During these campaigns of great victory God was very explicit to the
Israelites to take none of the plunder they found. The picture drawn for us
today is that
After these huge victories, Joshua faced a smaller enemy in the people of Ai. Joshua dispatched 3,000 men for what their carnal minds thought should be an easy victory. The Israelites were soundly defeated however. What Joshua did not know is that there was sin in the camp. A man named Achan had secretly taken some of the plunder God had instructed they were to not take. It wasn't much. He took a Babylonian robe, some silver and a bar of gold. The size of the sin does not matter to God only the disobedience. We also sometimes convince ourselves that the sin we deal with is somehow small enough for God to overlook. It never is too small beloved. So Joshua rent his garments and cried out to God. But it was not a cry of repentance:
Then Joshua
cried out, "Oh, Sovereign L ord ,
why did you bring us across the
Isn't this sometimes how we cry out to God as well? Why me God? Why did it have to go this way? Wasn't I better off before I tried to follow your will? As Christians we too can be so easily guilty of blaming God or looking to others instead of looking inside our own camp for the hidden sin. For that small bit of yeast that is infecting the entire batch. Here is the response from God to Joshua and to us today:
But the L ord said to Joshua, "Get up! Why are
you lying on your face like this?
The sin of Achan was uncovered and weeded out of the camp. Revival came to the Israelites that day and soon after they defeated Ai. But revival could not come to them until they repented. They could not repent until they dealt with the sin issue among them. Likewise, we cannot have the victory without the process and we cannot have the process without understanding the cause. Treating the symptom will not cure the disease. Look at that last verse God will NOT remain with us unless we destroy the things amongst us that God already set apart for destruction!
What ramifications does that have for our lives and the life of our church? What things has God set apart for destruction that we still cling to? What do we have buried in our tent like Achan before us? Have we been deceptive? Have we lied? Have we gained advantage through unjust means? Have we offended one another without reconciliation? I am sure that during the time between when Achan took the items and he was discovered he acted like the rest of his clan. Just a little yeast in his tribe. I'd guess that he attended whatever ceremonies they had to praise God, lifted his hands and said and did all the right things. All the expected things. All the "churchy" things. Everything except obedience. Maybe he even prayed with people or prayed over people. Appearing pious when in his heart he was false. THAT is the leaven the key verses speak about today.
The verses from Paul's letter to the Church at
What is the worldly plunder buried in our tent today? Revival is waiting for all who truly seek it. All who truly repent. Repentance is waiting for all who truly seek it as well. All who truly look at their own sin, at their own Babylonian robe that they cling to instead of God. The Prophet Ezekiel concludes for us:
"Therefore I
will judge you, O house of
Get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit beloved! When you peel away the tent meetings and prayer vigils you eventually will be left with yourself and your God. Because at the end of the day the heart of the matter is not your pastor, your boss, the person sitting next to you in the pew or the people still stuck in the world. The heart of the matter is the condition of our heart and the sin which we so easily carry with us. We must cast it out of the batch and repent. Turn away from the things we kept from the world and turn toward the God says, "live!" Then we can expect revival. Then we can hope to never need it again.
Reverend Anthony Wade August 31, 2011