In Joshua 7:1-12, we find the account of Israel’s stunning, powerless loss to Ai.
“But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing: for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed thing: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against the children of Israel. And Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Bethaven, on the east side of Bethel, and spake unto them, saying, Go up and view the country. And the men went up and viewed Ai. And they returned to Joshua, and said unto him, Let not all the people go up; but let about two or three thousand men go up and smite Ai; and make not all the people to labour thither; for they are but few. So there went up thither of the people about three thousand men: and they fled before the men of Ai. And the men of Ai smote of them about thirty and six men: for they chased them from before the gate even unto Shebarim, and smote them in the going down: wherefore the hearts of the people melted, and became as water. And Joshua rent his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the LORD until the eventide, he and the elders of Israel, and put dust upon their heads. And Joshua said, Alas, O Lord GOD, wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over Jordan, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? would to God we had been content, and dwelt on the other side Jordan! O Lord, what shall I say, when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies! For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it, and shall environ us round, and cut off our name from the earth: and what wilt thou do unto thy great name? And the LORD said unto Joshua, Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face? Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them: for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own stuff. Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they were accursed: neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed from among you.”
Israel was fresh from a massive victory at Jericho. They had built an impressive record of significant victories. In every battle they fought, God fought for them and with them and gave them the victory. When they went up against a little town called Ai, and that Power wasn’t with them anymore. Instead of seeing a great victory, they were sent running in defeat. As Christians and preachers, we are told to expect the power of God in our ministries. In II Timothy 1:7, Paul told Timothy, “God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind .”We may even have seen God’s power on display in our lives and ministries in the past. Too many of us today, though, aren’t seeing that power on display anymore. Even worse, many preachers have become accustomed to the shame of powerlessness. Instead, we can learn from Israel’s example here; there were three specific errors that they made that caused God to withdraw His power from them, and when they made them right, God blessed them with His power again. If we’re not seeing His power on our lives anymore, it makes sense for us to see if one of these errors might be in evidence.
They Trusted in Themselves, Not God.
Before they went against Jericho, the Israelites knew that they needed God’s help. Jericho was a powerful city with huge walls and a strong defense. On the contrary, Ai was a little city that seemed no threat to even a few thousand soldiers. Before they went up against Jericho, Joshua talked with God repeatedly and followed His instructions carefully. Before Ai, however, there is no indication that he even spoke to God about the battle, much less asked about a plan.
We need to remember that even on what may seem like easy and routine matters, we need God’s help. Jesus said; “Without me, ye can do nothing.” (John 15:5) Even if we were smart enough and wise enough to make all the right decisions and say all the right words in just the right way, we would still need God working in the hearts, minds, and lives of those with whom we are talking. If we’re honest, we need Him working inside us, too, guiding and empowering, or we won’t have the right message in the right spirit at the right time.
How often do we act like we’ve preached often enough that we can handle a service on our own? We’ve preached to these people in this place before and won the victory. We’ve shared the gospel before and seen people get saved. It is tempting to think or act like if we did it before, we’re ready to do it again, but if we go in our own strength, we’ll still fall flat. If we ever had success in ministry, God did it, not us.
The Second time they went to AI, they had a plan and a promise from God. Joshua 8:1-2 says; “And the LORD said unto Joshua, Fear not, neither be thou dismayed: take all the people of war with thee, and arise, go up to Ai: see, I have given into thy hand the king of Ai, and his people, and his city, and his land: And thou shalt do to Ai and her king as thou didst unto Jericho and her king: only the spoil thereof, and the cattle thereof, shall ye take for a prey unto yourselves: lay thee an ambush for the city behind it.”
Joshua had gone to God and sought His help, realizing that they needed Him working on their behalf, and God had responded with a promise that He would give them the victory, and gave Joshua direction about how to win the battle. They won the victory after seeking God’s help and direction and following His leading the second time.
They failed to do their best.
Not only did Israel go into this battle trusting themselves rather than God, but they also approached it with the mindset of doing just enough rather than doing their best. They decided to commit just enough troops to get the job done (or at least so they thought). They sent only a fraction of their strength; Israel had over 600,000 men who could go to war as of Numbers 26:51, but they only sent 3,000 to this battle. That’s less than half a percent!
If they had all the warriors had fought, it would have taken God actively opposing them, rather than just withholding His help for them to be defeated. There was no rain of hailstones on them, and the sun didn’t stand still for their enemies to pursue them. God didn’t help their enemies; He just didn’t help Israel either.
We will never find ourselves in a situation where we have all the power needed for victory in and of ourselves. God isn’t looking for “good enough.” He wants our best. Colossians 3:23 say,; “And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily as unto the Lord, and not unto men.” In I Corinthians 10:31, we are exhorted, “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God .” God deserves our best. Anything less is insulting; after all, He gave us His best.
When we don’t put all our power into the work, how can we expect Him to bless and add His power?
