The promise land, the land of Canaan, is a picture of the
spirit filled life. Joshua chapter 7
deals with the sin question in Canaan. God gave victory to the Israelites over
Jericho as a sign of faith that He would deliver the rest of their enemies into
their hands. After their victory, Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai to go and
spy out the land.
And they returned to Joshua and said to him, "Do
not let all the people go up, but let about two or three thousand men go up and
attack Ai. Do not weary all the people there, for the people of Ai are few.” Joshua 7:3
But when the men marched on Ai, they met defeat rather than
victory and “the hearts of the people
melted and became like water.”
And Joshua said, “. . . Oh, Sovereign Lord, why did you bring us across the Jordan River if you are going to let the Amorites kill us? If only we had been content to stay on the other side!"
Joshua 7:7 NLT
Joshua did not understand why God was not
blessing them. God told Joshua,
Get
up, sanctify the people, and say, "Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow, because
thus says the Lord God of Israel: 'There is an accursed thing in your midst, O
Israel; you cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the accursed
thing from among you.'” Joshua 7:13
There is a principle here that relates to us today. Because
God is holy, He does not bless hidden sin. The Canaanites were not any
stronger, but Israel was weaker because sin had entered the camp. They could
not stand before their enemies. That’s
what sin does to us. We lose God’s power and the sense of His presence. Sin
strangles and stifles the abundant life.
It pulls us down and wipes us out.
God loves you too much to allow you to continue on in your
sin and bless you because He knows that sin will destroy you. In those times
when we are not “standing under the spout where the blessings pour out” we need
to get up and separate from that sin so that we may live the abundant life, the
blessed life, the spirit-filled life that God desires for us.
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