Joshua and the perplexing Ai.

     Of all the characters in the Bible, perhaps none are quite so well known (at least to myself) as Joshua son of Nun.  Besides having an oddly named dad, he was famous for the military victories Israel clinched under his leadership.  He led Israel into the promised land, an honor given not even to Moses.  What some people may not know, however, is that "Joshua" was not always his name.  He used to have the far less common name of Hoshea.  According to Numbers 13:16, "These are the names of the men Moses sent to explore the land. (Moses gave Hoshea son of Nun the name Joshua.)" (NIV 1984, boldface added)  As it turns out, "Hoshea" means Salvation.  But when Moses changed Hoshea's name to Joshua, the meaning of his name became "The Lord is salvation".  Also, the name "Joshua" is actually the Hebrew equivalent to the Greek name "Jesus".  Obviously Joshua had a pretty great name.  Some of God's first words to Joshua as leader of Israel were,  “Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them. Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go.  Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”  (Joshua 1:6-9 NIV 1984)  God repeatedly told Joshua not to be afraid, and promised to be with him wherever he went.

     Then we read about Jericho, and the amazing victory Israel had over that city because God gave it to them. (Joshua 6)  However, there was a slight catch to their defeat of Jericho about the way they were to handle the plunder.  They weren't to keep any of it.  God said, "And you, by all means abstain from the accursed things, lest you become accursed when you take of the accursed things, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it. But all the silver and gold, and vessels of bronze and iron, are consecrated to the Lord; they shall come into the treasury of the Lord.” (Joshua 6:18-19 NKJV)

     This sounds like a fairly simple command, right?  Yes, "But the children of Israel committed a trespass regarding the accursed things, for Achan the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed things; so the anger of the Lord burned against the children of Israel." (Joshua 7:1 NKJV)

     This means things start to go downhill.  "Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Beth Aven, on the east side of Bethel, and spoke to them, saying, “Go up and spy out the country.” So the men went up and spied out Ai. And they returned to Joshua and said to him, “Do not let all the people go up, but let about two or three thousand men go up and attack Ai. Do not weary all the people there, for the people of Ai are few.” So about three thousand men went up there from the people, but they fled before the men of Ai. And the men of Ai struck down about thirty-six men, for they chased them from before the gate as far as Shebarim, and struck them down on the descent; therefore the hearts of the people melted and became like water. (Joshua 7:2-5 NKJV)

     It was a sad day, and Joshua couldn't understand it.  He'd just won the victory against a far more formidable city, and now this?  His response was as follows: "Then Joshua tore his clothes, and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the Lord until evening, he and the elders of Israel; and they put dust on their heads. And Joshua said, “Alas, Lord God, why have You brought this people over the Jordan at all—to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? Oh, that we had been content, and dwelt on the other side of the Jordan! O Lord, what shall I say when Israel turns its back before its enemies? For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear it, and surround us, and cut off our name from the earth. Then what will You do for Your great name?” (Joshua 7:6-9 NKJV)  Joshua did what most of us would probably have done in his place.  He panicked.  And he took his panic to God, but not in a particularly trustful way.  Instead, he told God that he wished Israel had not done what God told them to do, and asked God why He brought Israel there at all, and asked God what He would do for Himself.  But what's interesting is God's response.  "So the Lord said to Joshua: “Get up! Why do you lie thus on your face?" (Joshua 7:10 NKJV)  This was probably not the response that Joshua or anyone would expect.  But God wasn't going to let Joshua sit there and be upset and despairing.  He said, "Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them. For they have even taken some of the accursed things, and have both stolen and deceived; and they have also put it among their own stuff. Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they have become doomed to destruction. Neither will I be with you anymore, unless you destroy the accursed from among you.  Get up, sanctify the people, and say, ‘Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow, because thus says the Lord God of Israel: “There is an accursed thing in your midst, O Israel; you cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the accursed thing from among you.”  In the morning therefore you shall be brought according to your tribes. And it shall be that the tribe which the Lord takes shall come according to families; and the family which the Lord takes shall come by households; and the household which the Lord takes shall come man by man. Then it shall be that he who is taken with the accursed thing shall be burned with fire, he and all that he has, because he has transgressed the covenant of the Lord, and because he has done a disgraceful thing in Israel.’" (Joshua 7:11-15 NKJV)

     Now let's pause for a moment.  Have you ever taken on a task and had it fail on you miserably?  Well, how did you respond?  Joshua responded with panic and a lack of trust in God, even though (1) his name meant "The Lord is Salvation", (2) he had just won against Jericho, and (3) he had been told (repeatedly) not to be afraid.  We have all the promises in the Bible, and yet as Christians we often feel as Joshua did, especially after a massive failure.  Do we respond in the same way?  Consider what happened next.

     "So Joshua rose early in the morning and brought Israel by their tribes, and the tribe of Judah was taken. He brought the clan of Judah, and he took the family of the Zarhites; and he brought the family of the Zarhites man by man, and Zabdi was taken.  Then he brought his household man by man, and Achan the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken.  Now Joshua said to Achan, “My son, I beg you, give glory to the Lord God of Israel, and make confession to Him, and tell me now what you have done; do not hide it from me.”  And Achan answered Joshua and said, “Indeed I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and this is what I have done: When I saw among the spoils a beautiful Babylonian garment, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. And there they are, hidden in the earth in the midst of my tent, with the silver under it.”  So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent; and there it was, hidden in his tent, with the silver under it. And they took them from the midst of the tent, brought them to Joshua and to all the children of Israel, and laid them out before the Lord.  Then Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, the silver, the garment, the wedge of gold, his sons, his daughters, his oxen, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent, and all that he had, and they brought them to the Valley of Achor. And Joshua said, “Why have you troubled us? The Lord will trouble you this day.” So all Israel stoned him with stones; and they burned them with fire after they had stoned them with stones.  Then they raised over him a great heap of stones, still there to this day. So the Lord turned from the fierceness of His anger. Therefore the name of that place has been called the Valley of Achor to this day." (Joshua 7:16-26 NKJV)

