Joshua 8:30-35 – Devotion another key to victory

In Joshua 8:27-29, we learned the need to constantly put to death the deeds of the flesh if we are to maintain a vibrant spiritual life. There is no denial even as a child of God each one of us still has conflicts with our flesh. Hence, in our spiritual journey, we need to constantly put to death our flesh in order to preserve a continual victory in Christ. Like Paul, we must live our life by the integrity of Christ Jesus who has given Himself for us and continues to love us. One key to maintaining victory in our spiritual walk is to submit to Him daily and place our trust in Him wholeheartedly.

In Joshua 8:30-35, we can see another key to walking victoriously in Him. It is devotion to Him and His Word. In these verses, we discover that Israel had already totally eliminated Ai. The victory they experienced gave them a reason to celebrate. They remembered that it was God who had given them the victory. They could have gone on and continued with the conquest of the rest of Canaan. But they didn’t. Why? They took time to pause and honor the Lord who had granted them the victory. This is something that we must constantly do with each victory God had granted us. Let us pause periodically to give thanks to the Lord. So here we see Joshua and Israel gratefully taking time to honor God and also to do what Moses in the Law had instructed them to do.

Gratefully, they constructed an altar on mount Ebal. It was built with uncut stones on which no iron tool had yet been used to chisel and shape it. And on it, they offered their burnt and peace offerings to the Lord. The altar was a place of death as well as a place of sacrifice. It serves as a reminder that they did nothing by their own power to achieve the victory. They were victorious only because God gave it to them. All they had done was to surrender their pride and their will and laid them at His feet. If we are to experience continual victory, we need to learn to surrender our will and pride and let the Lord take control over our lives.

Notice in this verses that together with the sacrifices offered, Joshua also wrote a copy of the Law given by Moses in the presence of the people. This speaks of the need to be mindful of the Word. This copy of the Law of the Word served to remind them of the importance to stay devoted to God’s Word. Here we see Joshua carried out what God had instructed them to do in Deuteronomy 27 and 28.  One-half of the people of Israel including the natives of the land stood on Mount Ebal and the other half of them, on Mount Gerizim. The Levites then took their place in the valley between the two mountains and read out the curses and the blessings. Every time the curses were read out the people on Mount Ebal would shout, “Amen.” And when the blessings were read out the people on Mount Gerizim would shout “Amen.” These were done to remind them of what God would bless and what he would not bless. It was also an affirmation that they should live by the Word daily.  

Interestingly Ebal means “the heap of barrenness.” Gerizim, on the other hand, means “cutting off.”  Ebal is intended to remind us that disobedience to the Lord will result in barrenness. Gerizim reminds us that we must remain as God’s set apart people. To maintain continuous victory in the Lord, we not only must need to continually put to death our flesh but must also live in total devotion to the Lord. Let us seek to give priority to the Word of God and to take time to live it out. 

Joshua 8:24-29 – Our flesh needs to be dealt with

In obedience, Joshua and the children of Israel found the victory. What brought them to this point was their absolute trust in the Lord. Hence, they were able to prevail over the enemy totally. The good news for us is that we are serving the same God whom they served. He remains the same today and has not changed a bit. If we apply ourselves and trust Him absolutely, He will also help us in our battle. The enemy the Israelites engaged in battle then was the people of Ai, but the battle we fight against today is with our flesh. The victory they experienced over Ai was found in their total abandonment to the Lord. Victory over our flesh can also be achieved through our total abandonment and trust in Him.   

What is more important to us is how can victory over our flesh be maintained? It is one thing to win a battle, but quite another to continue to walk in victory. Like the Israelites, in our spiritual journey, we must also take the same step if we are to experience continual victory over our flesh. Verses 27-29 show us what they did to preserve their victory. They did not leave a single person alive in Ai. Everyone from the king to the ordinary peasant was annihilated. Joshua knew that leaving anyone alive would only spell problems for them down the road. Everyone had to be eradicated and so they spared no effort and totally annihilated the enemy.  

