Failures - from a church message

Israel under Joshua’s leadership had just crossed over Jordan. God had done a great miracle by dividing Jordan River and allowing them to cross the river. The next hurdle was Jericho. God has gone ahead and worked out a great victory, with them not shooting even one arrow. But God had given them detailed instructions how to go about each step. Joshua who was used to sitting in the tabernacle and listening to God, along with Moses, had done pretty well, and the fame of Joshua as a leader had spread all around. He was slowly fitting into the shoes of the great leader who had led them for 40 years – Moses. And they were just starting into the new phase of their journey to Promised Land. A series of wars had to be fought and kingdoms had to be conquered and Jericho was the first. But God also had given clear instructions for their behaviour, how they should deal with the things they would come across as they conquer nations. There was a character expected from them. Things seemed to be going well, they had no indication anything was amiss till the next war. They go to war with Ai and fail miserably, and their hearts are melting and started shaking with fear. From a shout of victory a few days before, they were shaking in fear and melting in fear! The tables had turned, the shout of victory was one story of the past….

As we analyse the steps leading to the failure – why did they as a community failed, - four things stand out.

One – there was sin in the community – there was one person and family who had failed. One person’s sin was the cause of a corporate community failure. One person’s behaviour, greed, desire lead to the failure of a whole community.

We are not independent, standalone individuals. If we have aligned ourselves to God and His purposes and community, our behaviour, our decisions and our attitudes will affect not only us, but the larger community. It is not about God and you, but God, you, and each other. Mine and your sin can lead to the failure of the larger community. That is why, we need to be not only dependant on God but interdependent on each other. What about my life – is it a stumbling block to the larger community? No one might see your behaviour, but even unseen sins are seen by God…

Check your life – if affects you and your community…..Get a scan done….

The second issue was – God had seen this He was angry. But the community and the leadership was not aware of this changed perspective of God. Joshua and leaders were well used to listening to God and understanding His heart. Somewhere in the few days after the success, they had lost this ability of discerning God’s heart. God was angry with them but they did not realize this.  

The danger of losing the ability to live discerning God’s heart is a real fact in many individuals and leaders life. We live in the past history of our relationship with God, whereas God might be waiting for us to return. We are blinded by our casual and careless attitudes and lose the ability to see things through God’s eyes. Saul the King was such a leader, for 13 years after God had rejected him, he continued live and function as if God was with him. He never repented nor returned. There was a spiritual blind spot with which he was blinded from recognizing the true status of His life.

Check your vision – get a perimetry done, check your blind spots, are you living with a right perspective, the perspective with which God sees you…?

The third issue was – they had not only stopped understanding God’s perspective, they had stopped asking God for how to go about things. Jericho was a big city, God had clearly guided them with detailed instructions. But Ai was small compared to Jericho. But somehow they did not ask God how to go about it. Joshua send spies to spy out the land. Strategies were right but somehow spirit was ignored! They were moving from being a dependant community to an independent community. They had learnt the art of war, they knew what to do, what steps to take, and took for granted that God will give them victory.

Have we moved from being dependant to independent? Have we become so skilled that we do not need to ask God how to go about what to do with our life and future? Have we become causal in our attitudes and have started taking God granted – that He will be with us? Have we become causal in our attitudes to god and his purposes? Check your heart….Get an Echo done…

The fourth was – instead of listening to God, Joshua starts listening to people. They were moving from Theocracy to democracy. They were more about consensus and listening each other than listening to God.

When one stops listening to God, you start listening to someone else – either yourself or others whose voices are easier to hear than God’s. OR more pleasing to your ears that truth!

Check your ears – whose voice are you listening – Get an audiometry done…retune if it is required….

The result of this – sin of one person and corporate failure was losing the battle. Where one person could put a 1000 to flight – unless the Rock had given up on them – they lost out.

How do we protect ourselves from failure – regular Spiritual Medical check up – your life, you vision, your heart and your ears….

The response of the leader was right – he turns to God – never late to return, but return with the right attitude! He was confused, lost and pours out his heart to God and asks God why this failure! And ends with reminding God – that their failure affect His name! A great perspective – our failure – individual of community affects not only us, but God’s name! We who proclaim to be the followers of a living God, when we fail, the world will look at us and their perspective of God will be affected! All the more reason to check our life, heart, vision and ears!

God’s response to this prayer was interesting – he said – enough praying – this is not time to pray but time to act! They had to sort the issue out, they were not to beat around the bush or push the matter under the carpet! They had to get up and recognize that they had failed, and repent. Not only repent, but face consequences.

When one fails – what are we expected to do – recognize and accept that we have failed, respond by repentance and facing the consequences, however tough it might be!

Once that was done, God returns to them, and starts communicating, and gives them a second chance. He gives instructions the way he had done earlier, changes equations allows them to take the plunder and capture Ai.

Our God is a God of second chances! Even if we fail miserably, there is always another chance! A door which reopens, if we are willing to recognize our failure and return.

The story does not end here – it ends by God renewing the covenant – the covenant which was given to the fore fathers – for the greater purposes of Gods plan – so that they can come back and walk in that plan again – this is the God we have….