Achan – Moment to Moment (Bible blog)

Repentance

It has never struck me until today that God did not point out Achan as the one who had sinned until the next day. Why not? Why not deal with the problem right then and there?

I don’t know. But perhaps the answer is found in verse 13.

Go and consecrate the people. Tell them to consecrate themselves for tomorrow… (Joshua 7:13)

In telling the people to consecrate themselves, God was telling the people to prepare their hearts, and give themselves wholly to God.

Certainly part of that process was confessing their sins.

I think God was giving Achan the chance to repent that night. He had a full night to search his heart and get it right before God.

Even the next morning, God did not expose him right away. First his tribe was chosen, then his clan, then his family. But despite multiple chances to confess his sin and repent, Achan remained silent until finally he was singled out by God.

And by then, it was too late.

Had he repented, would he have still been killed? I can’t say for sure, but my guess is he would have found mercy.

So let us not hide our sin. Rather, let us confess it and repent before it’s too late.

As John said,

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (I John 1:9)

Taking what belongs to God

This is a pretty familiar passage to me. I’ve read it dozens of times, it being the story of Achan taking things for himself that should have been devoted to the Lord.

But as I read it, God’s words to Joshua came across very strongly to me.

Israel has sinned. They have violated my covenant that I appointed for them.

They have taken some of what was set apart. They have stolen, deceived, and put those things with their own belongings. This is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies.

They will turn their backs and run from their enemies, because they have been set apart for destruction.

I will no longer be with you unless you remove from among you what is set apart. (Joshua 7:11-12)

“They have stolen.” “They have deceived.” “They have put those (stolen) things with their own belongings.”

And then, “I will no longer be with you unless you remove from among you what is set apart.”

Why did Achan take them?

When I saw among the spoils a beautiful cloak from Babylon, five pounds of silver, and a bar of gold weighing a pound and a quarter, I coveted them and took them. (21)

“It was beautiful. It was valuable. I coveted them.”

How often do we keep from God what rightfully belongs to him? I’m not just talking about tithes and offerings. I’m talking about our very hearts.

God may tell us to give up something, even something that might be good in another context.

He asks us to give up a hobby, or at least cut down on the time we spend on it for things of more eternal value.

Or he tells us to get rid of something that is definitely evil such as porn.

But we hold back these things back from God. They’re beautiful to us. They’re precious to us. We just have to have them.

But in failing to give our whole hearts to him, God says to us, “You have stolen. You have deceived. You have put things that rightfully belong to me, either to use for other purposes (your time, for example), or to utterly destroy in your life (sin), and called them your own.”

And he says to us, “I will no longer be with you unless you remove from among you what is set apart.”

This is not to say that we will lose our salvation. But we will start to notice a definite lack of his presence or power in our lives.

Where we once felt his warm approval, there will now be a cold distance.

Our prayers will bounce off the ceiling. Our times in his Word will dry up. And we will sense a lack of power in our daily lives and in our ministry.

Why? Because we have stolen. We have deceived. We have taken things that rightfully belong to God and called them our own.

And we will not know his presence, we will not know his power again until we surrender what we have taken as our own to him.

How about you? Is there something that you have taken as your own that you need to surrender to God?