With and without God
Jos. 6-7
Joshua 6 tells us of the story of the taking and destruction of Jericho. The next chapter(Chapter 7) tells us of the defeat of the Israelites at the hands of the people of Ai, a small village. What had transpired to bring about this defeat in Ai when they took mighty Jericho relatively easily?
- They took Jericho because the LORD fought for them.
- They could not take Ai because the LORD did not fight for them.
It was that simple.
But why didn’t the LORD fight for them in Ai? It was because His anger burned against them because of the sin of Achan. In Jericho, they were obedient. But then Achan sinned, and that changed everything.
We have a very important lesson to learn from this story: <b>It does not really matter how strong and mighty or how small and weak our opponent(s) is/are. What matters is: Who is fighting on our side.</b> When the LORD is for us, mighty foes will just melt away; but if He is not, even insignificant foes will defeat us.
As we struggle against sin, are we victorious or is sin defeating us? Let us see who is on our side (or rather, whose side are we on) first.
“If God is for us, who is against us?” (Rom. 8:31)
