One question that sometimes gnaws at my psyche is…
…why oh why is it so difficult to trust and obey God sometimes?
Especially after the Lord has demonstrated to us time and time again that He is faithful and showered us with blessings, why do we still go chasing after idols and the things of this world instead of resting under God’s protective winds and His Shalom?
Well, this is a question that could be applied to Israel shortly after their victory at Jericho.
All Israel did was march around the city while carrying the Ark and blowing their Shofars.
In other words, with a child-like faith, all Israel did was simply obey, and the Lord did the rest.
The walls of Jericho didn’t topple because of any brilliance or military genius on Joshua’s behalf.
The walls fell down because God Himself, the Commander-in-Chief, destroyed those walls.
Or another way to put it, the walls fell because Israel OBEYED God, turning neither to the left nor right.
It should have been obvious that all Israel would have to do is obey God and in due time, everything would go well.
Well, apparently, that wasn’t enough for one disobedient soul named Achan.
Achan feasted his eyes on some of the war booty available for the taking and thinking he could get away with it, stole some property belonging exclusively to Hashem.
Property that was under the ban.
Achan should have known better than to think he could get away with what he did.
Heck, a whopping 4 generations of his family history were provided to show he was the naughty boy.
One thing I want you to notice about this situation is that even though Achan was just one man, God’s fury blazed up against the whole nation of Israel.
That’s right.
The disobedience of one man resulted in the whole nation being judged.
We’ll continue this discussion the next time we meet.
It’s because most peopel today lack patience to wait for God and also we want God to do what we want but not according to God’s want or will for us.
Good point Francis.