Joshua - A Strong and Courageous Character

Deuteronomy 34:9 says Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom.

God told Joshua to take the people over the Jordan into the promised land.  He told him he would give him all the territory and that He would always be with him.  The Lord told him to be strong and courageous so  you can divide the land among the people; so you can observe all I commanded you; so you may prosper and have good success; so you will not be afraid nor dismayed and know that the Lord is with you wherever you go.  He told him that the Book of the Law shall not depart from his mouth and that he should meditate in it day and night that he may observe to do all that is written in it – For THEN you will make your way prosperous and THEN you will have good success.

The Lord told them to abstain from the accursed things or they would become accursed and make the camp of Israel a curse and trouble it.  Silver, gold, and vessels of bronze and iron were consecrated to the Lord and were to come into the treasury of the Lord.

They fought the battle at Jericho and victory was theirs.   But when they got to the small city of Ai, the men of Ai chased of Joshua’s men and killed 36 of them.  So everyone freaked out.  Joshua’s wisdom hadn’t changed, the army’s skill hadn’t lessened but all of a sudden they were afraid and being defeated by a small city.  This didn’t look like the picture God had painted on the other side of the Jordan.

Joshua did the right thing and fell on his face before the ark of the Lord and began to question God asking if He had brought them over the Jordan to be defeated?  So the Lord told him to get off his face and take care of what was amiss.  That they were doomed to destruction because someone taken something they weren’t supposed to take and as long as sin was in the camp, they wouldn’t be victorious.

See, Achan had not only taken the accursed thing, but the silver and gold (that belonged to the Lord) as well.  So when Joshua took care of the sin in the camp, they were victorious over Ai.

Moral of the story - Compromise does not work with the Lord.  He warned Joshua before he ever crossed over the Jordan that physical strength and courage was not enough – they needed strength of character and courage to observe all the that Lord has commanded him.  We cannot allow sin to remain in the camp.

Whatever God has made you a leader over – a church, a business, a household.  We must be strong and courageous when it comes to standing up for the will of God in order to be prosperous and insure success.  Physical strength, courage, wisdom is not enough. 

We need to be men and women of character.  If we have true faith in God, our character will line up with His will.  We won’t need to compromise or take short cuts to try and make things happen, we’ll trust Him for whatever it is that needs to happen.

The point isn’t that we have to be perfect but we have to admit when we’re not.  We have to care that we’re not – meaning we should feel ashamed, we should feel regret.  We should feel remorse when we do things that don’t line up with the will of God. 

We shouldn’t shrug it off.  We shouldn’t make excuses for it.  We shouldn’t justify it.  We shouldn’t quantify it – “I did this for the Lord or I did this right or I’m not as bad as this other guy so I’m okay”.  We shouldn’t say it’s no big deal – it is a BIG deal!

We should repent.  We should be in distress over it until we do repent.  We should care!

An accursed act or thing brings destruction on the whole camp. 

Character is important.  Compromise = foregoing God’s will for our own.  Godly Character is lining ourselves up with the will of God and refusing to compromise. 

Remember a drop of poison in a glass of water is still tainted and potentially deadly!