Joshua 8:1-27
After all this time of trouble and sorrow because of Achan’s sin, the Lord said to Joshua, “Fear not, neither be thou dismayed.” The enemy of our souls has many different weans, and one of them is discouragement. Often when we have sought to act faithfully for God’s glory, he then tries to get us upset and discouraged, using the time of temporary occupation with evil to get our eyes off the Lord, and then we are weak and unable to go forward in Christian conflict. Let us be ever watchful against discouragement, for the enemy often uses it as his tool, and we do not realize he is doing it. We defend ourselves, and think the conflict is too great, with so many difficulties in the way. Oh how subtle the enemy is, and then, since the flesh likes an easy path, his suggestions seem very plausible. But Joshua hearkened to the Lord instead of to the enemy, we are thankful to see. He was encouraged by the Lord instead of allowing himself to be discouraged by Satan.
But the people of God were in a weakened state, and two or three thousand could not take Ai, so all the people had to go up. What a humbling thing this was. A little city, but it took all Israel’s men of war to take it! Surely sin makes us weak and feeble, but still, when judged, Israel need not be discouraged, for God said He would be with them and that victory was certain, Joshua then sent five thousand men of war at night to hide near Ai. Then he and all the people came up in the daytime, and when the people of Ai came out against them they pretended they were running away from them. When all the people of Ai had come out of their city, as well as all those from Bethel, a city nearby, Joshua raised his spear, and the men who were hiding came out of their hiding place and ran into the city, setting it on fire. When the people of Ai looked back and saw their city on fire, everything fell into confusion among them, and the Israelites who were fleeing turned back on them and put them all to death—not one escaped, Joshua did not lower his spear until the victory was complete, for faith knows that there are no half-measures in the things of God.
Another thing we learn here, is not to pay too much attention to what others think, as long as we are in the path of obedience. The children of Israel had once been defeated before the men of Ai, and so now the enemy thought they were fleeing again, but they were really acting in obedience, as it was soon seen. Too often we are afraid what others will say, but let us rather ask, “Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?” Acts 9:6, and then leave what others think, or say, or do, with the Lord. He will make things come out all right if we are acting obedience to His Word. Sometimes, too, we have to endure misunderstandings because of past failures, but let us not resent this, for God allows it in His government, and whatever humbles us is, in the end, good for us, if we bow to the hand of God in it. “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time.” 1 Peter 5:6.
ML 04/05/1953