Stop Praying! Joshua 7:10-26

Mark Twain said, “If it's your job to eat a frog, it's best to do it first thing in the morning. And If it's your job to eat two frogs, it's best to eat the biggest one first.” He had a way of simplifying human nature. We tend to stall when it comes to taking care of things that are not what we want to do. There is plenty we would like to avoid, life is full of unpleasant responsibilities. Some worse than others. Avoidance is not the answer though, the duties we would rather put off until tomorrow or later do not get more desirable as we procrastinate and very often they get worse. For a Christian, confessing our sin is the biggest of frogs we need to eat each day. The longer we wait to confess and repent of sin the greater the consequences become that we will face. Perhaps, you have sin that you are trying to avoid owning up to and dealing with by praying about other lesser things. Take the warning we see here Joshua 7. Learn the lesson that God is trying to teach us, there is no greater priority than a right relationship with the Lord, so whatever else is going on in your life, dealing with that sin, whatever sin it may be, should be top of your to do list.
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Unconfessed sin in Israel is the reason God tells Joshua to get up off his face or you may even say, to stop praying, in Joshua 7:10. We do not expect such a command from God, are we not supposed to pray without ceasing? Yes but there comes a time where we have our answer and further prayer is not required instead we are called to decisive action. Jesus was clear about this, in the sermon on the mount He said, “If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell.” (Matthew 5:29) Jesus is speaking in hyperbole to help us understand an important lesson. His point is, nothing has greater consequences in the life of a believer than recurring, unconfessed, unrepented of sin.
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God informs Joshua that the reason for their recent defeat is sin in the camp. Israel was commanded to not hold onto the treasures they found in Jericho, but one man ignored this warning and took the things that caught his eye and went and hid them in his tent (Joshua 7:20-21). Apparently he did not trust that the Lord would continue to provide the victories needed to support he and his family. The Lord’s continued provision is what the people are confessing they trust when they are giving the Lord the firstfruits of the Land, in this case, spoils of war. So Achan took some things he could hide away for his day of need. Ironically, his lack of faith that God would continue to provide victories, is the very action that led to their defeat. When we do not trust that God will take care of us, we end up attempting to take care of ourselves which leads us right into sin and defeat, the exact event we were trying to avoid! By the end of the chapter Achan has lost not only what he hoped to hide away but everything else he was trying to keep, his life and his family.
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Before God will restore Israel and bless them, they must repent and remove the sin from their camp. Joshua and the people carry out the Lord’s instructions and carry out the Lord’s sentence on Achan to remove the sin from their camp. Once this is done, God again turns in favor toward them and blesses them. The same is true in our lives, that unconfessed sin in your life is causing a rift between you and God. You will not experience His blessing until you get it out. Regardless of how painful it may be, get up off your face and deal with it. Put measures in place to prevent you from returning to the same old pattern of sin you lived in before and instead live in the light of His favor and blessing.
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If you are afraid God will not accept you due to your sin remember the promise we are given in 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” As soon as we confess, all the guilt and shame from our sins are washed away by the sacrifice of Jesus in our place. Do not put it off any longer, turn from your sin to the Lord’s blessings!
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Let us begin this Tuesday by asking the Lord to give us such a love for Jesus that we would hate the sin that so easily sneaks into our lives, ask Him to show us where that sin is hiding and help us to immediately remove it from our presence.