What is the lesson for us in our spiritual journey? Our life is God’s promised land to us. And in our life, we will discover our flesh is ever so alive and needs to be put to death. At least this was exactly what the great Apostle Paul experienced. So, in Roman 7:21-24, he said, “I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?” If we don’t put to death the flesh, which is ever so alive in each one of us, it will be impossible to keep our victory.  

We need to know that there is a continual conflict between our flesh and the Spirit of God dwelling within us. However, be aware that in submitting to the Lordship of Christ, our flesh is crucified in Him and God now looks at us from the point of Calvary. Our past wickedness had been dealt with at the cross of Christ. But daily we have to put to death the carnal nature that will surface in our journey. With the help of God, we must put it to death every time it rears its ugly head. We cannot crucify our flesh if we continue to gratify it. We need to mortify the flesh. Here was what Paul did. He lived a crucified life. This is the secret to victory and he testified to it in Galatians 2:20. He said, “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” This key is our victory over our flesh. When we apply it, we will be like him and live in triumphant jubilation. Know for sure that “There is now no condemnation for them who are in Christ Jesus, who walk every day by the Spirit of the Lord.” Why? “For the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus had set us free for the dominion of sin and death.” Hallelujah, a triumphant experience awaits us!

Joshua 8:18-23 – Divine timing is everything

Unaware of the strategy of the Israelites, the king of Ai and his forces of men pursue Joshua and the 5,000 men with him. The strategy the Israelites had was to make it look as if they were running away from them. Their intention was to draw the men of Ai away from their city and they unwittingly fell into the trap. As soon as they were in hot pursuit of Joshua and his entourage of 5,000, God gave the order to Joshua saying, “Stretch out the javelin that is in your hand toward Ai, for I will give it into your hand.” This order of the Lord tells us something. While it was Joshua and his men who fight the battle, it was God who had given them the victory. The very first time they went to fight against Ai, they went in their own strength and had to suffer a humiliating defeat. This time around, they walked into the battle with the power of God with the assurance of victory.

Notice that it was God who told Joshua to point his javelin toward the city. It was the moment to be obeyed. Victory in life is always in keeping with the divine moment. There is a need to be in touch with God to know the time to execute an assault. Remember it was God who gave them the strategy. In Joshua 8:2, they were told to set an ambush. While the strategy came from God, the exact moment to execute it must be discerned. This clearly points to the need to identify God’s timing for everything if we are to experience victory. In God, everything has a season. That’s what Ecclesiastes 3:1 tells us. It says, “There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven.”  

Joshua pointing his javelin toward Ai was an indication for the 30,000 hidden men of valor to emerge and go into Ai to ravage it and raze it to the ground. Joshua only raised his javelin at the instruction of the Lord. As soon as Joshua did that, the valiant men responded. By the time the pursuing force of Ai turned around, they saw smoke rising from their city but it was too late. They were sandwiched between Joshua and the 5,000 men and the 30,000 valiant men. So, the Israelites totally destroyed every man of Ai and captured the king of Ai alive and brought him before Joshua.

Here is a lesson for us in our battle against our flesh. The battle to control our carnal nature is not won and cannot be won by our own effort. Having the will to fight is not good enough, we need the undergirding of God’s power and strength. To say no to a temptation is not enough, we need to rely on the power of the Lord's might. Like Paul who had advised us in Ephesians 6, we just need to put on the whole armor of God. The only way to overcome the flesh is to rely totally on the power of God and not just the will. As important as spiritual disciplines are, it is the empowerment of the grace of God that we need, to be an overcomer. Remember all spiritual exercises only help us to be poised to receive God’s overcoming grace. Devoid of the grace, all our activities will merely be self-effort. Remember that our victory is not in what we do but in what God does through us, as we avail ourselves to Him and the guidance of His Spirit. We must learn to walk in the power of His might as Galatians 5:16 tells us. So, let us “…walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.”  

