God wanted Israelites to apart from unholy things in Jericho and to show them only God was the greatest one. God commanded Israelites that they should not take any things from Jericho. However, Achan who was son of Carmi took some of them. God was angry because of his disobedience. After Achan’s disobedience, Israelites’ spies reported Joshua about A.I. It seemed that Israel did not remember what God did on the battle of Jericho. Israelites were defeated and they had to run away from A.I. God had let them go to the battle but He did not allow to win the battle. God expected each individual of Israelites to follow God’s word continually and to be holy like God. The lifetime of Human being is the process of struggling from temptation. There are some kinds of temptation revealed in Joshua 7:11.
“Israel has sinned; they have violated my covenant, which I commanded them to keep. They have taken some of the devoted things; the have stolen, they have lied, they have put them with their own possessions.”(Joshua 7:11, NIV)
First of all Israelites had been against God’s command. Achan stole the devoted things. He might have thought that there was no body to realize his disobedience. However, God saw what he had done before Him. Few years ago, I have heard a sermon about what I am doing the time in presence of God when I am alone in a room. No body is with me. I can do what I want. What Achan had done reflects what I can do by being alone. However, God is always watching over me and He will be glad when I am doing what He wants me to do.
Secondly Israelites lied to God. God is holy and pure. However, believers lie sometimes whether they realize or not. Whether they want to lie about good things or bad things, God always wants us to be sincere.
Joshua prayed to God for escaping from the emotion of depression (Joshua 7:6-7). I think he was so depressed because he lost the battle. He must have heard complaining from Israelites. He was a wise and godly leader. Believers need to learn his attitude to solve some problems in their lives. God tried to notify Joshua Israelites were against God. God is trying to say something to believers through problems even though the problems are not caused from believers. Believers must open their spiritual antenna to receive God’s signal. Joshua knew that God wanted to say something and then he waited God’s voice.
God told Joshua finally, “Go, consecrate the people. Tell them, tomorrow; for this is what the LORD, the God of Israel says: That which is devoted is among you, O Israel. You cannot stand against your enemies until you remove it.”(Joshua 7:13, NIV) God heard his pray and encouraged him to rebuild the relationship between God and Israelites. God said, “Go, consecrate the people.” God gave Joshua the solution of problem and wanted to make his people purified again. To consecrate means literally to state officially in a religious ceremony that something is holy and can be used for religious purposes (the essential English-Korean dictionary). Believers should look around to find what God dislikes. If believers confess his sins, God forgives their sins (1 John 1:9).
In conclusion I realize that God loves His people forever even though they are against God because He is merciful. God endures long time and gives a chance to overcome the obstacles. As God called Israelites, “O Israel.” (Joshua 7:13), He also calls believers as His own people now.
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