     After this happened, you can guess what followed.  Israel went to battle against Ai again, and was victorious

     So what's the lesson to be learned?  Simply that we must trust God regardless of what happens, and not let failure motivate fear.  If something (even something we undertake for God) goes wrong, we can ask God why, but we must remember that He knows everything that goes on, and is aware of things we may not be.  Whether it's "sin in the camp" that we must repent of, or simply the fact that we made a mistake, or something that only He knows about, yet we must remember not to fear.  God is always there, and He keeps a better eye on us than we know of.  He will not leave or forsake us.  When things go wrong, remember that He is still God, and He still loves you.  That is something you can permanently rely on.  Don't let your fear squelch your faith, but rather let your faith conquer your fear.  Above all things, when things go sour, even then "be strong and courageous".



(NIV 1984 Means New International Version 1984)
(NKJV means New King James Version)

You Get what He Paid for.

"You get what you pay for".  "You have to spend money to make money".  We've probably all heard and believe these well-known market proverbs.  We expect a certain quality according to what we spend.  When something costs more that's usually because it's higher grade, right?  Oftentimes this saying rings true.  We go to the Olive Garden and not the McDonald's when we want higher quality, even though it will cost us more.  However, we seem to think sometimes that the concepts apply outside of the shopping we do.  But there are places they don't belong, especially in relationships.  But we do sometimes put them there.  We apply them to our relationships so that we think "If I invest this into the relationship, they'll invest that."  We may even find ourselves not expecting something from someone because we didn't give them something.  This is not the best way to handle our friends and family.  But there's an even worse place for us to have this mentality than with other people, and that is in our relationship with God.  How often do we find ourselves doubting God's goodness because we couldn't give Him anything, or because we did something we thought made us disqualified for His grace?  I do it.  I think almost everyone doubts God in this way sometimes.  Do we ever find ourselves thinking there must be a catch to God's grace?  I've been guilty of thinking it.  "Oh dear, because I did x or y I'm just not sure if I'm still saved".  We limit God's grace to what we can do, forgetting that He is God.   Today we're going to look at someone who simply believed God,  named Abram (later Abraham), and see what the Apostle Paul had to say about him.

     Abram was getting to be an old man.  In fact, he was a old man.  You see, he had been told by God to leave his home and go to some new place.  He had been given an interesting promise as well.  We read it in Genesis 12:1-4:

"Now the Lord had said to Abram:

“Get out of your country,
From your family
And from your father’s house,
To a land that I will show you.
I will make you a great nation;
I will bless you
And make your name great;
And you shall be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
And I will curse him who curses you;
And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”" (NKJV)

     Note the phrase "I will make you a great nation" (v.2).  Abram was well past the age for having kids, but God did not mean to make him a military nation.  No, He meant to make Abram a great nation through his descendants.  Now this seems exceedingly unlikely.  You don't hear of many elderly men like him having more kids, and this was exactly what God was promising Abram.  So what did he do?

"So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.  Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they departed to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan." (Genesis 12:4-5 NKJV)

     Only three chapters later, we see an actual conversation between God and Abram.  It has a statement that I would like to bring special attention to.  In Genesis 15:1-6 we read:

"After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.”  But Abram said, “Lord God, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”  Then Abram said, “Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir!”  And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.”  Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”

And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness. (NKJV, emphasis added)

     Righteousness?  God accounted Abram's belief to him for righteousness?  That's great, but what does it have to do with us?  Well let me zoom a little farther in the Bible into a book called Romans, where the Apostle Paul looks at this story and explains how it affects us.  We pick up what he has to say to us in chapter 4.

"What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh?  For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.  For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”  Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.  But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness,  just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works:

“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
And whose sins are covered;
Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin.”  (Romans 4:1-8 NKJV)

     Do you see what Paul is saying?  Those who work get paid for their work, but Abraham (by they way, if you noticed the name change, it came from God,) was not like that.  The righteousness Abraham acquired was through belief.  He didn't invest money or strike a deal with God.   In fact, God struck the deal with him and made the deal to rely specifically on God.  As a result, Abraham was  given something that we all need today.  God did not impute sin to Abraham. 

     So what does this have to do with us?  The answer is fairly simplistic.  God followed through on His promises to Abraham, and He will do the same for us.  We need to stop thinking about our investment in our relationship with God.  He cares about our actions, but they do not dictate His.  He will save us.  In fact, let me make your life a little easier.  Every bad thing you do God already saw coming before the creation of the world.  You can't surprise or shock Him.  Paul has more to say a little later in the chapter.

"For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.  For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect,  because the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression." (Romans 4:13-15 NKJV)

     Do you see what's happening here?  We don't live under an if-then system of our action starts God's reaction.  He remains the same, fickle as we are, and will never change His promises towards us.  We are not under the law of condemnation, but instead the law of grace.

     So what do we do with this?  Simply this:  when we mess up (as we will, daily,) we repent, ask for forgiveness from our Father, and we move on.  He doesn't remember our sins, why should we?

     So God is not treating us like a businessman who expects an investment of a certain perfectness from us.  He does want our hearts, and for us to love Him with all we have.  But He knows we're imperfect.  That's why He died for us!  He loves you too much to be fickle towards you.  He's God, and He doesn't work on the same plane of operation that we do.  In essence, we get what He paid for.  That's how much He loves you.

(NKJV Means New King James Version)