Thursday June 20
A New Beginning
Joshua 8:1-8
1 Now the LORD said to Joshua: "Do not be afraid, nor be dismayed; take all the people of war with you, and arise, go up to Ai. See, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land.
2 And you shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king. Only its spoil and its cattle you shall take as booty for yourselves. Lay an ambush for the city behind it."
3 So Joshua arose, and all the people of war, to go up against Ai; and Joshua chose thirty thousand mighty men of valor and sent them away by night.
4 And he commanded them, saying: "Behold, you shall lie in ambush against the city, behind the city. Do not go very far from the city, but all of you be ready.
5 Then I and all the people who are with me will approach the city; and it will come about, when they come out against us as at the first, that we shall flee before them.
6 For they will come out after us till we have drawn them from the city, for they will say, 'They are fleeing before us as at the first.' Therefore we will flee before them.
7 Then you shall rise from the ambush and seize the city, for the LORD your God will deliver it into your hand.
8 And it will be, when you have taken the city, that you shall set the city on fire. According to the commandment of the LORD you shall do. See, I have commanded you."
In Joshua 6, Israel had experienced a great victory over the city of Jericho. But in Joshua 7, they suffered a humiliating defeat in their battle with the little city of Ai because of unconfessed sin in their camp. They made the mistake of becoming proud and thinking they could enjoy victory in the battles of life without praying or seeking the Lord’s instructions first. Paul said it this way; “Let a man who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall” (1 Corinthians 10:12).
We are also warned in Galatians 6:1-3, “Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.” We can’t afford to be careless in our daily spiritual walk, especially after experiencing a spiritual victory of lifting a brother or sister out of a sinful situation.
But we must also realize that we are still human, and life is a series of mistakes! If you don’t want to make any mistakes, don’t do anything or go anywhere! It was Henry Ford who defined a mistake as "an opportunity to begin again, more intelligently." Joshua would also have agreed, because he is about to "begin again, more intelligently" and organize a victory out of his mistakes. Today we should be encouraged knowing that “where sin abounded, grace did much more abound” (Romans 5:20).
In Joshua 8, God gave Joshua and the people of Israel an opportunity for a new beginning. Once the nation of Israel had judged the sin that had defiled their camp, God was free to speak to them in mercy and direct them in their conquest of the land. "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and He delights in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; for the Lord upholds him with His hand" (Ps. 37:23-24). No matter what mistakes we may make, the worst mistake of all is not to try again; for "the victorious Christian life is a series of new beginnings" (Alexander Whyte).
I’ll never forget a message I heard in my earlier years entitled, “Failure plus failure, plus failure, plus failure, plus failure, equals success!” Proverbs 24:16 reminds us that “Though a righteous man falls seven times, he will rise again.” I love how the Living Bible translates 2 Corinthians 4:8-9; “We are pressed on every side by troubles, but not crushed and broken. We are perplexed because we don’t know why things happen as they do, but we don’t give up and quit. We are hunted down, but God never abandons us. We get knocked down, but we get up again and keep going.”
In Joshua 8:1 we find that a new beginning always starts with the Word of God. It was a word of encouragement. Today we don't hear God's audible voice as people often did in Bible times, but we have the Word of God before us and the Spirit of God within us; and God will direct us if we wait patiently before Him. Discouragement over the past and fear of the future are the two reactions that often accompany failure. We look back and remember the mistakes that we made, and then we look ahead and wonder whether there's any future for people who fail so foolishly.
The answer to our discouragement and fear is in hearing and believing God's Word: "Fear not, neither be thou dismayed" (v. 1). Take time to study the "fear not" statements of the Bible. Note that God spoke these words to different kinds of people in various circumstances, and His Word always met the need. God never discourages His people from making progress. As long as we obey His commandments, we have the privilege of claiming His promises.
Remember that today is the first day of the rest of your life! Arise and fix your eyes on Jesus!
God bless!
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