From Joshua 6 and 7 (NIV) 2 Then the LORD said to Joshua, “See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. 12 Joshua got up early the next morning and the priests took up the ark of the LORD. 13 The seven priests carrying the seven trumpets went forward, marching before the ark of the LORD and blowing the trumpets. 14 So on the second day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp. They did this for six days. 15 On the seventh day, they got up at daybreak and marched around the city seven times in the same manner, except that on that day they circled the city seven times. 16 The seventh time around, when the priests sounded the trumpet blast, Joshua commanded the army, “Shout! For the LORD has given you the city! 17 The city and all that is in it are to be devoted to the LORD. 18 But keep away from the devoted things, so that you will not bring about your own destruction by taking any of them. 20 When the trumpets sounded, the army shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the men gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so everyone charged straight in, and they took the city. (Joshua 7) 2 Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, and told them, “Go up and spy out the region.” 3 When they returned to Joshua, they said, “Not all the army will have to go up against Ai.” 4 So about three thousand went up; but they were routed by the men of Ai… 13 …for this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: There are devoted things among you, Israel. You cannot stand against your enemies until you remove them 20 Achan replied, “It is true! I have sinned against the LORD, the God of Israel. 21 When I saw in the plunder a beautiful robe from Babylonia, two hundred shekels of silver and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them.
Success and victory are sometimes harder to handle than opposition and overwhelming odds. Success has a way of pushing our confidence in God to the periphery. We believe we can get what we want if we just play our cards right. Have you found that to be true? After the heady experience of overcoming the overwhelming odds of Jericho, Israel fell before the puny power of Ai. At Ai, the Israelites demonstrated no trust in God, no hearing of the promise or command, just the naked belief that the city could be had if the cards were played right.
“When I saw in the plunder a beautiful robe from Babylonia, two hundred shekels of silver and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them.” When we covet, life begins to resemble a huge game that we must play to win. The command is, “you must maneuver and manipulate.” The promise is, “if you do it right, you will win.” This way of thinking always does damage and finally brings defeat. But, here is the good news of Ai: the defeat restored their faith.
The point of the story is not simply to open our eyes during a time of defeat. The story is given so we might be vigilant in our success. Success is not the end of the fight. Success brings the fight against the erosion of our confidence in God. The question is the same, “do I battle on my own or do I fight in the confidence of God, listening for the promise and obeying the command?” It was faith that brought down the city of Ai, confidence in the unseen power of God based on the promise, and a response to the command.
From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope, 1985
© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell
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