Joshua 8:9-17 – Carelessness will make us pay

The plan was made, the 30,000 men assigned had taken their position under the cover of the night. The 5,000 men with Joshua camped between Bethel and Ai. However, we see no evidence that the king of Ai had any plan in case of another attempt by the Israelites. This often happens when people rest on their laurel after one victory. The king of Ai must have thought that their victory over Israel’s first attempt which killed 36 of their men was final. He must have become complacent because of that victory. If not, he would have assigned sentries to be on a lookout for any further attack of Israel. How careless they were! They had forgotten that one swallow doesn’t make a summer. Their complacency serves as a reminder for us never to be complacent and rest on our laurel on our spiritual journey. We need to be alert at all times. That’s the reason 1 Peter 5:8 warns us to “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your (our) adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”

Joshua, on the other end, took nothing for granted. Learning from his defeat, he left no stone unturned. His plan was thorough and his instructions to the men were detailed. There was no margin for error. Joshua mustered his 5,000 men early in the morning and had them stationed in ambush position between Bethel and Ai. Having stationed his men where they were, Joshua spent the night in the midst of them. It came about in the morning, that the king of Ai saw Joshua. He and all his people charged out after Joshua without thinking. They did not realize that they were walking into a trap. They probably thought that they could repeat another massacre of Israel. But how wrong they were! There is always a price attached to carelessness. They went out unsuspecting that they had walked into an ambush. At first, Joshua and the 5,000 men with him acted as if they were running away from the king of Ai and his fighting men. The plan was to lure them away from the city so that the 30,000 could emerge from the rear end, annihilate the city and sandwich the forces of Ai in-between. This would give the army of Ai no room to escape. There is a lesson for us here. It is imperative that we stay circumspect in our Christian walk. It pays to stay alert and circumspect at all times in our spiritual journey. Be sure not to walk into any trap of the enemies making. No matter how well-meaning people may seem to be, we must stay alert and discerning. Remember the proverb that says, “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” Learn to read intentionality.     

The carelessness of the king and the people of Ai leaves us with another lesson. We must watch out for our unguarded moments in life. The king of Ai and his men left the city unattended to pursue Joshua and the 5,000 men. This happened because they did not take the time to consider every conceivable angle. By their carelessness, they were blind-ended and took things for granted. It is said that an idle mind is the devil’s workshop. We must seek always to engage our mind with God’s thoughts. The great commandment tells us not only to love the Lord with our heart and soul, but it also tells us to love him with our mind. Our mind is often where the battle is fought and won. Transformation of life always takes place with the renewal of our mind. Take to heart what Romans 12:2 says, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” One sure way to be certain of God’s will for our life is to have a “Word and Spirit” renewed mind. Make it a point to cultivate a renewed mind.  

Joshua 8:3-8 – Strategic alliance with God ensures victory

Having learned from his defeat. Joshua was all the more determined to fully rely on the Lord. From what he did, we see the illustration of a strategy that will help us to attain victory over our flesh and avoid defeats in life. The first is not to be overconfident. So, this time he chose 30,000 valiant men. They were sent out in the cover of the night. They were called “valiant men” because they were brave, reliable, trustworthy and able. This reminds us that in the Lord’s service, we sent our best. Every one of us can be that man when we take time to build our life in the Lord. We learn to live life with discipline, cultivating spiritual habits that will enable us to connect with God all the time. Habits such as prayer, devotion, meditation, solitude, worship are all needful and good. They help us to come to avail ourselves before God so that His grace can work in our lives. Bear in mind that the habits are just the means where we avail ourselves to the grace of God. So, do not think that the habits in and of themselves make us spiritual. Devoid of God’s grace, the habits in and of themselves only become self-will. Ultimately, we need to rely on the Lord to supply the grace.

All of us can become a “man of valor” in God. How? By living as God has designed for us to live and always seeking to walk in His will for our life. The depth of our life in Christ will determine the breadth of our victory. The depth of our root will determine the measure of our fruit. The possibilities we have in God can be harnessed by a life that lives to honor and please Him. Seek to take the high road of being with the Lord and not the low road, and find ourselves being disqualified. Notice that these valiant men were sent in the night. This may be seen as their willingness to give up sleep to fulfill the plan of God. It speaks of self-sacrifice and self-denial. To be a good soldier of the Lord, we not only must listen to our commander, but we must be willing to make sacrifices to accomplish the mission. The command of God often times will require us to deny our fleshly desire. Who doesn’t want to pander to the desire of the flesh? But we know that if we pander to the flesh, we will end up ill-equipped and set ourselves up for defeat. Self-sacrifice and self-denial are choices we have to make if victory is to be experienced.   

