Printer Friendly VersionLast week we looked at what I believe is the primary lesson
of this text. Namely, the tremendous impact the sin of even one member of
the community can have upon the entire group.
As we saw, the sin of Achan led to Israel’s defeat in
the battle for the city of Ai, because covenant had been broken between the
people of Israel and God. As a result God could not be with them as He wanted
to be.
However, I want us to hear this morning another aspect of this
story, because I think it’s something you and I deal with an awful lot
in our own spiritual lives and in the life of the church.
I want us to notice how Joshua and Israel reacted when defeat
came. How did they respond to the setback? You see, things were going very
well. At the end of chapter six they were on top of the world. The walls of
Jericho came crashing down, just as God said they would; they easily took
over the city. They were feeling very good about this whole conquest thing.
In fact, they were feeling so good that when it came time to
spy out the next city, the spies came back and said, “Nothing to worry
about, we could do this with one arm tied behind our backs. In fact, let’s
just send up a small force, no need to bother the entire army.”
I’ve been reading Stephen Ambrose’s book about D-Day,
June 6, 1944. When the infantry who invaded the beaches at Normandy were briefed
on their mission, they were led to believe the pre-invasion artillery barrage
would be so overwhelming, that establishing a beachhead would be a walk in
the park.
Well, “The best laid plans” as they say. Israel
went sauntering up to Ai and promptly got beaten back. They were driven into
almost immediate retreat and lost 36 men in the process.
Suddenly, Joshua and Israel weren’t so confident. In fact,
they fell into awful despair. They tore their clothes and poured dust on their
heads and began to cry out to God, “Oh, what have you done to us, you’ve
left us alone, life is awful. Oh woe is us. We should have just stayed on
the other side of the Jordan.”
Now is it just me, or does that sound kind of familiar? I mean,
doesn’t that sound a bit like us whenever the going gets a little tough?
I know I’ve been guilty of it before.
There have been a few Sunday nights when I felt like doing what
Joshua did here. Do you know Sunday night can be the worst time in the life
of a pastor? Most of the time I go home on Sunday night after a full day,
feeling very good about what’s happened and how God is blessing us as
a church. Many Sunday nights I think, “It’s good to be a pastor
at this church.”
But then there are those other Sunday nights when I go home
and I want to tear my clothes and pour ashes on my head. It’s not your
fault; it’s just the way life is sometimes, you know?
We are very confident about God’s care for us and His
watchfulness over us whenever things are going well. But let something go
wrong, let a setback come, let a defeat come, and all of the sudden we are
assuming the very worst.
We hit a hard place in our lives and suddenly we wonder if God
really loves us. Or we hit some roadblock in our ministry and suddenly we
begin to question if God is really in it or not.
I’ve watched a lot of people get all excited and pumped
up about a new ministry, but as soon as the first hurdle comes or they experience
the slightest setback, they throw up their hands and walk away.
I’ve even seen that happen in some people’s walk
with the Lord. They are all excited and positive when it’s goodness
and light, but when suffering hits or when a hard time comes then it’s,
“Well what use is it to serve God if this is all I get?”
That’s why I am so very grateful for the testimonies of
Judie and Sharon who are saying to us in the midst of suffering, “There
is a God who is faithful, there are lessons to be learned, there is redemption
even in dark times.”
When the going gets tough, we are far too quick to assume God’s
absence or disinterest. It’s amazing how quick we can be to assume the
worst—to assume God has left us. But I think this story gives us insight
into what may really be happening during those times.
It wasn’t that God had abandoned them, but there was a
problem that had to be confronted and fixed. There was an important lesson
to be learned. Israel needed to undergo a mid-course correction if she was
to have any hope of being faithful to the mission God had given.
Now on the one hand, we can understand Joshua’s reaction
here. The defeat was a shock, totally unexpected. The Bible says, “Their
hearts melted and became like water.” And remember, Joshua didn’t
yet know what we know. He didn’t know about Achan’s sin. He didn’t
know this was the reason his army experienced such an embarrassing defeat.
But this was a crucial moment in the relationship between God and Joshua,
between God and Israel.
You see, it is right at the point of disappointment, right at
the point of setback, that critical decisions are made in our spiritual journey—decisions
that shape the direction of our lives and seriously impact our overall spiritual
health.
