When the Going Gets Tough

Joshua 7:6-13

November 5, 2006

Last 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?