The people of Israel had expected an easy victory, and instead were thoroughly beaten. Joshua was confused, yet he responded properly. He appealed to God and His great name, although like Moses before him it seems to me a little whiny at times.
God tells Joshua twice to “Get Up!” Ouch. I am falling on my face pleading for mercy and this is what I get?
But Joshua had work to do, and God was telling him in no uncertain terms to get to it. Sin was in the camp, it must be taken care of, and it must be done now.
I thought about this in my own life.
How many times have I been the cause of my own troubles and those around me because I have not quickly taken care of sin in my own life?
We read that God clearly instructs the people, and Achan willfully disobeys those clear commands. People die. The camp is in fearful disarray. Sin has consequences.
It was true then, and it’s true now.
God promises to forgive when we confess our sin. I am so grateful for that promise.
Is there something we need to “Get Up!” and take care of right now? Sin to be confessed and forsaken? Forgiveness to be sought and given? Relationships to be made right?
Get Up!
Joshua 7:6-11 ESV
[6] Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the Lord until the evening, he and the elders of Israel. And they put dust on their heads. [7] And Joshua said, “Alas, O Lord God, why have you brought this people over the Jordan at all, to give us into the hands of the Amorites, to destroy us? Would that we had been content to dwell beyond the Jordan! [8] O Lord, what can I say, when Israel has turned their backs before their enemies! [9] For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it and will surround us and cut off our name from the earth. And what will you do for your great name?” [10] The Lord said to Joshua, “Get up! Why have you fallen on your face? [11] Israel has sinned; they have transgressed my covenant that I commanded them; they have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen and lied and put them among their own belongings.
