LEARNING DAILY

 

Joshua 7:11, “Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them. For they have even taken some of the accursed things, and have both stolen and deceived; and they have put it among their own stuff.” God

 

I often fear some of the things I write. I have found that the things I write sometimes come back to cause me problems. In the last page of the blog, I wrote you and I need to separate ourselves from the sinful things in the world; that we could not have God’s blessing while participating in the sinful ways of the world. Since then, it seems I have been tempted by all sorts of things. I guess the enemy wants to see if I am willing to abide by what I write.

 

The command was to go into Jericho and destroy all the living, burn the city, and take the gold and silver and vessels of bronze and iron to the treasury in the house of the Lord. All seemed well until the people invaded Ai. There the people of Israel were soundly defeated, chased away from city.

 

The verse from Joshua above shows the charges against Israel; Israel was defeated at Ai because of sin, because some of the things God said something was stolen and placed among someone’s personal stuff. All of Israel was being punished because of some person’s sin. Sin has consequences and as seen here those consequences may go beyond the individual sinner. At Ai 36 men from Israel died and the army of Israel could not stand before the enemy. One person had fallen to the temptation of coveting the spoils he saw in the victory at Jericho. He took what he saw and hid it among his own possessions. Achan was the man who took what he saw. For his sin, he and all his family were killed in order to remove the sin from the camp.

 

The funny thing about temptation is each one of us face some sort of temptation every day – probably more than once or twice. We are vulnerable to temptations and evil desires because of the sinful nature that is in us. Achan saw what he could not resist even knowing that taking the stuff was against what Israel had been commanded. Because he could not resist the temptation, he sinned by taking and hiding it. That is how sin occurs. According to James 1:14-15, “But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.” For Achan, he and his entire family were stoned to death. For Christians it is separation from God, spiritual death.

 

The truth of the events in Joshua 7 apply to you and me. Persistent and unrepentant sin in a person’s life will prevent us from the grace of God. When that happens you and I will no longer live under the help and protection of God; we will not be able to stand against the enemies who want us to fail and fall off the narrow way. Temptation itself is not sin; giving in to the temptation is sin. The evil desire must be resisted and purged by the help of the Holy Spirit in our lives. When you or I sin, it must be removed through the blood of Jesus. Remember His death was for every sin you and I have committed, commit and will commit in the future. Do not let a moment go by with repenting of any sin committed.

James gives instructions about enduring and defeating those temptations when they come.

 

By the way, you are probably wondering about whether I gave into the temptations – yes and no! I did need to take some time with the Lord admitting that once again I failed. Thank you, Lord Jesus for your forgiveness and grace. What would I do without it!?