Joshua Chapter 7 - Contentment

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Matthew 6:16 ESV

“And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.

Galatians 5:17 ESV

For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.

When you fast go and pray instead of eating.

Recap of last week

We talked about unconventional miracles and the defeat of Jericho

There was one small detail of chapter 6 that I left out that Patrick reminded me of after service last week and that was Rahab.

If you remember Rahab was a prostitute that hid the Israelite spies that were spying out Jericho. Because of her kindness the spies granted her favor and the whole city would be destroyed except her and her family.

Rahab escapes with her family and the bible records in Matt 1:5

Matthew 1:5 ESV

5 and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse,

We see that because Ruth was saved that she gave birth to Obed, then came Jesse who was the Dad of David.

It’s wild to look at the geneology of Jesus and see that he has a messed up family line.

I know that there may be some of you in the room that look at your past and your family line and think that there’s quite a mess there but God can use anyone that is willing.

So if you have a crazy family line, don’t worry because God can redeem anything.

God can take anything and turn it around for His glory.

So let’s get into Chapter 7.

Joshua chapter 7

The Israelites were coming off a huge win against Jericho and feeling pretty pumped. Now if you remember in chapter 6 God gave very strict instructions. To destroy everything in the city except take the gold, silver, bronze and iron. Those are sacred to the Lord. Let’s read

Joshua 7:1–7 NLT

1 But Israel violated the instructions about the things set apart for the Lord. A man named Achan had stolen some of these dedicated things, so the Lord was very angry with the Israelites. Achan was the son of Carmi, a descendant of Zimri son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah. 2 Joshua sent some of his men from Jericho to spy out the town of Ai, east of Bethel, near Beth-aven. 3 When they returned, they told Joshua, “There’s no need for all of us to go up there; it won’t take more than two or three thousand men to attack Ai. Since there are so few of them, don’t make all our people struggle to go up there.” 4 So approximately 3,000 warriors were sent, but they were soundly defeated. The men of Ai 5 chased the Israelites from the town gate as far as the quarries, and they killed about thirty-six who were retreating down the slope. The Israelites were paralyzed with fear at this turn of events, and their courage melted away. 6 Joshua and the elders of Israel tore their clothing in dismay, threw dust on their heads, and bowed face down to the ground before the Ark of the Lord until evening. 7 Then Joshua cried out, “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!

Ungodly contentment breeds complacency

Have you ever taken a step of faith only to find great opposition?

Whoever said that becoming a Christian would be easy?

Emotions of being saved - Shot in the arm. You come alive in Christ

Then life happens. You lose a loved one. You get in a fight with your spouse. One of your children walk away from the Lord. You lose your job.

Life sucks sometimes

What do we do when we come up against hard times? Do we blame God? Do we blame the devil? Do we blame others? Do we blame ourselves?

I’m sure Joshua was reeling when he got his butt handed to him and was trying to figure out what the heck happened. He heard God so clearly but yet came up short.

I want to take a few moments and talk about 3 emotional responses to conflict. Fight, flight or freeze. I want to break down these emotional or even physical responses to conflict.

Where are my fighters, flighters, freezers?

What does the bible say about hardship?

Romans 5:3–5 (NLT)

3 We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. 4 And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. 5 And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.

James 1:2–4 NLT

2 Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. 3 For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. 4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.

We see that Romans tells us we can rejoice when we run into problems and trials and James tells us to count it all joy when you meet trials of various kinds.

But there are 3 things that are developed when we walk through trials- Endurance, character and hope.

Endurance -

Have you ever been through conditioning? When you are being conditioned everyone starts out and has a certain max.

Character -

God wants to continue to shape your character to his nature

Hope -

Proverbs 13:12 ESV

12 Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.

So let’s talk about these 3 responses to conflict. Fight, Flight and Freeze

Fight

Ephesians 6:12 ESV

12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

As christians we know that we are engaged in spiritual warfare at all times. We have to be ready for battle.

It’s important to know which battle to fight. There are some battles that you will engage in and some that the Lord fights for you.

Flight

As Christians we don’t retreat when we engage in the enemy but there are times that we need to take a step back. This could be when we are getting our teeth kicked in by the enemy. We need to step back and gather other forces and then engage again which is what Joshua had done.

Freeze

Freezing isn’t bad. Sometimes it’s just pausing to see what God is doing in the situation. We see this when the children of Israel about to cross the Red Sea.

Exodus 14:14 ESV

14 The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”

So we have gone over our responses to conflict but let’s go back to what Joshua experienced.

Have worship team come up

Joshua 7:7 NLT

7 Then Joshua cried out, “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!

When you have breakthrough there is a possibility that you will encounter some opposition but I have seen so many people that will look at opposition as a wrong turn. They will beat themselves up and want to go back to what was easy

Or they will question if they actually heard from God. So what do we do? We engage with the Lord in prayer and search through His word.

Joshua 7:10–12 ESV

10 The Lord said to Joshua, “Get up! Why have you fallen on your face? 11 Israel has sinned; they have transgressed my covenant that I commanded them; they have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen and lied and put them among their own belongings. 12 Therefore the people of Israel cannot stand before their enemies. They turn their backs before their enemies, because they have become devoted for destruction. I will be with you no more, unless you destroy the devoted things from among you.