There must have been a great party. They were ready to “kick some tail and take some names”. How could anyone stand against this mighty war machine?
The next city that stood in their way was the tiny little city of Ai. Compared to Jericho it wasn’t much of a city at all. “Piece of cake. No problem. Easy piessy”.
But Joshua had learned from Moses his predecessor and sent
spies to the city to reconnoiter. Their
report? Don’t bother everyone with this
little task. We can take this city in
our sleep. This is a done deal. And Joshua listened to them and acted
accordingly.
So at the given day, he sent about 3000 warriors to wipe out
this little city and gain another notch on his gun. But the report that came back from the battle
field was “Houston, we have a problem”.
The men of Ai ran the 3000 men away and protected their
city. They killed 36 of Joshua’s men and
caused panic and fear in the hearts of the Children of Israel.
Joshua freaked out.
The people freaked out. Joshua
turned back to the things he had heard the people say when they had first left
Egypt. “Why did you bring us here God? Did
we have to come this far just to die in the desert?
But God quickly showed Joshua the problems that kept him
from taking the little city.
1. PROBLEM NUMBER
ONE: Israel had sinned. Well, the
whole nation really didn’t have anything to do with it but one guy (named
Achan) had taken some of the spoil of Jericho and hid it in his tent. The problem was that all the spoil was
supposed to belong to God. By taking it Achan had robbed God. Achan had sinned and his sin had brought on
problems for his nation and his people. Achan
had placed a curse on the entire camp and the entire nation of Israel.
If Israel ever expected to be a success, if they ever
expected to have victory, if they ever expected to live like God intended, the
sin would have to be removed and the act of sin pardoned.
If we had a good old time gospel preacher, he would make the
point here that God will not accept sin in the lives of His people. How can the God who hates sin in sinners
accept it and condone it in the lives of the people who call themselves His
children? He didn’t back in the days of
Joshua and He doesn’t today.
Sin must be removed from our lives if we expect to live
successfully and please God. Period.
We cannot continue sinning and expect to be what God wants us to be. We
cannot continue holding on to our sin with one hand and holding on to our
salvation with the other. God did not allow sin in the camp of the Israelites,
God will not allow sin in His heaven and God will not allow sin in the lives of
Christians.
Sin must be removed and forgiven. In churchy terms that’s called repentance and
forgiveness.
2. PROBLEM NUMBER TWO:
The Children of Israel gave less than one hundred percent commitment.
Don’t go to a lot of trouble Joshua.
Don’t sweat the small stuff. Just
commit a few men. Just make a token
effort. God did not accept that kind of
commitment then and He won’t accept it now.
If we had a good old time holiness preacher, he would point
out that there comes a time in the lives of each Christian when he must commit
his whole being, (mind, soul, body, spirit) to God. Total surrender. Total commitment. Not holding anything back. “It’s
yours God. It’s yours to make clean, it
yours to make holy, it yours to use as you see fit”. Made clean and set
aside and fit for the Master’s use. Not
made clean and set aside to be pretty and useless. But set aside for “use”. When God cleans you up, He cleans you up to
be useful for His kingdom.
That old time holiness preacher would call that
“Sanctification”.
So, the Children of Israel got shed of the sin. Achan paid
the ultimate price for his sin. Even
Achan’s family paid the ultimate price for his sin. A good sidebar here would be to say that your
sins don’t just affect you. Your sins
have an effect on those you love as well.
Joshua made a total commitment of his resources. God gave the plan. God gave the victory. The city of Ai fell.
It worked for Joshua.
It will work for you.
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