The sounds of exuberant rejoicing reverberated throughout the encampment as the people relished the miraculous victory of a silent march and a carefully timed shout. It was music to his ears. The edges of Joshua’s lips lifted in the semblance of a smile. The people were right to rejoice. Loudly. It had been an astonishing victory. The strongholds of Jericho toppled as though constructed of parchment and ill-prepared paste, proving to the people both within and without that God was intent on giving His people victory.
Courage was born as Jericho fell. Men who had worn their concern like armor into battle now readied themselves with confidence. Absolute faith that the God who brought victory through marching and shouting would bring victory to His people again and again. Joshua believed it, too. He always had. From the time Moses sent him as a spy to gather intel on Canaan, Joshua had believed with every fiber of his being God would always come through for his people. It was this belief that had him wasting no time dispatching spies to assess the susceptibility of Ai.
Situated just a short journey outside of Jericho, Ai was a tiny town by comparison. No towering, fortified walls. No mighty, valiant army. It would be an easy battle. A skirmish really. Quick. Clean. Successful. Riding the festive emotions of their recent win, no one thought this battle would be more difficult than the previous one. No one believed they could lose. Not the spies who had taken stock of the town. Not the military leaders. Certainly not Joshua.
Tumbling back into camp, the spies reported their findings and offered their advice. It was a small task. They could scale back their forces. Sending an entire army to route this little burg would be overkill. There were few people, no strongholds. Two or three thousand should do it. Easily. Everyone else could stay home, rest up, sharpen their swords for the next battle and await the message to come collect the spoils of war.
The message never came. It seemed the soldiers had hardly marched out to battle before they were rushing back into camp. Some wounded. Most winded. All wondering what had just occurred. Their easy battle had taken an unexpected turn. It was the strangest phenomenon. As they approached the city of Ai, their stalwart confidence had begun to flag. Fear gripped the hearts of seasoned warriors. Their footsteps became uncertain. The steady beat of marching feet slowed. As they stared at the easily breachable line of Ai’s forces their hearts became faint. Instead of lifting their swords and taking the town, they lifted their feet in a vigorous sprint toward home.
Standing at the ready, the army of Ai watched them come with silent aplomb. Not one muscle moved. Not one eye twitched. So focused were they on the approaching army that they noticed every changing nuance of their foe. The less than confident cadence to their march. The restless movements of their hands. The darting fear in their eyes. And the men of Ai stood up just a little straighter. Their spines stiffened with resolve. This would not be Israel’s day. Taking advantage of the palpable fear and obvious hesitation in the oncoming troops, the men of Ai advanced. As they charged, the Israelite army took to their heels. Some to their homes. Some to their death. All to a crushing defeat.
Like a dousing of water suffocating the dancing flames of a joyous campfire, the jubilation bubbling in the camp of Israel was instantaneously smothered as their men were unceremoniously defeated by an army they should have handily deposed. The people were overcome by fear. In spite of the unexpected loss of husbands, fathers, brothers, friends, solemn silence reigned. Confusion warred against reason. Questions bombarded the mind of every elder and military leader. They had been so confident when they set out for battle. What had happened out there? Where was the God who had given them victory over Jericho? Was He not still the same God? Were they not still His people? Or had He abandoned them there to be prey for the enemies surrounding them?
Clearly Joshua wondered the same things. He knew his men. He would never question their readiness for battle. They were fighting men. Men who knew how to wield a sword and shoot an arrow. Men who had no trouble blackening an eye or brutally taking a life. He’d sent them out with utter confidence they would come home victorious, waving the spoils of war high above their heads. But they hadn’t. Some hadn’t returned at all. The weight of those casualties crushed his heart. His mind couldn’t obliterate the sight of his troops hurriedly hobbling back over the hill winded from their cowardly backtracking. In bewildered desperation, he did the only thing his baffled brain could think to do. Joshua hit his knees.
Falling to the ground, Joshua bent double, his face literally in the dirt, and cried out the questions violently battering his soul. Had God brought them out of Egypt, through the Red Sea, over the desert, and across the Jordan just to deliver them up for death and destruction by the Amorites? And yes, their cowardice was inexcusable, but did God realize the inhabitants of the surrounding enemy territory would hear of this defeat and come in droves to kill them? His people, and thus His name, would be extinguished from the face of the earth. Was this God’s plan all along? Was He going to stand by and let this happen? Had God brought them through hell and high water only to allow them to be slaughtered between Jericho and Ai? Of course not. Joshua knew that. But still his desperate heart cried out one last question. “What then are you going to do to preserve the greatness of your name, Lord?” (Joshua 7:6-9)
If Joshua was expecting a pat on the back and some heavenly mollycoddling, he was in for a grand surprise. God’s answer was all business. “Get up! Get busy. There is sin in your camp.” Joshua’s mouth must have gaped in surprise. He had no way of knowing what Achan had done. He didn’t know they were housing a thief and liar sitting on goods taken from the forbidden spoils of Jericho. But he did know what covering sin would do. It would make them weak and fearful, susceptible to attack, unable to stand before their enemies. They would lose, not just their battle acumen, but their spiritual acuity as well. The God who had walked with them, delivered them and prospered them would no longer dwell among them. Because God cannot, does not, will not share His holy habitation with covered sin. (Joshua 6-7)
Perhaps Joshua sucked in a fortifying breath as he arose to begin the monumental task of ridding the camp of sin. Surely he faced the process of separating the tribes, the households, the individuals with reticence. Surely he dreaded commencing the commands that must be followed. No man of his godly stature would relish the spiritual demise of another. Yet it had to be done. Sin had to be evicted. Having God remain in their midst was worth so much more than a few baubles and trinkets of unauthorized goods. As much as it must have pained Joshua to order the demise of Achan and his household, he knew with surety that the presence of sin would always equal the absence of God. (Proverbs 28:13; Psalm 5:4; Matthew 6:24; Joshua 7:12)
It still does, you know. The addition of sin always results in the subtraction of God. He doesn’t live where sin abides. We tend to act like it isn’t so. We hold onto our grudges, our hurts, our hate. We tend little gardens of ill will, anger, and bitterness. We whisper gossip, tell tales, spread falsehood. Somehow we manage to convince our wayward hearts God doesn’t see, doesn’t know, doesn’t care. Then, when hardships and horrors come our way, we flop on our faces and cry out to God begging Him to do something, change something, fix everything. Casting a blind eye at our bulging sack of pet sins, we cry out words similar to Joshua’s, “What are You gonna do about this, Lord?” (Isaiah 29:15; Psalm 44:21; Jeremiah 16:17; Proverbs 6:16-19; Psalm 66:18)
Friend, if there is a duffle bag of secret sins tucked in the closet of your heart, God’s answer is going to sound very similar to the one He gave Joshua. “Get up. Get busy. Get rid of your sin.” All of it. Because God sees them. He sees your secret sins. He hears your whispered words. He reads your vengeful thoughts. All the things you hide from the public, the things you think no one knows. God knows. And He says they have got to go if you want Him to stay. But God will never force you. The choice will always be yours. Salvation or sin. Victory or defeat. God or satan. Heaven or hell. As you stand at this crossroads, staring at your options, weighing the outcome, I pose to you the question you have likely asked God a thousand times, “What are you gonna do about it?” (Psalm 94:7-11; Joshua 24:15; Psalm 90:8; Ephesians 5:11; Luke 16:13)