had told Joshua, There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. Now all of a sudden, there was Joshua, trying to reproach God for Israel's woes, and it was Israel that had sinned!

The first thing we need to learn from this is that failure to pray makes us insensitive to sin. And I assure you of this, the insenstivity to sin will not be long in arriving. You see, Joshua was not even aware that any sin had been committed until he communicated with God! When he prayed, he was given knowledge and understanding and awakened to the fact that sin was working. Sin was working, and that sin had brought defeat, failure, and the deaths of thirty-six of his men, from a small enemy. If we will pray as we ought, God will reveal to us any way that the enemy is working in our lives.

Another lesson we need to glean from this is, if we will pray in time of victory, we will not have to plead in time of defeat. Tell God all about it. Oh, He already knows it, but He wants you to recognize it and acknowledge it, too: "Lord, I know it was You Who gave me the previous victory. To You be all the glory. Lord, I know I cannot have the next victory unless you help me. I canNOT do it by MYself." God never ordained for Israel to turn their backs to their enemies!

Go back and read that wonderful passage of scripture found in Ephesians 6:11-18. Nowhere does it say a thing about a "backplate". It doesn't say to run, it says to S-T-A-N-D. God does not ordain us to turn our backs to flee. Even with the whole armour of God on, if we turn our backs to flee, our unprotected backs are wide open to the enemy. Think about it!

As soon as Joshua prayed, God showed him the trouble. From that, we can certainly bring forth the conclusion that had he prayed sooner, he would have seen the trouble sooner. In fact, to plead with God in a time of defeat is useless. When we get down to the place where we are pleading with God in a time of defeat, it is useless to stay there and pray. It is time to do something.

Obedience Calls For Blessing

Prayer is not a cure-all. This is another deception of the religious world: "Let's just have some all-night prayer meetings. Prayer can cure anything." It was not enough for Joshua--he had to take action, he had to get rid of the accursed thing.

Certainly, both prayer and fasting are necessary elements in the life of a Christian, but I can find no Biblical basis for laying on one's face and pleading with God to get Him to bless His people. That is His very desire from the beginning--to bless His people. He wants to be allowed to show Himself strong to His people. For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him... II Chronicles 16:9. We don't have to beg God to help us win souls, help us live for Him, help us be square with Him, help us live for Him, help us give Him the glory: we do need to pray and remain humble before Him. Let me tell you, He is more anxious for souls to be saved than we are!

Just as Joshua had to get rid of "the accursed thing", there are things today which need to be taken care of in the congregation. Because pastors hate to deal with those things, they say, "Well, let's pray about it." Right (correct) action is prayer of the noblest kind. When we do right, when we stand against wrong, when we lift up (as opposed to lower) the standard of the right, by our actions we are asking God, "Help me, Lord, I am doing my best." Right action is not prayer that is uttered in words. God has promised in every covenant He made that if we will obey Him, He will bless us. So if we take the right action through obedience, we are calling for God to bless us.

If, at the hour of Isarel's victory over Jericho, Joshua had humbled himself before God and prayed, God would have revealed to him that he was already on the road to defeat. God had told them, very plainly, to not take one thing in that city, because the first is always God's. Yet, it had already been taken, stolen, and put in Achan's tent. Had Joshua humbled himself at the place of victory, he could have learned of the sin that had been committed because the moment he prayed, he found it out.

Right after God has proven that He is able to give victory, there is a great temptation to neglect prayer. Whenever prayer is neglected, sensitivity to sin in dulled. The groundworks of sin can be laid in such a life and one will never know it unless they talk to the Lord. There is only One Who really knows us and Who knows what is going on in our hearts. It's not enough for us to "search our own hearts"--The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings. Jeremiah 17:9,10.