The way Joshua talked to the Lord here almost sounds accusatory
and full of blame. I think if I had been near Joshua while he was talking
like this I would have moved out of lightning-strike range, you know?
But the more I listen to this cry from the heart of Joshua,
the less I think it comes with a pointed finger. I really think this is a
great prayer and it represents a critical shift in Joshua’s thinking
that enabled him to move forward.
This is different than Israel’s unbelieving complaints
in the wilderness. I went back and read many of those again. When their going
got tough they grumbled against God. They basically said, “The Lord
hates us, let’s cut our losses and get out of here.”
Joshua’s words are not words of unbelief. They are words of despair
and grief. Joshua was stricken, he was deeply troubled. He was confused and
didn’t understand what God was doing.
But there’s one major thing that makes Joshua’s
prayer different from Israel’s grumbling: Joshua complained to God,
but not about God. He still acknowledged the sovereignty of God. That’s
how he started his cry: “Ah, sovereign Lord.”
And then he voiced his complaint very honestly, but then at
the end of the prayer he said, “Lord, this reflects on you. What about
your great name?” There’s the critical shift.
Joshua moved from “Oh, woe is me” to “What
about the Kingdom?” And that is precisely where God can transform defeat
into victory. Times of spiritual setback and defeat can be turned to victory
when it stops being all about me, and becomes all about the plan and will
of God.
And that’s when the Lord was able to say to Joshua, “Listen,
get up off your face. This isn’t about your ability as a leader. It’s
about a sin problem that exists in the community and it must be dealt with.”
Now this is a bit tricky, I will admit. Because on the one hand
I certainly do not believe God capriciously causes terrible things to happen
to us just to teach us lessons. Not every calamity that comes our way is a
direct result of God’s judgment.
We live in a fallen world and bad things happen to good people.
However, are we willing to accept the biblical truth that sometimes God does
discipline His children? Are we willing to accept the idea that our setbacks
could be an opportunity for God to teach critical lessons of dependency on
Him? The reason I think Joshua’s is a prayer of faith is because he
was ready to listen to what the Lord had to say about all this.
He could have denied reality. Militarily losing 36 men out of
3,000 wasn’t all that bad a deal. He could have easily just said, “Well,
that’s just how it is sometimes; we’ll hit them again with more
force.”
But Joshua wasn’t content with that. He knew something
was amiss. He knew the same power was not there and he was going to wrestle
this thing through with God and find out what was the cause.
I guess all I want to ask you this morning is this: “When
the going gets tough in your life, how do you respond to it? What do you tend
to assume about where God is in all of that?”
I hear an awful lot of Christians these days who want to talk
about getting angry with God—as if it’s somehow spiritually enlightened
to be able to get angry with God. I hear things like “beating on God’s
chest” or even “kicking God’s shins.” I do believe
we are invited to cry out to God even from our doubts and fears. He certainly
does not expect us to receive setbacks stoically or pretend they are not there.
But friends, we need to be careful about this popular notion
of being “mad at God.” There is a huge difference between crying
out to a sovereign Lord as people of faith (as Joshua was doing), and acting
like spoiled children when things don’t go our way.
I believe that implicit in this story is something the New Testament
makes very clear. It’s given to us in Hebrews 12; listen:
[read Hebrews 12:5-8, 10]
When the going gets tough, we need to move beyond the cries
of “Oh, woe is me” and “God why have you left me?”
And “why is this happening to me?” And we need to come to the
question Joshua asked in faith: “Lord, what are you going to do for
your great name?”
What is this really about? What’s the bigger picture here?
What do we need to learn? How can we become better as a result of this setback?
When in the most difficult experiences of our lives we can make
the shift from “Woe is me” to “What about your Kingdom?”
—that’s when God can begin to teach us the deepest lessons of
what it means to live as His children.
The only way that will happen is when we choose to live under
the truth that God is for us and not against us. He is more desirous than
we could ever imagine to bless our lives.
Yet He will not withhold the discipline, or even the suffering
He knows can shape us into people of great faith and trust.
In all you have experienced or will experience in your life, can you trust
that God is sovereign? That He knows what He’s doing? That no matter
what happens, He can redeem you?
Can you submit your life to the sovereignty of God?
