But, old habits are hard to break. And remember, God had a conditional covenant with His people. IF they would obey, THEN He would grant them favor and victory over their enemies.
You guessed it ... a few days into the Promised Land and they FAILED - BIG TIME!!! (Bet they felt kind of like I was feeling yesterday that there was just sooooo much they had to do and to think of doing it all forever???)
Achan sinned. It was a secret and in the grand scheme of sins not such a big deal (or so we think!!) and he thought he'd get away with it. Actually seemed kind of harmless (doesn't it always?). But all of Israel paid a price.
How quickly we forget that our sin always exacts a price... and that price is always more than we thought it would be. Not only did it cost Jesus His life, but it ALWAYS has consequences in this life as well. And the even harder thing is that those consequences are seldom confined to the person who committed the sin. Just as with Achan, our sin causes a great price be paid by our family, by those who do ministry alongside us, by those who follow us and look up to us. We lull ourselves, sometimes, into thinking, "It affects only me" ... or "It's really not so big a thing" ... but I've watched the sins of loved ones roll over the lives of some friends like a hurricane. That, is no small thing!
SO, God is angry, Joshua begs for mercy and understanding (he doesn't know WHY they were defeated at Ai ... big surprise to him). The people are all brought before God and slowly but surely, the culprit is unmasked. Can you imagine being Achan ... wondering if it could possibly be you, telling yourself it HAD to be someone else, and as it got closer and closer to you, wanting to bolt for your life??!!
Achan's whole family was stoned. EVERYTHING he owned was burned. And then in Joshua 7: 26 we learn ...
Over Achan they heaped up a large pile of rocks, which remains to this day. Then the LORD turned from his fierce anger. