Chapter Fourteen - Joshua 7:2-9; 8:1-29

I Did It My Way

        The victory at Jericho was fresh on the minds of the people of Israel when they came upon the small village of Ai. Jericho was a huge fortified city with soaring walls, whereas Ai looked like just a few people with maybe a campfire. Jericho was going to be a hard-fought battle, but the Lord gave them an easy victory. Ai, on the other hand, appeared to be just a small speed bump in the road that had to be taken care of; a pesky mosquito that needed to be swatted. So Joshua, the military leader that he was, devised a plan. Here’s what he did:

Joshua 7:2-4a

Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Beth Aven, on the east side of Bethel, and spoke to them, saying, “Go up and spy out the country.” So the men went up and spied out Ai. And they returned to Joshua and said to him, “Do not let all the people go up, but let about two or three thousand men go up and attack Ai. Do not weary all the people there, for the people of Ai are few.” So about three thousand men went up there from the people… 

        Joshua sent out spies, and the spies said that Ai was nothing to worry about. So he sent a small delegation of three thousand warriors to completely overwhelm and take care of this pesky mosquito. But something unexpected happened… the mosquito fought back and won:

Joshua 7:4b-5
…but they fled before the men of Ai. And the men of Ai struck down about thirty-six men, for they chased them from before the gate as far as Shebarim, and struck them down on the descent; therefore the hearts of the people melted and became like water.

        What happened? I believe the sin of Achan had something to with the loss; after all, our sin does have physical, worldly consequences. It will at times set us back. But I think that even more responsibility for this defeat can be put at the feet of Joshua because of something he didn’t do before he came up against the people of Ai.

An Important Life Lesson

        I was supposed to be a successful professional golfer by now. Years ago I was convinced I heard the Lord tell me that He was going to use me and my future celebrity as a golfer to change the world. To this day, I still believe that God led me to play golf, that He gave me the talent to play at a professional level, and that He gave me the opportunity to play… but I failed… I’m not a professional golfer today. As a matter of fact, I don’t even like golf that much anymore. So why did God lead me to play golf?

        I believe it was to teach me one of the most important lessons I have ever or will ever learn… Unless the LORD builds the house, they labor in vain who build it (Psalm 127:1).  You see, back when the Lord revealed His vision for me, I heard it and I dropped everything to follow that leading… But as Ol’ Blue Eyes himself sang…“I did it my way.” That’s why I believe I failed. I heard from the Lord, then pushed Him aside to accomplish His will my way… after all, what does God know about golf?

        The same thing happened here with Joshua. Turn back a couple of chapters and you’ll see that before he led the people across the Jordan, Joshua realized that the task was too big for him. He couldn’t do it on his own; he needed help. So he cried out to God. Then later, as he was contemplating what to do at Jericho, he saw the Lord and fell to his knees and said he’d do whatever he was told because he knew the task was too big for him. But here at Ai, there was no prayer, no asking for God’s plan. This was too small a task to involve God… he could handle this one… and that’s why he failed.

        This is a very important lesson that every Christian needs to learn. Most of us have learned and believe that there is nothing is too big for God to handle, but it is also important for us to learn and believe that there is nothing is too small for God to handle. He wants to be involved in every detail of your life. You’re struggling financially? He’ll help you climb out dollar by dollar. You’ve got problems with your car? He wants to help. But here’s the deal, and this is where many of us go astray… it’s His way or the highway. His way to help you climb out of financial strain and car problems may be to have you to sell your broken-down car and walk or ride a bike for a season. This may not be what you want, but if you follow Him along the bumpy, sometimes scary road, He’ll help you. In the end He promises you’ll be better off.

       

Get Down and Look Up

But we don’t always seek God in our problems, do we? The fact of the matter is that, like Joshua, we will inevitably face failure. The question is how will we react to failure? Take a look at how Joshua reacted after the defeat at Ai:

Joshua 7:6-9

Then Joshua tore his clothes, and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the LORD until evening, he and the elders of Israel; and they put dust on their heads.  And Joshua said, “Alas, Lord GOD, why have You brought this people over the Jordan at all—to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us?

         Oh, that we had been content, and dwelt on the other side of the Jordan! O Lord, what shall I say when Israel turns its back before its enemies? For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear it, and surround us, and cut off our name from the earth. Then what will You do for Your great name?”

        This is just like me. I mess up, try to do things on my own, and then I go back to God on my knees, weeping and asking, “Why did you do this to me?” Aren’t you glad that we serve a gracious God! But there is a lesson even in Joshua’s reaction… he was on his face before God.

        After about five years of failure as a hopeful golfer, I too fell to my face before God, asking why He led me to a life of apparent futility. I was burned out, disappointed, broken, embarrassed, and blaming God for my failure… and I was right smack dab in the exact place God wanted me.

        What’s that? That’s right, when I finally figured out that I couldn’t do it on my own, that is when God said… OK, now I can work with you!  But the key part was that in my failure, I was on my knees looking up… and so was Joshua… and the Lord met him there: 

Joshua 8:1-29

Now the LORD said to Joshua: “Do not be afraid, nor be dismayed; take all the people of war with you, and arise, go up to Ai. See, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land. And you shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king. Only its spoil and its cattle you shall take as booty for yourselves. Lay an ambush for the city behind it.”

        So Joshua arose, and all the people of war, to go up against Ai; and Joshua chose thirty thousand mighty men of valor and sent them away by night. And he commanded them, saying: “Behold, you shall lie in ambush against the city, behind the city. Do not go very far from the city, but all of you be ready. Then I and all the people who are with me will approach the city; and it will come about, when they come out against us as at the first, that we shall flee before them. For they will come out after us till we have drawn them from the city, for they will say, ‘They are fleeing before us as at the first.’ Therefore we will flee before them.  Then you shall rise from the ambush and seize the city, for the LORD your God will deliver it into your hand.  And it will be, when you have taken the city, that you shall set the city on fire. According to the commandment of the LORD you shall do. See, I have commanded you.”

        Joshua therefore sent them out; and they went to lie in ambush, and stayed between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of Ai; but Joshua lodged that night among the people.  Then Joshua rose up early in the morning and mustered the people, and went up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai. And all the people of war who were with him went up and drew near; and they came before the city and camped on the north side of Ai. Now a valley lay between them and Ai.  So he took about five thousand men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of the city. And when they had set the people, all the army that was on the north of the city, and its rear guard on the west of the city, Joshua went that night into the midst of the valley.

        Now it happened, when the king of Ai saw it, that the men of the city hurried and rose early and went out against Israel to battle, he and all his people, at an appointed place before the plain. But he did not know that there was an ambush against him behind the city. And Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them, and fled by the way of the wilderness. So all the people who were in Ai were called together to pursue them. And they pursued Joshua and were drawn away from the city. There was not a man left in Ai or Bethel who did not go out after Israel. So they left the city open and pursued Israel.

        Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Stretch out the spear that is in your hand toward Ai, for I will give it into your hand.” And Joshua stretched out the spear that was in his hand toward the city. So those in ambush arose quickly out of their place; they ran as soon as he had stretched out his hand, and they entered the city and took it, and hurried to set the city on fire.  And when the men of Ai looked behind them, they saw, and behold, the smoke of the city ascended to heaven. So they had no power to flee this way or that way, and the people who had fled to the wilderness turned back on the pursuers.

        Now when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city and that the smoke of the city ascended, they turned back and struck down the men of Ai. Then the others came out of the city against them; so they were caught in the midst of Israel, some on this side and some on that side. And they struck them down, so that they let none of them remain or escape. But the king of Ai they took alive, and brought him to Joshua.

        And it came to pass when Israel had made an end of slaying all the inhabitants of Ai in the field, in the wilderness where they pursued them, and when they all had fallen by the edge of the sword until they were consumed, that all the Israelites returned to Ai and struck it with the edge of the sword. So it was that all who fell that day, both men and women, were twelve thousand—all the people of Ai. For Joshua did not draw back his hand, with which he stretched out the spear, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai. Only the livestock and the spoil of that city Israel took as booty for themselves, according to the word of the LORD which He had commanded Joshua. So Joshua burned Ai and made it a heap forever, a desolation to this day. And the king of Ai he hanged on a tree until evening. And as soon as the sun was down, Joshua commanded that they should take his corpse down from the tree, cast it at the entrance of the gate of the city, and raise over it a great heap of stones that remains to this day. 

        Did you see that in the last paragraph? What first appeared to be a small village, a pesky mosquito, was twelve thousand strong. It was a lot bigger than Joshua thought when he sent three thousand men out to fight them. It’s often the same for us. Those things that we think are small many times will be the things that set us back in life.

        I learned a lot in my failures as a wannabe golfer, but the most important lesson was that when God gives us a vision, no matter how big or small it is, He will also give us the plan to carry out that vision. Don’t try and accomplish God’s vision for you on your own. Wait on Him to give you the battle plan and then follow Him to victory!