I keep Achan.

10/25/21

Read Time: 8 mins

I hateeeeee failing because of the mistakes of others. 

I don’t know if y'all played basketball but there were so many times when the coach would make me run in practice because someone else missed their layup or free throw in a drill.  Or maybe you didn’t play sports and you remember getting bad grades on presentations because someone else didn’t wanna do their part? Or maybe you remember staying inside for almost 6 months straight just for other people to have parties and demonize wearing masks instead of helping? (lol this is funny to reread now)

I can imagine this is how the Israelites felt. Joshua was just declared their new leader. God has blessed him and promised that this group will be the one to accomplish what their predecessors couldn’t: making it to the destination of promise, the land God had set apart for them. And now they’re coming up to Jericho. This is the first city in the promised land that they came against. This is one of the last major battles before being in the promised land. 

They’re ready for the challenge. 

They’ve been winning battle after battle.

It still amazes me that so many armies and countries went out of their way to avoid the Israelites solely based on the legend surrounding them and their victories. 

The surrounding kingdoms are hearing stories about them that are causing them to cower in fear and lock their doors to prevent the Israelites from conquering them too. 

And they’re living up to the hype. 

They aren’t losing. 

They’re going 16-0 or 82-0 depending on what sport you subscribe to for the purpose of this analogy. 

They’re doing amazingly. 

They’re on a roll. 

They’re undefeated. 

The Israelites were excited and confident. God said to be strong and courageous and they were. They had just crossed a river like the story that had been passed down from generations about their parents and grandparents. There was evidence that God was moving. God had just used one of the cockiest battle plans by telling them to blow trumpets of victory (the same ones they would’ve used in church) for 7 days instead of actually fighting. That means they praised God for a victory in the future and the walls actually fell at the sound of their praise! They had amazing momentum. It was like they couldn’t lose. Everything in this new phase of their lives was going perfectly. They’re moving past one of the biggest obstacles in their history as a people. They’re making it to the promised land. They did it! 

But God gave simple instruction for the battle: destroy everything. Don’t take anything with you, or not only will you be destroyed, but everyone else will too. God told them not to hold on to anything that would keep Jericho and its valor on their mind. Instead, they were to give everything valuable back to God so He could take care of it.  God didn’t want them to bring any of the weight from a battle He already brought them through into the next phase of the journey. 

It was going well, but Achan held on to the past. 

The Bible says that this one dude Achan violated God’s instructions. He stole some of the things that were supposed to be dedicated to God and destroyed, and because of his disobedience/mistake, the Israelites lost a battle that was supposed to be easy.  

JUST ONE DUDE! 

We did everything right.

We were on a roll.

And you couldn’t wear a mask… I mean not take anything with you from the battle lol. 

After defeating Jericho, the Israelites came against a town named Ai. This was supposed to be an easy battle. This battle was going to be a piece of cake. They’re used to smoking entire kingdoms. Joshua’s generals actually advised him that they wouldn’t need all their men to defeat this small town. They only sent 3,000 people to fight but the Bible says they were soundly defeated. 

The Israelites had beaten bigger armies. They had won before. But now they’re losing the easy battles because one person had to hold on to baggage from the last one.

If I was an Israelite, I’d be so mad and confused. Why are we losing?! We are the Israelites!?! We are used to slicing through small cities like Ai with ease. But this one dude had to mess it up. I’d be mad at Achan. Why couldn’t he just move forward? Why couldn’t he give the spoils of the victory to God? Why couldn’t he just move on? 

We would be mad at Achan but I’m here to argue that we do the same thing he did. 

Let me explain.

So often we ask God to get us through things or win battles for us and he does, but we hold on to those very things that used to hurt us, bringing them and their destruction right into our next phase of life!

Jericho was an obstacle in the path of the Israelites that God promised to destroy, not just the walls, but everything about it, all of the things that were in the way of the promise God had for them. The Israelites were praying for this. This was a battle they were excited to fight. Everything in the path of them and their promise was destined to be destroyed, all they had to do was listen and give it to God. Jericho and everything in it was destined to be destroyed, but Achan held on to things that were declared dead and brought death into his future with him. 

So often we ask God to destroy the pain in our life but hold on to the things causing it and wonder why pain is still there. We ask God to take away negative influences but hold on to the people He is trying to take away from us. So often we ask God to lift us up but hold on to the things that were holding us down in the first place and that’s not how logic works. 

