"God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast and when I run, I feel his pleasure."
I'll never know
‘I'll never know how much it cost to see my sin upon that cross’. (Here I am to worship, Tim Hughes, 2005)The LORD said to Joshua, ‘Stand up! What are you doing down on your face? 11 Israel has sinned; they have violated my covenant, which I commanded them to keep. They have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen, they have lied, they have put them with their own possessions. Joshua 7:10-11
In the first six chapters of Joshua we read of God’s promise to Joshua that he will give his people their own land. Joshua tells the people ‘the LORD will do amazing things amongst you’.(Joshua 3:5) Then they crossed the Jordan and God gave Jericho into their hands. Chapter six ends with the statement: ‘So the LORD was with Joshua, and his fame spread throughout the land’ but by the middle of chapter seven he is on his face in desperation. Everything was going so well. Then in chapter 7 they suffer a surprising military defeat. It transpires that the reason for the defeat was that they had lost God’s presence because of the sinful behaviour of one man, Achan. (The full account is in Joshua 7)
More important than the military defeat, the incident sapped Joshua’s confidence in God and God’s promise to give them the land. Most of us will recognize the despair Joshua felt when our failure or some incident outside our control has left us praying like Joshua ‘Why… if only’. We need to learn from Joshua to come to God honestly, to plead but also to listen.
It is striking that God’s explanation of the problem is expressed not in terms of Achan’s theft, deceit and selfishness but as Israel having sinned and violated the covenant. One man’s sin is deemed the sin of the community.
What are we to make of this incident as 21st century Christians? We may struggle with the severity of the punishment and with the attribution of guilt to the whole community. David Jackman comments: ‘The details are horrifying to us on a purely human level but they should be felt much more acutely as a spiritual warning. We dare not make God in our own image or downplay his holiness’. As we reflect on this passage, are we in danger of seeing breaking God’s covenant as no big deal, believing, ‘God will forgive; that’s his job’?* We need to recognize that without passages like this we might never fear sin. We need to remember that our sin took Jesus to the cross.
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 9:10). How do we fear the LORD?
Prayer: Lord help us to see sin as you see it and not trivialize it. Reflect on how Jesus restores our fellowship with God.
*Attributed to Heinrich Heine (1797-1856)
NOTE
The Book of Joshua is an historical book but not history as we know it. The author’s purpose is to write a theological narrative rather than a systematic account of the invasion of Canaan.
The book of Joshua is essentially about God interacting with his people, leading, teaching, rebuking and restoring. As we work through these chapters, we will find many reminders that our unchanging God continues to interact with us today, leading us on life’s journey till we land “safe on Canaan’s shore”, as the old hymn puts it.