I Don't Believe God Brought Me This Far to Leave Me; But, When We Leave Him

And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel. (1 Kings 6:13 KJV)

I always say where there is a command, there is a promise. Where there is a promise there is a command.

God promised Joshua and the people of Israel that they would not be defeated by the hands of their enemies. However, they were defeated and made ashamed by the men of Ai. A group of people that they SHOULD have been able to easily destroy. They were so confident that they had that battle in the bag that they only sent a few thousand soldiers because there were so few solidiers on the other side. They werent a real threat....However,

"And the men of Ai smote of them about thirty and six men: for they chased them from before the gate even unto Shebarim, and smote them in the going down: wherefore the hearts of the people melted, and became as water" (Joshua 7:5 KJV)

Those few men of Ai were able to rise up against the mighty nation of Isreal, kill a few men, chase them away and make them look weak in front of mightier nations. The word would get out quickly that they couldn't even defeat THEM, how could they inhabitant and take over bigger giants?

Did God break His promise? Nope, they broke His command. They defeated themselves!

God always give instructions and orders for His will to be done. If we don't do it right, He can always get it done through some other means.

Joshua and the people wept, and prayed and even questioned "God how could you let this happen to us?" "You know You can just send us back where we came from if you are gonna act like this" The best line of all was when Joshua said "Dont You know God that if we don't look good, you don't look good?"

So finally God told them to stop looking out for reasons why they failed and start looking within. Look within for sin and disobedience. He didn't leave them, They had disobeyed Him and left Him.. Although there was only one person that stole things that God didn't want him to have, they were One Nation and they all had to take the fall. God had to demonstrate the wages of sin is death and that obedience is better than sacrifice.

God had to set them straight and let them know that He never turned His back on them, they turned away, and because they didn't do His Will, well things went another way. WE choose life or death, blessings or curses. Whatever we chose is often what we get.

"And Achan answered Joshua, and said, Indeed I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done: When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and, behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it. (Joshua 7:20, 21 KJV)"

Achan coveted and stole things that were to be destroyed. God is our provider, He never wants us to behold anything the wrong way. Achan not only showed his disobedience, but showed lust, greed, and his lack of Faith in that he thought he had to steal, OR in other words, GO AFTER THINGS THAT ARE NOT MEANT FOR US. Now we may never be tempted to steal, but we can easily fall into the temptation of losing Faith, not trusting God's Word or provision, and as a result become disobedient by doing it OUR own way. I believe that's a major lesson for us today. Sadly, Achan's entire family went down with him because of his lack of faith, lust, and disobedience. This still happens today. No, entire families may not get stoned and burned. But the sin of one can bring shame, disgrace and curses on the entire family. Families can literally be destroyed if they do not let God intervene with His grace and mercy and CHANGE things.

This is exactly what he did after Achan came forth,and confessed his sins. God had to allow the natural consequences of disobedience to befall Achan, but He turned things around for Joshua and the Israelites and made them a great and mighty nation. He does the same today! ! If we confess our sins, He is faithful and willing to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness...AND LEAD us into all of His righteousness. Praise God for His faithfulness, grace and mercy.
LaKeshia Alexander

Created 11 months ago