Trusting

Last week I confessed how much I hate waiting. Waiting in a line for anything is the worst idea ever invented by man, however waiting on the Lord is the best idea that anyone can choose to make. Making a conscious, determined choice to wait on God is the key to success. After their victory at Jericho, the Israelites begin to trust in and rely upon their own self-sufficiency. God warns us that pride comes before the fall so, as the Israelites began to believe in their own strength; the walls of God’s protection begin to come tumbling down around them. They fail to consult with God for His guidance and blunder foolishly ahead, attacking the village of Ai.

There’s something to be said of a man who can take a step back, take a deep, long breath and let a volatile situation cool down. Waiting on the Lord is the main ingredient in any good work the Lord is preparing in our lives. Many great men and women of God only succeed when they paused, stepped out of the way and let God guide them through to victory. The old saying “Where God guides He provides” is so truthful that whoever is led by the Holy Spirit will never fail. One of my favorite verses that remind me to wait and trust in God is found in Proverbs 3:5, 6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding but in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your path straight.”

Another  phrase “To obey is better than sacrifice” was spoken by God in the Old Testament reminding God’s people that  if they were only obedient then they wouldn’t have to offer up endless sacrifices. These six words strung together remind us to reflect and center ourselves once again aligning our will with God’s. Many a sacrifice, many a consequence could have been avoided if we only would have stopped and waited on the Lord and sought Him for direction. I remember a line from a 1980’s TV drama called “Berretta” where the detective use to always say to the convicted criminal as he was being led away to jail “Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time”.

Immediately after the successful sacking of the walled city of Jericho, Joshua now turns to the small village of Ai. The village is located at the top of a mountain about 1000 meters in elevation change from their current position in the desert valley below. Joshua sends in men to spy on the village and they return overconfident, insisting that Joshua only send out a small contingent consisting of 3000 armed Israelites. As the troops near the top of the mountain, they quickly retreat back down to the bottom. Taking a comparative look at the text in Joshua 7:5, it says, “The hearts of the people melted”. Here God is describing how the Israelites felt as they are fleeing for their lives but, what’s interesting is that this same phrase was used by Rahab to describe how the residence of Palestine felt as the Israelites were poised to cross over the Jordan River.

So what caused such a dramatic turn of events? God had instructed Joshua not to take any of the accursed things ^”And you, by all means abstain from the accursed things, lest you become accursed when you take of the accursed things, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it. But all the silver and gold, and vessels of bronze and iron, are consecrated to the Lord; they shall come into the treasury of the Lord." Joshua 6:18-19. Achan, one of the Israelite soldiers, had secretly taken some of the silver and gold from Jericho and hid the loot under his tent. This blatant act of disobedience by one man brought a curse upon the entire army and contributed to their defeat.  Joshua had failed to consult with the Lord for direction and foolishly took the advice of his spies.   

Learning to wait on God does not come without some pain, but from Joshua’s defeat at Ai, we can learn a valuable lesson, to wait upon the Lord before engaging the enemy. “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on the whole armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes; For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” After all, in the end, the battle belongs to the Lord!