Achan’s formula for spiritual failure: “I saw [them]…I coveted them and took them” (Jos 7:21). Abram had pitched between Bethel (meaning “God’s House”) and Ai (meaning “rubble”) many years before. In a sense, we all pitch our pilgrim tents there, and everything that comes through our hands is either built into God’s house or ends […]
It’s dangerous to presume on the Lord. He doesn’t like being taken for granted any more than we do. It doesn’t sound good when a chapter begins with “But.” “But the children of Israel committed a trespass regarding the accursed things, for Achan…of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed things; so the anger […]
Read More… from April 11, 2023 — What’s Next — Another Victory?
Very often, little lessons, the ones that we tend to miss, can be the most helpful in the long run. As we leave the smouldering ruins of Jericho, there are three brief lessons before we move on. Lesson #1, the curse on Jericho, the city who knew God wanted in and decided to try to […]
Read More… from April 10, 2023 — Life Lessons At The Ash Heap
Would God be so unjust as to send His judgment on Jericho and not on our lands today? Jericho was soon to be in flames, a holocaust, or burnt offering to the Lord. The city was all accursed, except “the silver and gold, and vessels of bronze and iron” (Jos 6:19), which were devoted to […]
The true value of everything in the world is set by what the Lord thinks about it. “Now the city shall be doomed by the Lord to destruction, it and all who are in it. Only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all who are with her in the house…And you, by all means […]
Did the walls come tumbling down, as the chorus says? Not exactly. It’s more amazing than that! A little history might help here. During a series of excavations from 1930 to 1936, British archeologist John Garstang found a burn layer at Jericho which he identified with the biblical story of Joshua. But in the 1950s, […]
Seven days. Seven times on Day Seven. Seven priests with seven trumpets. Talk about a perfect plan! The situation seemed challenging, to say the least. “Now Jericho was securely shut up because of the children of Israel; none went out, and none came in” (Jos 6:1). The sentence actually repeats the words—shut up and shut […]
Read More… from April 4, 2023 — Warning! God Is Coming Through
What makes the difference between a warrior and a worrier? Keeping your eye on the Commander. It was President Abraham Lincoln, in the midst of the U.S. Civil War, who said, “My concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God’s side, for God is always right.” […]
“You provide their grain, for so You have prepared it…You crown the year with Your goodness” (Ps 65:9,11). God provides; there’s no question about that. But how? Our story today shows two different ways, both the Lord’s provision. We read, “And they ate of the produce of the land on the day after the Passover, […]