Overcoming Spiritual Failure

One of the dangers of past successes is that it can lead to complacency. Positive outcomes are exciting, but they can make us feel overconfident, overly optimistic, and in control. Soon we’re humbled and brought back to reality when we experience failure.

This seems to be what Joshua and Israel felt when they went to take Ai (Joshua 7:2-3). God had given them overwhelming victory and success in their previous battle at Jericho. So they must have thought that taking Ai would be a piece of cake, especially since there were so few of them. They were, however, routed and embarrassed (Joshua 7:4-5).

What went wrong? They were crushed because a guy named Achan had clandestinely breached the covenant by coveting and taking the devoted things (things dedicated for destruction, Joshua 7:1). As a result, the Lord’s anger burned against the whole community of Israel.

Though it was the act of one man, God’s wrath was experienced by all, for the whole nation was in covenant with Him (Joshua 7:11-12). God pointed out to Joshua that Israel had violated His covenant, and He instructed him to deal severely with the perpetrator who brought trouble on the entire community. Joshua obeyed God. Achan confessed his spiritual failure, and he and his entire family were severely punished.

Achan’s sad story teaches us: (1) Sin will weaken God’s people and rob the community of holiness before God. (2) There are always consequences to our sins. (3) When we fail, we need to refocus our lives on God and his glory. (4) We should confess our sins to God and others when they are revealed to us. (5) When we deal with sin, we must eradicate it. (6) Spiritual failure should teach us not to make the same mistake twice (Joshua 8:1). By, God’s grace, we can move on.

Taken from “Our Daily Journey”