God does not wait until we have failure to tell us what is wrong in our lives. The reason we only hear from Him after failure is because that is when we cry out to Him, not before. If we will stay in close communion with God, if the devil is working the slightest work or if anything is building up in my life which is going to lead to sin, He will uncover it. The Holy Ghost, along with all His other attributes, is a warner. Before the circumstance ever arises, He will warn you, "You'd better pray. It's been a while since you prayed. There is a need for you to pray."

Have you ever felt that quickening and said to yourself, "Oh, I don't see anything wrong. I don't see anything to pray about. I'm too busy to waste it in praying for something that hasn't happened yet." Let me tell you, when the Holy Spirit urges you to pray, PRAY. Whether you can see it or not, there is a reason for it! That is the way the Holy Ghost works. He will warn you and have you ready for every circumstance.

If you are one of those who say, "Well, it doesn't work that way with me," I strongly urge you to bring yourself closer to God in your daily walk so that you can hear Him. Oh, oh, how we need to pray!

Seek His Leadership

Just like Joshua, too many times we fail to ask the Lord about a matter; we just determine we are going to do such and such, without ever bothering to find out if it is the Lord's Will or not. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. James 4:15.

Too many live too far from the Gospel. We preach that "Jesus is Lord", but how many really and honestly allow Him to be Lord? And even if we do, we pick and choose that which He is Lord of. Come on now, let's be honest. "Well, Lord, You take care of that, I can handle this." If the Lord be willing, there are a lot of things which would not be said or done, and a lot of other things that would be said or done. And in the majority of the cases, it would be in direct opposition to that which WE think ought to be. This is exactly why more of the world is not seeing the kingdom of God.

The Lord stands ready to fight our battles. He has never led one of His children to defeat. We meet defeat by going on, on our own. This is the very reason so many people do not have victory in their lives. The Lord does not lead us to do wrong. He does not lead us to failure. Failure comes about when we fail to stay in close communion with Him, when we fail to get and follow His directions. When we fail to seek Him, we will end up in failure and defeat, every time.

The Perils of Individual Disobedience

The third reason for Joshua's failure was disobedience. God said, Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them: for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own stuff. Joshua 7:11. Evidently, only one person had sinned, but that one person was a member of the whole--thus Israel had sinned. One had failed and a whole army was defeated.

Church, we are putting up with too many things today and we are not having the victories that we ought to be having. Some might say, "We are in the New Testament." Old Testament Israel was a nation brought to redemption ground by one man, and all together they were a complete entity. God dealt with them as a corporate body.

When one member of a local congregation is guilty of failure and sin, it blights the work of the whole congregation. God still deals with us in a corporate manner. We are working for God as a unit, and no one individual who claims to be a part of that unit can fail or refuse to walk with God without affecting the fervency of the whole congregation. No child of God can grow cold in his (or her) spiritual life without lowering the temperature of the whole unit.

We are all members of one body--the Body of Christ. Romans 12:4, 5 tells us, For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. Yes, each of us has to work out our own salvation, but it is through the assembling of ourselves together that we are in unity in the Spirit. Sometimes we get to thinking too much about salvation being in terms of an individual that we forget we are [supposed to be] doing a collective work for God. The victory of the whole unit depends upon the victorious life of every individual member of it. Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. Ephesians 2:19-22. We are not only tied to God, but we are connected to one another. What each of us does, as an individual, reflects upon and affects the other brothers and sisters in Christ.

When we humble ourselves before God in obedience and purity of heart, let me tell you: there is no Jericho too strong to capture. Yet, if we dissemble and fail, striving against one another and out of unity, there are plenty of Ai's to defeat us. Israel was defeated because there was sin in the camp! Our success depends upon God's presence, and God's presence depends upon our keeping His dwelling place holy and clean. And where is His dwelling place??? The witness of the Church, the body of believers, to the glory of God depends upon the victorious life of each individual person who is a part of it.

