Every once
in a while, though, God shows up unbidden, speaking to me personally, revealing
a truth either forgotten, neglected, or never heard before; a truth I need to
hear in that moment, even if I am presently unaware of my need until after He
speaks.
The Book of
Joshua, and more specifically, the story of the Israelite conquest of Jericho
followed by the initial defeat at Ai, spoke to me in this otherworldly way,
creating a sense of awe and peace within me.
Before I
begin my story, I must first back up and relate a recent dream which left me
feeling a bit sad and hopeful at the same time. Without getting into the
strange idiosyncrasies of the dream, the result was that, in the dream, I felt
an unbelievable peace, contentment, and love unlike I have ever truly known in
my own life.
I longed to
feel that same intense sense of peace and contentment in my real life, to feel
like all is right in the world and not like something is missing and just out
of my reach. Still, it’s not as if I mourned something I could only attain in
my dream. I am not overcome by grief. It is more of a whimsical thought,
“Wouldn’t that be nice.”
Now, back to
the clarity given to me while re-reading the story of the Conquest of Jericho:
Before God
ever led the Israelites out of the desert, He gave them detailed instructions
on what to do, and how to live. He told the people that as long as they
followed these rules, God would live in their presence, and they would live in
peace. However, if they disobeyed God, His spirit would flee from them.
God gave the Israelites strict orders on how to defeat Jericho and what to do once the city was conquered. They followed the word of God precisely and the walls of Jericho fell. They conquered the city.
After this
amazing victory, the men of Israel set out to defeat Ai. However, “the men of
Ai struck down about thirty-six of their men, and pursued them from the gate as
far as Shebarim and struck them down on the descent, so the hearts of the
people melted and became as water.”
God promised
to go before them and to defeat their enemies if they did as God commanded. They
obeyed at Jericho. What happened?
Joshua fell
on his face before God, and God told Joshua that Israel sinned by taking some
of the banned things from out of Jericho. Achan admitted to taking silver and
gold and hiding them in his tent. In order to restore Israel, all of Achan’s
household, including his sons and daughters and livestock, were stoned to death
and set on fire.
After the
Israelites completed this brutal task, God restored His grace upon Israel, and
Israel defeated Ai.
It is often
easy to gloss over this story and to ignore these warnings because, after all,
we Christians are not bound by the ancient laws of Torah. We are blessed with the
Holy Spirit living inside us. We are blessed with Jesus and two thousand plus
years of church history and advanced civilization. In our modern era, no Christian in his or her
right mind would dare stone another Christian for committing a sin we could
have very easily committed ourselves.
Didn’t Jesus
teach us instead to forgive? I understand that’s how the world worked back
then, but it certainly isn’t relevant today . . . is it?
I used to
think of this story, and others like it, as nothing more than examples of our
dire need for a Savior. This may be so, but there is so much more meaning in
this text, something still so relevant for us today.
We may not
be required to follow every letter of the ancient law, but we are still called
to be obedient to God, whatever form that takes. There are Christian absolutes—sin
which is sin for every person—the “thou shalt nots.” There are also sins which
are only sins for the individual. If God tells me not to do something and I do
it, or if God tells me to do something and I don’t do it, this, too, is sin.
Just like
the Israelites, we have the assurance that as long as we obey God, He will be
with us and guide us. Once we sin, God’s presence flees from us because God
cannot be where sin dwells.
We may not
stone a man and his family to death because of sin, but we are still expected
to completely destroy sin and everything it touches if we want to get back into
the grace of God.
For us
today, Achan is our sin, whatever that sin may be. In this story, God is
telling us that we must rid ourselves of this sin completely.
·
We must confess our sin as Achan did. But
confession is not enough if we allow the sin to remain.
·
We must get rid of the sin itself—the silver and
gold (or lying, or infidelity, or pornography, or drunkenness, or any act of
disobedience). But we cannot stop there.
·
We must get rid of everything sin touches—Achan
and his entire household (begin to tell the truth, get rid of the pornographic
images, throw out the liquor, or stop second guessing God’s call). But, that,
too, is not enough.
·
We must then rid our lives of it forever—burn
the silver and gold and Achan and his entire household (lie no more, look no
more, drink no more, do as God tells you when He tells you).
Bringing it
all together:
For the
longest time, God has been telling me to trust Him. I begin to, but then panic
hits and I try to take charge of things I cannot control. I want assurances. I
want proof. I want it now. God showed me that I will never have the peace and
contentment of my dream if I can never learn to trust Him. Not trusting God
when He tells me time after time to trust Him is a sin, my sin.
If I want to
fully live in God’s presence, if I want that peace and contentment to be real
in my life and not simply real in a dream, I must confess my sin, pray for
forgiveness, ask for help, and trust Him.
No one said
getting rid of sin would be easy. I’m sure the people of Israel did not kill
Achan and his household without emotion. I’m sure Joshua did not order this act
without tears. I’m sure people loved them and mourned for them and mourned for
what they must do. It could not have been easy to throw those stones, but they
did it because it had to be done in order to save the Israelite nation. Had
they not done the hard work, Israel would have been annihilated.
It is not
easy for us to give up sin, even when we know we must. Addiction and habit are
powerful strongholds. But the reward is so worth the effort.
Joshua 6-7
(NASB)
Addendum:
After
writing this post, I heard the retelling of a sermon about stoning. I always imagined
the condemned surrounded by a large group holding large stones. When the call
was given, the group would hurl rocks at the condemned. I imagined this to be
an excruciatingly painful and slow death.
During this
sermon, the pastor, a student of religious history, portrayed what took place
during a real stoning. The condemned was forced to lay in a man sized hole dug
in the ground. Someone would throw a large rock at the condemned man’s head,
most likely killing him instantaneously. The others would throw their rocks on
the body, covering the body.
In essence,
the condemned man laid in his own grave. The initial blow killed him. The
others buried him with rocks.
As a lover
of religious history myself, I share this bit of insight, assured that it does
not take away from the lesson God taught me through the story of Achan. If
anything, the fact that I heard this story so soon after my lesson proves to me
the validity of what He wanted me to learn.
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