By: Dale Weckbacher
Text: Joshua
7:1-11
Joshua 7:10-11
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.
(ESV)
I grew up watching the ABC’s Wide
World of Sports whose host, Jim McKay popularized the phrase “The thrill of
victory, and the agony of defeat.” In
the introduction to the
show, ski jumper Vinko Bogataj and his ski jump accident would personify
the agony of defeat and meant Mr. Bogataj would appear on Wide World of Sports
more often than any other athlete. (1) In 1981 Mr. Bogataj was invited to celebrate
the 20th anniversary of “Wide World of Sports” he received the loudest ovation from those in
attendance including many world-renown athletes with Mohammad Ali asking him
for his autograph. (2) Literally, Mr. Bogataj became famous through
defeat.
Joshua
7:1-11 records the agony of defeat for Israel in Ai that occurred after the
thrill of victory at Jericho and provides a lesson regarding compromise, pride,
and rushing ahead of the Lord.
1) Compromise
(Joshua
7:1) – God specifically commanded Israel not to take from Jericho any of
the things devoted to destruction which included anything, or anyone except the
people in Rahab’s household, and the silver, gold, and vessels of bronze and
iron which were deposited in the treasury of Israel. Unknown to Joshua, Achan had stolen some of
the things devoted to destruction and hidden them among his belongings (Joshua
7:1,11). This compromise stirred up
the anger of the Lord against Israel but the fact that Israel did not first
pray to the Lord and wait for Him to lead them into battle are also contributing
factors to Israel’s defeat. If Israel
had prayed to God before entering into battle, the Lord would have revealed the
sin of Achan and instructed Israel to repent of this sin and might have led
Israel to victory in Ai which will occur later (Joshua
8:1-29).
2) Pride
(Joshua
7:2-5) – Instead of praying and listening to the direction of the Lord,
which most likely would have been a revelation of the sin of Achan, Joshua
sends spies to Ai. Perhaps emboldened by
the victory at Jericho, these spies tell Joshua Ai is weak with a small army
and that only two to three thousand men will be needed to defeat Ai. Pride precedes destruction and a fall (Proverbs
16:18) which in this case was defeat at the hands of the small army of
Ai. Unlike the daunting walls and army
of Jericho which led to Joshua encountering and worshipping the commander of
the army of the Lord, Joshua relies on the report of his spies. Joshua has forgotten that it was not the
might or power of the army of Israel that defeated Jericho but the power of God
that brought down the walls of Jericho through the shouts of the people. The Church can learn from Israel’s defeat and
instead of dependence on Church programs, powerful sermons, and talents based
on human abilities, learn to depend on the power of God through the Holy Spirit
to spread the Gospel and make disciples (Acts
1:8; Mark 16:15; Matthew 28:19-20).
3) Rushing
Ahead of the Lord (Joshua
7:6-9) – The timing of Joshua’s prayer is off because it occurs after
Israel’s defeat at Ai instead of before.
Had Joshua prayed before going into battle with Ai, the Lord’s response
in Joshua
7:10-11 might have been to wait for Israel has sinned and transgressed my
covenant that I commanded them. Had
Israel not rushed ahead of the Lord they might have experienced the conquest of
Ai in Joshua
8 without having to experience the defeat of Joshua
7:1-9. Those that wait on the Lord
experience a renewal of strength (Isaiah
40:31). The strength of believers in
Christ is not in their ability to charge in and fix a situation, but the extent
to which they humble themselves before the Lord and wait for his strength and
direction.
Those professing a belief in
Jesus Christ as their savior have an advantage for they have the thrill of
victory knowing their sins are forgiven and that they have eternal life because
of the work of grace on the cross (Ephesians
2:8; John 3:16). However, this does
not mean a believer’s life will be free of trouble for Jesus promised there
would be trouble (John
16:33) and experienced trouble resulting in His crucifixion. Our
peace in this world is not because we live lives free of trouble but that we believe
in the one who overcame trouble in the world through His resurrection from the
grave. There is therefore no need for a
believer in Christ to experience the agony of defeat as long as they do not
compromise their faith, practice humility and not pride, and wait on the Lord
before acting.
Avoiding the agony of defeat in life begins with making a
profession of faith in Jesus as savior (Romans 10:9-10). If you have never made this profession of
faith, I invite you to do so now by praying with me,
Dear Lord Jesus, I know I have sinned (Romans
3:23) and know that the penalty for my sin is death (Romans
6:23). I ask you to forgive me of my
sin and cleanse me as you promise in your Word (1
John 1:9). I believe you died, spent
three days in the grave, and resurrected from the dead and now declare you Lord
of my life.
For those that just prayed, I encourage you to find a Church
that teaches the Bible so you can learn to live a life of obedience to the Lord
and His Word, the Bible, and learn to wait on the Lords direction in your
life. May God bless everyone reading
this post.
1. ABC's Wide World of Sports. ABC's Wide World
of Sports. search IMDb. [Online] ABC. [Cited: July 21, 2020.]
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0190895/trivia.
2. Neumann, Thomas.
Whatever happened to 'agony of defeat' ski jumper? abcnews.go.com. [Online]
ABC News, August 15, 2016. [Cited: July 21, 2020.]
https://abcnews.go.com/Sports/happened-agony-defeat-ski-jumper/story?id=41406621.
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