Joshua
chapter 8 reminds me of something we used to do as kids. When
playing a game and there was a disputed call, someone would call out
“Do Over”. And we would just replay the disputed call with extra
attention paid to the rules. The original play did not count.
Remember, in the previous chapter the sin of Achan caused Israel to
be defeated at Ai. After the nation repents, God calls “Do Over”.
“Do
not be afraid and do not be discouraged. Take the whole army and go
and strike Ai“.
God gave Joshua a new plan, and he communicates it to the people.
“You
are to set an ambush behind the city… advance on the city, and when
the men come out against us… we will flee from them.”
Joshua explains, when the men of the city pursue the army of Israel,
the army of Israel will attack from the rear and take the city. It
is important to note that God does not use the same old plan, but
does a new work in a new way. I’m convinced the reason God gives
us these many different examples is because He knows our nature. We
tend to stick with what works and rely on tradition, rather than the
Holy Spirit’s leading. Is your spiritual life getting stale?
Listen for the new work God wants to do with you.
I
love the description of Joshua. After he was given the new plan, we
read, “Joshua
spent the night with the people. Early the next morning Joshua
mustered his men and he and the leaders marched before them to Ai“.
Again Joshua does not just give the plan, he takes the lead in
following it. He encourages all the people by his actions. God’s
plan works perfectly. “All
of the men of the city hurried out early in the morning to meet
Israel in battle… and (Israel)
fled toward the desert and all the men of Ai were called to pursue
them… not a man remained in Ai“.
Israel’s army unit that had been waiting for ambush quickly
entered the city and set it on fire. “The
men of Ai looked back and saw the smoke from their city, but they had
no chance to escape.”
They were then stuck in the middle with Israel on all sides, “and
Israel cut them down… every one of them was put to the sword“.
After killing all the people left in the city, “Israel
did carry off for themselves the livestock and all the plunder of the
city as the Lord had instructed Joshua“.
Again, we see a new plan for a new battle and a new victory.
Joshua
and the people celebrate the victory by building an altar “according
to what was written in the Book of the Law”
after offering, “burnt
offerings and fellowship offerings“.
“Afterwards,
Joshua read all the words of the Law… there was not a word of all
that Moses had commanded that Joshua did not read to the whole
assembly of Israel including the women and children and all the
aliens living among them“.
It seems this chapter is an analogy for the Christian life. Many of
us made wrong choices before we came to Christ. We might even have
been afraid and discouraged in a desert place. Perhaps someone
shared a new plan for your life. If you are in need of a “do
over”, listen to the words of 2 Corinthians 5:17. “Therefore,
if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed
away; behold, all things have become new.”
If you are feeling defeated today, ask God to do something new!