Monday, January 11: Joshua 7: It didn't take long.

 

It didn’t take long for the selfishness and sinfulness of humankind to raise its ugly head. Three million or so people, hundred’s of thousands of fighting men, one man secretly sins during the first battle and the entire army and nation pays. Ouch.

What lessons am I hearing in my soul?

First, sin is pervasive. Be on the alert! It is easy to let my guard down and as soon as I do, sin creeps in. It was Achan in this story. It could have been Joan in another story or Bill in the next battle. I have to watch my life, even when God is providing victory and success. I imagine that Achan returned to his tent with those stolen items after a GREAT victory and said two things, “We won, it was amazing.” And “I brought these home, slipped them away and no one noticed.” I wonder what Achan might, and other guys who might have seen him have done during the next battle?

Two, maybe no one else knew what Achan did, but GOD knew. We think what we do is a secret but God knows. Whether it ever comes out into the light and is exposed or not, God knows. (And very often it does come out into the light… Bernie Madof, Tiger Woods…) God telegraphs me the message, “I know, I have seen, I will judge.”

Three, sin has communal effects, it is not solely personal. As I consider this story I am realizing that sin has a communal affect. I haven’t considered every sin but since lives touch lives, which touch more lives, the ripples of sin spread beyond ourselves and affect others. The more I think about it, the more I come to the belief that sin’s effect is never solely individual. The thief takes something from someone else. The liar’s words damage someone else. The adulterer crushes trust in a marriage. And so the ripples go. Achan’s sin resulted in 36 deaths.

Four, when we believe we are doing God’s will and things go terribly wrong, stop and ask… 1) “Lord, did I hear you correctly?” Maybe it wasn’t God’s will in the first place but our overactive imagination. 2) “Lord, have I sinned (or someone on the team sinned)?”

Holy Spirit, Jesus, Holy Father, there seems to be so much I can learn from this failure at Ai, things I can learn about myself and about life. Continue to teach me. To show me Your ways. Hold up Your mirror that I might see within my soul. Lord, the clearer I see my true self, the more I realize how much I need You. Jesus, thank You for atoning for my sins. Holy Spirit, thank You for applying the blood of Jesus to my sins. Holy Father, thank You for loving me so much You sent Jesus in the first place… Amen.