Confession

We have dealt with the cause of Joshua's failure (self-confidence, sin, and neglect of prayer), but what is the cure? The thing which brought ultimate victory for Joshua and Israel was confession and obedience. Do you wonder how Achan felt that next day as he buried that which God had said to not take hold of? When He watched the small army go off to Ai, wonder how he felt? Wonder how he felt when the news of those thirty-six dead and an overwhelming defeat reached him?

We can apply similar questions to ourselves: wonder how many had died and been eternally lost because we, ourselves, failed? How many have given up, had gone back out in sin because we did not hold the victory as we should have? Oh, we will easily shove that off on others: "It's their decision," but when we stand before God, it will be there--that we failed to be the witnesses, the lights, that we should have been and knew to be.

It would have been better if old Achan had run to Joshua and confessed, but he did not. Perhaps he thought because there wasn't a crowd around to see what sin he committed, nobody knew of it. We keep forgetting that all-seeing eye that sees us when we think we are being most secretive. And let me say this: sin is blinding. Just as David was blinded to his terrible sin of committing adultery and murder, Achan was blinded to his sin. Sin can get hold of a person and make them think everything is going along just fine. But you see, there comes a day when that which is hidden will be revealed.

Joshua went through all of Israel, tribe by tribe, family by family. 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. 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. And Achan answered Joshua, and said, Indeed I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done: 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. Joshua 7:18-21.

Achan's sin was covetousness and it is still very prevalent today. Covetousness is wanting that which God does not want us to have, that which God says to leave alone. Achan's sin is clipping the power of God's people all over the country and around the world. We are not seeing the victories that we could see because of this very same thing today.

Covetousness was the very same sin which caused Ananias and Sapphira (Acts, Chapter 5) to reap death just as Achan was. They wanted to keep that which belonged to God. The very atmosphere in which we live today is charged with the subtle poison of covetousness. There are many many people in financial trouble because they covet their neighbors' furniture, house, clothes, or cars. They are not willing to be just what God wants them to be. They want to keep up a pretense before the world, and it gets them in trouble beyond what they are able to handle. God gives us variety and He wants us to act in the ability which He has given us.

Today, too many are estimated by their wealth. The great aim in too many lives is to get money and keep it. Covetousness can so take hold of you that you will not freely give. And here's a fact for you: if you do not freely give, you will not freely receive. Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again. Luke 6:38.

If you really listen to God and let Him be Lord of all your life, you will not be able to give away your finances a bit more than you can give away your salvation. The more you try to give it away, the more it grows, and the more you have to give away. Jesus, Himself, said, And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life. Matthew 19:29. That is paying off big!

Covetousness was stoned to death in Israel and covetousness was killed by God in the morning Church. Today, Christians tolerate it and then wonder why they do not have victory in their lives. People today are often foiled before such a little Ai because of such sin--thus we never see the walls of Jericho falling that we profess we would like to see.

Sanctify Yourselves Against Tomorrow

Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they were accursed: neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed from among you. Joshua 7:12. God wants us to fully realize how much He hates covetousness. Not only did thirty-six men give their lives because of it, but a whole family was killed to teach the children of Israel, and us how much He hates that which is sinful. We also see to what extremes He will go in order to wipe out sin which is contrary to His Will.

According to the lesson, to acknowledge our guilt of sin is not enough. We must consider why it happened, and why we allowed it. We must get to the very root of it. If I have failed, there is only one way to pray to God about it: "I was too confident in myself. I did not pray, I was disobedient. I was too weak to face this which I faced, and I have failed." We must acknowledge our sin. We have a problem with that. We try to justify it. Sin cannot be justified--we must acknowledge it and repent of it.

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. Joshua 7:13. Isn't that the love and kindness of God? How are we going to be sanctified against tomorrow? By being one hundred percent honest with God TODAY. None of us knows what tomorrow holds. Tomorrow may bring great trial or persecution, sickness or death. I do not know what tomorrow holds, but I can sancfify myself against tomorrow and the day after that and the day after that the rest of my life. How? By setting my house in order and being square with God today. [ The End ]