The strategy was for Joshua to take 5,000 men and approach Ai. Then when the men of Ai came out to fight them, they would retreat before them. This was to lure them out and away from the city. When those men were pursuing Joshua and the 5,000 men, the 30,000 hidden men of valor would emerge and ambush the city and raze it to the ground. These 30,00 Israelites together with Joshua and the other 5,000 men would then surround the pursuing men of Ai and utterly destroy them. The strategy was detailed and had to be executed with precision. Obedience was imperative if we are to experience victory. We need to remember that the key to victory is to yield and submit to our God and obey His commands.  

One more lesson can be gleaned from Joshua’s victory. It is the need to stay united. They remained as a unit where everyone needed to play their role. Everyone stuck to the role required of each of them. No one sought to carry out his own desire. They co-operated and collaborated with each other, sharing a common purpose. No one was jealous of someone else’s task. Everyone did what was required of them. In the same way, our willingness to play our part will ensure a well-coordinated fellowship that will enable us to function effectively to bring about our desired victory.

One phrase in verse 8 deserves our full attention. It’s the phrase, “You shall do it according to the word of the Lord.” Like them, the key to victory is found in obeying the commandment of the Lord. And as God had commanded through Joshua, He will also do so through our leaders today. It will help if we submit to God through the leadership of the church. The victory we see in Ai was a collaborated effort between God, the leader, and the people. Everyone did his part. While God was fighting for them, they also had to work in tandem with God. Be aligned with God and work with Him through the leaders He had appointed over us. Let’s play our part and together experience the victory God has designed for our life. Let’s do it!

Joshua 8:1-2 – Move in tandem with and not ahead of the Lord

Joshua 7 records for us the only setback Israel suffered in their conquest of Canaan. Ai was such a tiny city yet they were defeated in their first attempt to possess it. From all outward appearances, it was easy meat, yet that city proved to be no pushover. Israel suffered her first and only humiliating defeat at the hand of Ai. The 3,000 men sent by Joshua to capture the city were routed and forced to flee. It was recorded that 36 of their fighting men were killed. Why were they made to suffer this setback?

Here are a few reasons: firstly, it was because they had allowed pride to creep in. They did not consult with the Lord before they embarked on the attack. Israel had just experienced the greatest victory in their conquest of Jericho. In all probability, they must have forgotten that it was God who had helped them to take down that well-fortified formidable city. It was with the strange and unusual plan of God which they obeyed diligently that victory was experienced. That success underlines for us the necessity to seek and obey the Lord diligently if we are to find good success. Victory is ensured when we obey the Lord and do what He says, even when His instruction may seem like a ridiculous strategy. Having experienced victory at Jericho, they took matters into their own hand and supposed that the smaller city of Ai could be taken without the Lord’s help. But alas, it was not to be. It will do us well not to be presumptuous but to always seek the Lord whether a matter is big or small. When we are walking in step with the Lord, even the biggest obstacle will be easy meat. But if we are not, even the smallest task will be insurmountable.  

Secondly, they suffered the setback in their first attempt to conquer Ai was because there was sin among them. They were instructed to dedicate the gold, silver, bronze or iron articles of Jericho to the Lord. They must be deemed the Lord’s property and no one was to covet any of it. But Achan disobeyed and succumbed to temptation and broke trust with the Lord. He took what was rightly the Lord’s, and the whole camp was made to suffer because of one person’s selfishness. Remember we are a family. One person’s wrong has the potential to affect the rest of the fellowship. It accentuates the necessity to be circumspect in our personal relationship and walk with God so that what we do will not affect the whole body.  

Their first defeat at Ai was a lesson that allowed the Lord to teach them what it meant to live a sanctified and holy life. They were given a lesson on the danger of pride. Most of all they must have learned that without the presence and power of God, there would be no victory. Like the children of Israel, we have very formidable enemies that we need to deal with daily. We need to constantly battle the world, the devil and even our own fallen nature. Learning to deal with pride, living a set apart life, and relying on the presence and power of God are also the lessons we must adopt if we expect to find victory in our spiritual journey.  

