Finding Freedom In Obedience

Slowly but surely I have been making my way through the book of Joshua. While it is slower than I intended, I am grateful for what I have been able to learn through this reduced pace. Chapters 6 and 7 have raised a lot of questions that I have been thinking through, some that I will share with you here today.

To provide some context, in Joshua 6 we see the fall of Jericho, a bible story you may know some familiar parts of. The start of this chapter tells us that the gates of Jericho had been "tightly shut because the people were afraid of the Israelites" (Verse1). Why were they afraid? Perhaps because they had heard of what God had been doing for the Israelites recently in conquering the land God had promised His people (we can see this in chapters 3-5 when God dries up the Jordan river to help the Israelites cross safely). God instructs Joshua to lead the Israelites around the walls of Jericho in a very specific way (see verses 3-5). Before God gives His instructions, He tells Joshua "I have given you Jericho, its king, and all its strong warriors" (Joshua 6:2). This is a promise from God. If we are familiar with His word, we know that He always delivers on what He promises.

At this point, the Israelites followed the orders God gave to Joshua exactly, and on the seventth day after the seventh march, "the walls of Jericho collapsed, and the Israelites charged straight into the town and captured it" (verse 20b, NLT). What an incredible scene to picture. Unfortunately, we quickly see how human nature gets in the way of God's good plans for us. Part of God's instruction to Joshua and the Israelites in taking Jericho was to destroy everything in the town as an offering to the LORD (Verses 17-19). One of the men, Achan, was tempted by the plunder, took it, and hid it for himself (Joshua 7:1).

We see this disobeduance, selfishness, and greed lead to Israel's failure in trying to take the city of Ai (Josha 7:4-5). This failure of their attack caused the people to be "paralyzed with fear" and "their courage melted away" (verse 5b, NLT). When situations don't go according to my plan, how often and how quickly do I respond by losing my courage and confidecne in God? More often than I would like to admit, that is certain. When Joshua cries out to God to seek answers on why He allowed this, God responds by telling Joshua, "Israel itself has been set apart for destruction" (vs. 12b) because someone broke the covenant. The sin and deceit of Israel is what set them up for destruction, they are not able to defeat their enemies until they remove what was causing them to sin. God tells Joshua, "Get up! Command the people to purify themsleves 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" (Joshua 7:13, NLT). Here, we see God giving them a chance to redeem their bad choices. We see His justice and mercy exist at the same time, giving His people more than the deserve.

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This situation raises a great question for us: Why do we hang onto baggage (in their case, plunder and money - in our case, whatever shame and sin we cannot seem to lay at the feet of Jesus) that will weigh us down? When we are able to realize the tocixity of our sins, they don't seems as glamaours anymore. Achan tells Joshua when he is confronted for keeping part of the plunder, "I saw a beautiful robe from Babylon, 200 silver coins, and a bar of gold weighing more than a pound. I wanted them so much that I took them" (vs. 21). The result of Achan's sin was him and his family being stoned to death. As he stood before God and his people, do you think the treasures he once thought worth hiding had any value now? How silly it must have seemed in that light.

It is easy to read this and think ourselves better then Achan, to write him off as a fool who cannot follow simple instructions, and claim we would never be so dumb. But, let's ask ourselves, how often have we been exactly like Achan? There are things, people, addictions, situations, you name it, that we hold on to because they just seem so important in the moment. Once we are able to see clearly and recognize the divide they create between us and God (and His best for us) it seems silly that we would've held onto them at all.

What are you holding onto today that is keeping you from fully being in the presence of God? Is it pride? Anger? Greed? Resentment? A bad realtionship? Let it go, He has so much better for us.

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God, help show us the things we are holding onto that keep us from fully experiencing all You have for us. Remind us of Your promise that You have good plans for us (Jeremiah 29:11). May we make room for you to make us whole and experience that goodness.