January 30, 2011 (Joshua 1-7)

Moses has died and now Joshua is leading the Israelites. Once God got them into the Promised Land they were able to eat from the crops that had been planted by those who had lived there. And at that point manna was never seen again. Coincidence? Not a chance. How many things have happened in my life that I have attributed to 'coincidence' instead of the direct hand of God?

When the Israelites defeated Jericho, God gave them explicit instructions, and those were that they were not to take any of the 'plunder' for themselves. They soundly defeated Jericho, and not long after went to destroy Ai. But with that attempt they were soundly defeated and 36 men lost their lives. When Joshua heard what had happened he immediately went before God in mourning, and then lamented to God about why He had brought them across the Jordan River if He was going to allow them to be defeated. He never thought about the fact there could be a reason for their defeat. Here was God's response:

^7:10 But the Lord said to Joshua, “Get up! Why are you lying on your face like this? ¹¹ Israel has sinned and broken my covenant! They have stolen some of the things that I commanded must be set apart for me. And they have not only stolen them but have lied about it and hidden the things among their own belongings. ¹² That is why the Israelites are running from their enemies in defeat. For now Israel itself has been set apart for destruction. I will not remain with you any longer unless you destroy the things among you that were set apart for destruction.

 ¹³ “Get up! Command the people to purify themselves in preparation for tomorrow. For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Hidden among you, O Israel, are things set apart for the Lord. You will never defeat your enemies until you remove these things from among you.

I look back at my own life and see those times where God treated me the same way. He does not allow us to continue in our sin. If we chose our sin over Him, we chose to 'go it alone'. He commands that we remove from our lives the things that cause separation from Him.

The other thing I saw from this passage is that our sin affects other people. Those thirty six men suffered the consequences of one man's sin. And not only them, but when he was punished for his sin, his family died with him. Oh that God would give us eyes to see that He demands purity in every area. He does not take sin lightly - it cost Him His Son.