READING:
One-year plan: Joshua 6-9
Two-year plan: Job 39-40, Acts 27:13-38
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It was a marvelous victory! The supernatural commander of the Lord’s army was present with His people (Josh 5:13-15), and the warrior God delivered Jericho in the hands of His people.
But then came Ai. The Israelite army attacked the city, and this time they were soundly defeated. The people who had recently celebrated victory now mourned in grief. Their leader — the one who was to be strong and courageous — could only tear his clothes in grief and fall on his face before God.
What happened? The answer: there was secret sin in the camp.
Achan had kept some of the spoils of the victory of Jericho for himself, in direct opposition to God’s command to destroy (to “devote to destruction”) those spoils. He did exactly what Adam and Eve did, and what you and I do too often in temptation: he saw, he coveted, he took, and he hid (Josh 7:20). What he could not do was hide what he did from God. At this pivotal point in Hebrew history, when God’s people were freshly in the Promised Land, He dramatically showed them the seriousness of sin by calling for the death of Achan and his family. God simply would not tolerate sin among His people.
The lesson is quite simple: we have no right to expect victory when we have hidden sin in our lives. That’s why the enemy wants you to keep your sin in the darkness today. As long as you do that, he’s winning.
PERSONAL REFLECTION: Is there any hiddenness in your life?
DAILY PRAYER: “God, help me to be filled with integrity in my inner being..”
TOMORROW’S READINGS:
One-year plan: Joshua 10-14
Two-year plan: Job 41, Acts 27:39-28:6
MEMORIZATION VERSE (March 1-15):
“He is your glory and He is your God, who has done these great and awesome things for you which your eyes have seen.” (Deut 10:21)
*portions first published in 2016