Good Wednesday Morning Blog Family and how’s everyone doing this beautiful morning. We are in Texas this morning and the sub is shining very bright although it’s a little cool. It is still a beautiful morning. Praise God.
I am coming to you again from the Book of Joshua this morning. My blog on Monday was from the Book of Joshua about the kind of faith Joshua had in God. This morning I want to talk about the consequences of disobeying God. I tell you, the Book of Joshua has so much wisdom in it and not just for back then, it is for us today as well. Because as God gave instructions back in those days and people disobeyed, we are still a very disobedient people today. As God gave instructions to Joshua to give the people as to what not to take and what to take from the camp in the destruction of Jericho. Out of all of the people, there had to be one that would disobey those instructions.
So, God told Joshua exactly what would happen to the people if they disobeyed His instructions in Joshua 6:18 which reads,”18 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. 19 But all the silver and gold, and vessels of bronze and iron, are[b]consecrated to the Lord; they [c]shall come into the treasury of the Lord.” In reading this verse, to me it was pretty much self explanatory, simply don’t takes these things or you will be cursed and bring a curse and trouble upon everybody. There’s not much in that statement not to understand.
Now, moving on into the destruction of Jericho and that one person that had to do exactly what God said not to do. Apparently he wasn’t concerned about himself or anyone else when he made the decision to disobey God, a very selfish act. So, we see in Joshua 7:1, “7 But the children of Israel [a]committed a trespass regarding the accursed[b] things, for Achan the son of Carmi, the son of [c]Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed things; so the anger of the Lord burned against the children of Israel.” Now when this happened, Joshua knew nothing about it and went on to do some other things that failed and caused him to lose some of his men. Joshua then tears his clothes and falls down on his knees and cry out to God. In other words, he was blaming God for what had just happened and he was asking God all of these questions. I love how God responded to him in Joshua 7:10-15, “10 So the Lord said to Joshua: “Get up! Why do you lie thus on your face? 11 Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them. For they have even taken some of the [g]accursed things, and have both stolen and deceived; and they have also put it among their own stuff. 12 Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they have become doomed to destruction. Neither will I be with you anymore, unless you destroy the accursed from among you. 13 Get up, sanctify[h] the people, and say, ‘Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow, because thus says the Lord God of Israel: “There is an accursed thing in your midst, O Israel; you cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the accursed thing from among you.” 14 In the morning therefore you shall be brought according to your tribes. And it shall be that the tribe which the Lord takes shall come according to families; and the family which the Lord takes shall come by households; and the household which the Lord takes shall come man by man. 15 Then it shall be that he who is taken with the accursed thing shall be burned with fire, he and all that he has, because he has transgressed[i] the covenant of the Lord, and because he has done a disgraceful thing in Israel.’ ” Isn’t that just like us today to disobey God and then when things don’t work out the way we wanted it to, we sometimes blame God.
Now, since God has set Joshua straight about all that happened and why it happened. God then gave Joshua more instructions as what he needed to do to punish the guilty. Joshua 7:19-21 reads, “19 Now Joshua said to Achan, “My son, I beg you, give glory to the Lord God of Israel, and make confession to Him, and tell me now what you have done; do not hide it from me.”20 And Achan answered Joshua and said, “Indeed I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and this is what I have done: 21 When I saw among the spoils a beautiful Babylonian garment, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I [j]coveted them and took them. And there they are, hidden in the earth in the midst of my tent, with the silver under it.” Ok, so now Joshua sent men into Achan’s tent to recover the items he had taken and brought them out along with his family and everything he owned.
So, now Achon has to pay for disobeying God, but not just him, his whole family. Why did they have to pay too? Because they probably knew about what he had done nd did not say anything. Wow, Achon committed a very selfish act, he didn’t even care about what would happen if he got caught. That’s just the thing, he didn’t think Joshua would find out. Didn’t he know that God knew what he did? Wow, that’s just crazy but that is how we are today. We do something and think no one will ever know or find out about it. Duh, God knows. Joshua 7:22-25 reads, “22 So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent; and there it was, hidden in his tent, with the silver under it. 23 And they took them from the midst of the tent, brought them to Joshua and to all the children of Israel, and laid them out before the Lord. 24 Then Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, the silver, the garment, the wedge of gold, his sons, his daughters, his oxen, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent, and all that he had, and they brought them to the Valley of Achor. 25 And Joshua said, “Why have you troubled us? The Lord will trouble you this day.” So all Israel stoned him with stones; and they burned them with fire after they had stoned them with stones.” He brought all of this on himself and his family for disobeying God’s instructions. I really don’t think it was worth it, not one little bit.
There are always consequences for disobeying God and sometimes it will involve more than just you. So, think about it the next time you chose to be disobedient. Ask yourself this question, “Is it worth it?” I am sure if you gave it some thought, you would have a change of heart and mind. God Bless 🙂
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we come to You in the mighty name of Jesus, Your Son and our Lord and Savior. Giving You all of the praise and all of the glory. Thanking You for being a God of chance, after chance, after chance. Loving us enough to forgive us when we mess up and allowing us another chance to get it right. Thank You Father. Amen