In Genesis 12:8, we are told that Abraham pitched his tent between Bethel, meaning the house of God, and Ai, meaning a heap of ruin. Ai is symbolically our carnal and fallen nature. Like Abraham in his early days, many of us have pitched our tent between the house of God and the heap of ruins. Where we pitch the tent of our life is critical. Because it will determine our success or defeat. We can either experience the blessing of Bethel or the ruins of Ai.  

After Joshua had dealt with the root cause of their first defeat at Ai, God told him to go and confront Ai. This time He promised that everything would be different. God assured Joshua that he and his people would experience victory. There are times that the Lord will bring us back to the place of defeat so that we can do it all over again and find our victory to move on. In life, progress is built one upon another. We start from the earlier ones before we can move on to the more complex ones. We scale the height step by step. If we have not overcome the simple tasks, we will find it harder to conquer the more complex ones. That’s why we learn line upon line, precept upon precept. We move from faith to faith and glory to glory. God doesn’t take us to completion all at once. We need to progress moment by moment. He intends to build the discipline we need so that we can advance with Him.

God’s assurance to Joshua of the impending victory is an assurance to us too. Regardless of whatever defeat we may have experienced, the truth is that God wants us to experience being an overcomer like Joshua. We don’t have to live in defeat. He has saved us so that we can live a life of liberty, not a life of slavery to sin. In verse 2, God revealed to them what they would experience in Ai. He promised that they would plunder Ai as they did to Jericho. And they were given the rights to take the spoil of that city. If only Achan had waited for a few more days, he would have all he wanted without violating the ban and caused all the miseries. It underscores for us that we should never run ahead of God’s plan. We must learn to wait upon Him. The lesson of Ai reminds us not to go for instant gratification. We must learn to wait on the Lord. His plans are best accomplished in His time. Don’t try to run ahead of Him. Let us discern the Lord’s season, and move in tandem and walk in step with Him. He will lead and guide!       

Joshua 7:22-26 – Render to the Lord what belongs to Him

Realizing that he could no longer hide his misdeed, Achan admitted to Joshua. His was a confession wrung out of him. The words of his admission were captured in Joshua 7:21. He said, “When I saw among the spoil a beautiful mantle from Shinar and two hundred shekels of silver and a bar of gold fifty shekels in weight, then I coveted them and took them; and behold, they are concealed in the earth inside my tent with the silver underneath it.” Sin is a very insidious thing. James 1:14-15 said, “Each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.” Hence, we got to be careful what our eyes see, our ears hear, and our minds dwell upon all the time. It will do us well to guard what we see, what we hear and what our mind entertains. They are all possible avenues for the entrance of sin.

On hearing Achan’s admission, Joshua sent messengers and they ran to the tent and retrieve the items he stole from the Lord. Finding the articles in Achan’s tent, they brought them out before the eyes of the people and the Lord, to show conclusively that he was the culprit. The articles were to be destroyed and the whole nation took part in the judgment by stoning Achan and his family, after which they were burnt. Such a drastic judgment was required to make a public example of how serious it was to offend the Lord. The severe punishment serves as a reminder that our God is a holy God and He is the all-consuming fire when His anger is provoked. The sin of Achan was not just a simple misdeed, it was a sacrilege. He had the audacity to claim for himself what rightly belonged to the Lord. Never should we claim any glory of the Lord for ourselves. What we see in this account will help us to see that all the hidden things done in darkness are never occluded from the eye of our God.      

The place, where Achan and family were judged and punished, came to be named Achor or trouble. Just as a heap of stones was built at Gilgal to remind the people of God’s faithfulness, a heap of stone now stands in Achor to remind the people how offensive a sacrilegious act could be to the Lord. Spiritually speaking, the valley of Achor is a “place” we should avoid. Remember that there is no secret sin that will not ultimately be revealed. For God is not mocked, what a man sows he shall also reap. As Galatians 6:8 so aptly reminds us, “For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.” Let us sow to the Spirit and not our flesh. Remember the promise of our Lord Jesus. He said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” If we refuse to entertain sin in life, there is no telling of the measure of His presence that will be wonderfully experienced in life.