Doing our best includes preparing for ministry. If you have reason to expect an opportunity to preach, you ought to have something prepared. In fact, study and preparation should be a habit even when we don’t know when we’ll get the chance to preach.
Music is the same; we shouldn’t just throw something together and wing it if we have the chance to practice and prepare. I’ve been horrified to be at churches where people are encouraged to come up and sing even when they say they’re not prepared. David refused to offer a sacrifice that didn’t cost him anything (II Samuel 24:24), but we sometimes seem willing to offer up unprepared music that doesn’t represent our best effort.
The second time Israel fought Ai, every soldier went. They used military tactics like ambushes and diversions as well. God directed them to take everybody and use an ambush, but Joshua applied himself and developed the plan using all his resources, too. God had said to set an ambush behind the city; Joshua not only developed a plan using that ambush, but he set a second ambush on the West of the city as well (Joshua 8:12). This second battle was a best effort where all of Israel prepared and applied themselves like was appropriate for going to war.
They violated God’s holiness.
God had pronounced a curse on the spoil at Jericho, making it a matter of His holiness, not just simple obedience. Achan deliberately disobeyed after being warned that this would bring a curse on Israel (Joshua 6:18). God didn’t see it as just Achan’s sin, but something affecting all of Israel. While Achan may have been the only one to take cursed treasure from Jericho, others were complicit in his actions. Based on Deuteronomy 24:16, His family wouldn’t have been killed if they hadn’t participated. While armed and armored for battle, he had also managed to carry a change of clothes and about 7 pounds of gold and silver from Jericho back to his tent in broad daylight, and nobody said anything. He couldn’t hide all that in his pockets, and it was bound to be jingling. Apparently, while nobody else took loot, they weren’t very concerned that he did. And this was after Joshua’s public warning! They may have assumed that Achan would be the only one to pay the price, but God had warned through Joshua that this would affect all Israel.
We need to be mindful of God’s holiness as well. We desire the power of the Spirit; we pray and ask for the Spirit to fill us, but we need to remember that He is the Holy Spirit. If His holiness would be compromised by filling us or using us, we can’t expect His help. We have no reason to think that He will fill and bless the ministry of an unclean vessel.
If we get sloppy with what we watch, what we listen to, or where we go, we are allowing ourselves to be polluted, and the Holy Spirit may withdraw His blessing and power from us. He may tolerate our uncleanness for a period, but like Samson, one day, we will wake up, and the power will be gone, even if we don’t realize it (Judges 16:20). That’s a scary verse. Samson didn’t feel any different without the Spirit’s presence, and he didn’t realize that God’s help was gone until it was too late. Let’s be careful that we don’t get in the position of ministering in the flesh without realizing it. We need to be careful to avoid the pollution of the world and dedicate ourselves to the Word of God and the things of God if we are going to be filled by the Spirit of God and have His power in our lives and ministry.
We need to be careful, not only in our private lives but also in our public services. How often do we ask God to bless a service without even considering His opinion of the music, the way people are dressed, the way they are behaving, etc.?
We know that the Holy Spirit can be quenched (I Thess. 5:19). Good spiritual music drove out an evil spirit from Saul (I Samuel 16:14-23), and led to the glory of God filling the Temple at its dedication (II Chron. 5:13-14). Shouldn’t we consider that music of a lower spiritual nature may make His presence unwelcome?
If the people leading the service disobey God’s precepts in their dress or behavior, how can we expect Him to bless the service? I’m not talking about the people in the pews. If we are winning souls, we will have people in our churches who don’t yet know how to dress or behave. Nevertheless, those lifted up as leaders and examples who lead in the “worship” must be held to a high biblical standard. We need an attitude in the pews and in the pulpit that doing things right matters; the right kind of music, the right kind of dress, the right kind of preparation, the right kind of attitude, etc.
When Israel returned to Ai and won the victory, it was after they had purged themselves of the uncleanness in their ranks. Achan was dealt with, the curse (and God’s holiness) was satisfied, and they could present themselves as soldiers in God’s service with the expectation that He would bless their service.
Joshua recognized immediately after the loss at Ai that something was wrong and addressed it to make it right and get the missing and needed help. It would have been better if he had realized it before going out without God’s help, but we may even be fighting repeatedly without God’s help and failing to realize that something is wrong. If we are not being victorious in our service; if souls are not being saved, if we are not seeing Christians grow, if our churches are being driven back to God, let’s stop and assess that something is wrong and find out what it is with determination to make it right and get God’s power in our ministry again.
After their loss, Israel recognized and corrected their errors. When they had cleansed themselves of their unholiness and did things God’s way, they won a great victory. Not just over Ai but Bethel as well. We can learn from their example, and if we’re not seeing God’s power in our lives and ministries, let’s do like Joshua: seek God out, find out why we’ve lost His power, correct it, and then go out and win the victory.