Have you ever heard the biographical narrative surrounding the life of a man named Joshua?\u00a0 Well, one definite item that would be listed on his Linkedin profile is that he “played an integral role in a battle that took place around the central city of Canaan\u2026Jericho.”\u00a0 Even if you do not remember the details of this account, you are probably repeating the song, over and over again in your head; “Joshua fought the battle of Jericho, and the walls came a tumblin’ down.”<\/p>\n
After God equipped His servant Moses to deliver the nation of Israel out of the hands of their oppressors in Egypt, He chose a successor to Moses who went by the name Joshua.\u00a0 After nearly forty years of wandering, the Israelites were finally going to occupy the land that God had promised to their forefathers long ago.\u00a0 And Joshua was given both the grand privilege and the awesome responsibility of following God’s direction in order to properly lead the nation in boldness and obedience.\u00a0 Their plans of war simply consisted of walking around the fortified walls of Jericho, one time daily, until six days had passed.\u00a0 On the seventh day the men of war and the priests were to walk around the city walls seven times.\u00a0 After the seventh time around, on the seventh day, the priests were to blow a ram’s horn and shout really loudly.\u00a0 Guess what happened?\u00a0 Yes, they shouted “and the walls came a tumblin’ down.”\u00a0 Joshua chapter 6:27 ends with this amazing statement “So the LORD was with Joshua, and his fame was in all the land<\/em><\/strong>.”<\/p>\n When Joshua and the people of Israel acted faithfully toward the word of God, they were rewarded with a virtually effortless victory over their enemies.\u00a0 But on their very next military campaign, against a small insignificant group of people from Ai, the Israelites got whipped.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 As we see in chapter 7:1 “the sons of Israel acted unfaithfully in regard to the things under the ban<\/em><\/strong>.”\u00a0 The disobedience of one man, Achan, who took some of the silver things that looked good to him, caused the anger of the LORD to invoke the wrath of the LORD.\u00a0 “the anger of the LORD burned against the sons of Israel<\/em><\/strong>.”\u00a0 If we continue through the seventh chapter of Joshua we find out that Achan, his family, his animals, and all that he had was stoned and then set on fire.<\/p>\n You may think this dude Achan got a pretty bad break.\u00a0 Maybe you even feel confident in yourself because you have never taken anything that didn\u2019t belong to you.\u00a0 Please realize that in one way or another every one of us has broken a command of the LORD.\u00a0 Every one of us, yes including me, has lusted for more silver and gold\u00a0so that we might\u00a0satisfy our own selfish ambitions\u00a0in direct disobedience\u00a0to the word\u00a0of God.\u00a0\u00a0Because of that,\u00a0God could wipe us off the face of the earth.\u00a0 But God is gracious!\u00a0 He is rich in mercy!\u00a0 Instead of consuming us, our family, and all our possessions with fire, He chose to\u00a0take His anger and judgment out on His Son, the man Christ Jesus.\u00a0\u00a0 So how do we avoid living a life that will one day result in ruin?\u00a0 We must\u00a0recognize that we are a lot like Achan, deserving death because of our rebellion against God’s commands as detailed in the scriptures.\u00a0 Then we must ask God to forgive us of our sins and embrace that our debts have been cleared due to the payment, purchased by the blood of Christ.\u00a0 “knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ<\/strong><\/em>” 1 Peter 1:18-19. \u00a0 Only then can we\u00a0live a life of joy, because our faith and hope is in God.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Life Leading To Ruin<\/h2>\n
A Life Delivered From Ruin<\/h2>\n