The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in Joshua 6:18-19, 7:20-21,
"Keep away from the devoted things, so that you will not bring about your own destruction by taking any of them. Otherwise you will make the camp of Israel liable to destruction and bring trouble on it. All the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron are sacred to the Lord and must go into his treasury."... "It is true! I have sinned against the Lord, the God of Israel. This is what I have done: When I saw in the plunder a beautiful robe from Babylonia, two hundred shekels of silver and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. They are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath."
Joshua tells his fighting men they are not to take silver and gold, articles of bronze and Iron for themselves when they sack Jericho. It is all to be "devoted" to the Lord and to his treasury. Only when Achan is caught does he confess to violating the Lord's command concerning the devoted things.
Of what value, of what good, was the beautiful Babalonian robe, the silver and gold to Achan when he was put to death? He had just been told, along with the other men, that he would bring about his own destruction if he took any of it - and yet he did. Why? Obviously, he didn't believe what the Lord said. It made no point for him to take these things to his own certain peril, he therefore didn't believe he would be in peril to take them.
Sounds a lot like Adam and Eve in the garden, doesn't it? When they succumbed to their temptation, I am quite certain they didn't realize the tragedy that would ensue when they did what God told them not to. Like Achan, their sin was a lack of belief, a failure to trust in God.
It is upon this very issue that God has determined who will be allowed into his family, who will be given eternal life. Those who embrace God in faith will inherit the certain promises of God. Those who reject God, who refuse to believe what he has to say will be condemned to an eternity in a fiery lake of burning sulfur. Over and over, throughout the Scriptures, God has made plain to us all that if we place our faith in him, he will forgive us our sins and provide us a place at his table.
Achan's actions revealed his heart toward God. This is true for all of us. What we do expresses what is in our hearts, no matter what our lips give service to. Achan may have been a pillar of the community, a man looked up to and revered by his countrymen. But even a pagan prostitute was held in higher esteem by God when she placed her faith in him. Rahab is mentioned by both the writer of Hebrews and the Lord's own brother in his letter as a hero of faith.
This is the message of James 2:25-26, "In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead."
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd love to hear from you!
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
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