Achan was being blocked from a blessing by Jericho but still wanted souvenirs from that battle. 

(Why do we have such emotional connections to the things we try to pray ourselves out of???) 

It's crazy cause we hate the people like Achan who stop us from moving forward, but we all have similar symptoms. You ever half-listen when God gives you instructions to move forward? We know someone isn’t good for us so we break up but we still hook up on the side and wonder why the pain is still following us. We know we needa give ourselves time to heal but keep the things and people that are causing pain on the side because we are afraid of life without them or maybe we are just too used to the pain to really let go and move forward?  We ask God to bring us out of so much but still hang on to the remnants of it. That has to stop.

Like Achan, God is trying to free us but we are holding on to the chains. 

We’ve all had times where we wanted to move forward but for whatever reason, we held on to the past. I don’t wanna keep doing this cycle of asking God to bring me out of things and then holding on to what He brought me out of. 

So how do we move forward? How can we move into the next phases of life God has for us without bringing the burdens from the past? 

Let’s head back to the story.

We gotta learn from Achan’s mistakes.

So God hips Joshua to what’s happening. God shows Joshua that it is first Achan’s extended family, and then he singles out his house, then finally points out Achan as the culprit. 

But what's interested is that they don’t just go to punish Achan. Joshua says, “My son, give glory to God by telling the truth.” 

They could’ve just got rid of Achan and called it a done deal, but no, Achan is given a chance, to be honest. Not only that, it's suggested in Joshua’s reply that telling the truth would give God glory?

This is big because oh so often we miss out on liberation from things because we aren’t honest enough to admit that we did wrong. Did you catch that? We miss out on liberation because we won’t admit we need it! We miss out on freedom because we aren't able to admit that we are slaves.

 If you fail 8 classes in a row, it may not be that the teachers are out to get you... I know you may not have been listening in class but you are the only common factor in those equations. 

If you’ve had a bunch of past relationships that all ended the same, maybe it’s not that they are the problem. Maybe there is something you need to be honest about with yourself personally. 

Y’all get me? 

All this goes to say that maybe we need to take some initiative and be honest enough to realize that sometimes we are the ones bringing death with us into the future.

We gotta stop moving like everything is ok and admit that we need help. All of us. We have to stop holding on to things God has already matured us out of!

We gotta be honest enough to know that we aren’t perfect. We have to start with us first. You can't control whether other people change or grow but you can kickstart your own growth!

Self-evaluation is the most important aspect of continual growth. 

You can't grow if you don’t know what are you need to grow in. 

I’m tired of believing that God is someone who doesn’t work with the imperfect, the falling or the broken. You don’t have to have it together to go to God. You go to God to have it together! 

We forfeit so much freedom by acting like we aren’t in bondage to things.

Let me say that again because this is real. You can’t heal what you don’t reveal. 

WE GOTTA COME CLEAN WITH THE THINGS PLAGUING US! 

Stop hiding. 

I'm also calling out my professed leaders because you know community is only built through vulnerability and that change has to start somewhere. We gotta be real. As leaders, we have to be honest first. We gotta be honest enough to say that we are struggling because WE ALL ARE. 

No one is fighting their battles alone. 

The devil keeps us entangled by making us feel like it's only our battle.

Birds of a feather flock together. I guarantee your closest friends are secretly dealing with the same things you are. Freedom is waiting. Someone has to break the ice. 

Ok, so yeah yeah be honest with yourself God, and others. I get it. But I'm still mad at “Achan” (me). What if the repercussions of my mistake are still holding me back? What do I do now?

My answer would be, give your problems to God and keep moving.

Jesus is asking you to let him carry your burdens. Not only that, He is asking you to let him make it easier for you to let go and trust Him. He wants to help you trust Him. 

Just like one man’s mistake brought defeat to his people, one Man’s choice brought victory to us. 

Jesus already won. He just wants you to let him fight in You. 

I promise He’s not done with you. Not only that, He never stopped working. 

What I love about this story is that someone messing up the progress didn’t forfeit the promise. In the very next chapter the children of Israel are told by God Himself, don’t be afraid or discouraged, go back and fight, because I have given you the king of Ai and its people. And not only that, you WILL destroy them as you destroyed Jericho. 

Keep going. God’s got it from here. 

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