Today's entry evolved as a result of the January 6 entry in My Utmost for His Highest. In today's reading, Chambers includes a verse from the sixth chapter of Genesis that mentions the city of Ai. I did a quick search of Ai and found some parallels between a Christian's life and the ancient city.
After the fall of Jericho at the hands of the Joshua, the Israelites were instructed not to "keep any from the devoted things,
so that you will not bring about your own destruction by taking any of
them. Otherwise you will make the camp of Israel liable to destruction and bring trouble on it." Joshua 6:18 ESV However, we find in the following chapter that "Achan
the son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah,
took some of the devoted things. And the anger of the Lord burned against the people of Israel." Joshua 7:1 ESV
Shortly following Achan's disobedience, the tribe of Israel attacked the city if Ai and were soundly defeated. Joshua, distraught, falls on his face and cries out to God about the defeat. "Gloom, despair, and agony. Woe to the nation of Israel. The mean people are going to wipe us off the face of the earth!"
God's response is short, clear, and definite. "Get up! Israel has sinned." Joshua 7:10,11 ESV Quit whining, ya' big baby. The destruction is your own doing.
What a lesson for each of us. You cannot
be successful if there is unconfessed, unaddressed sin in our lives.
God does not tell Joshua you "might not be successful" or "your success
is unlikely", but "you cannot" be successful. Disobedience brings defeat. Sin results in failure.
God then tells Joshua, "You cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the devoted things from among you." Joshua 7:13 ESV Boom! There it is. The solution. The fix. The ticket to success.
It is also interesting that Achan's sin brought about the defeat of an entire army. Because of Achan's disobedience, the nation of Israel "turned their backs before their enemies" in retreat. How often does our personal sin affect the lives of others? What pain and suffering has our personal disobedience caused for those around us?
God revealed the problem, but what about a solution? God did not leave Joshua wondering how to fix things. He then told Joshua, "You cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the devoted things from among you." Joshua 7:13 ESV Boom! There it is. The solution. The fix. The ticket to success.
If we find things not going well, failure at every turn, look inward. Is there any unconfessed sin? Is there willful disobedience in our lives? Is so, confess and turn away from that sin. Just as God told Joshua thousands of year ago, the same holds true for us today, "You cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the devoted things from among you."
P.S. All was not lost for the nation of Israel. Tune in tomorrow for the rest of the story.
No comments:
Post a Comment