Title Lessons from Failure/Joshua 7:1-5
Ai is a small city compared to Jericho, but the Israelites failed. Let's take a look at the lessons it teaches us here.
1. You cannot win with hidden sins.
The Israelites' conquest of Canaan teaches us a lesson in spiritual battles in this age. To win in spiritual battle, you cannot win with hidden sins. Because where there is sin, God is not with him.
Hophni and Phinehas, the sons of Eli the priest, despised God's sacrifice. Then he went out to the battlefield with only the ark of God. Just because you take the ark of God with you, does not mean that God is with you. Wherever there is sin, God leaves. And you can't win. If we want true victory, we must first repent of our sins. God said to Joshua in 7:11-12, "Israel has sinned, and has broken my covenant which I commanded them: they took the sacrifices, and stole and defrauded them and put them in their own wares. I will not be with you any more, unless I destroy the offering from among you."
2. There is no sin that can deceive God.
This man named Achan took things from Jericho without anyone else's knowledge and put them in his place. Joshua 7:21 describes the things Achan hid. “When I saw among the spoils a beautiful cloak from Mount Shinar, two hundred shekels of silver, and one piece of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted it and took it. I thought no one would know. But you cannot deceive the eyes of God. We need to know that God is the one who searches our hearts. You must have a heart to fear God.
Psalm 139 records the omniscience of God. Verses 7-12 are written like this:
"Where shall I go from Your Spirit, where shall I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Hades, You are there. Even if I spread my wings at the dawn and go to dwell at the ends of the sea, even there Your hand is guiding me; He will uphold me. If I say, “The darkness will surely overshadow me, and the light that surrounds me will become night,” the darkness cannot hide from you; the night shines like the day, for to you darkness and light are common.”
Jonah ran away because he did not want to obey God's word. I thought you wouldn't know if you were hiding under the boat. But God is the one who throws Jonah into the sea and makes him repent in the belly of the fish. You cannot run away from the face of God.
3. It is the sin of one person, but sometimes it causes suffering to many people.
Consider how many people suffered because of the sin of one man Achan.
(1) First, thirty-six people died on the battlefield. In 7:5 it is written, “The men of Ai killed about thirty-six of them.”
(2) All the Israelites were afraid when they heard this news. In 7:5 it says, “The hearts of the people melted and became like water.”
(3) And all his family were wiped out in the Valley of Achor. 7:24 "And Joshua, with all Israel, took Achan the son of Zerah, and brought his silver, his cloak, and his gold, his sons and daughters, oxen and donkeys, sheep, tents, and all that belonged to him to the Valley of Achor. "Go to" and stone him to death. We must remember that the small sin of one person sometimes causes suffering to many.
We do not always learn blessings and positive thinking from the Bible. The Bible teaches us in detail the consequences of transgression. And those who wish to win the spiritual battle must not fall into the path of sin.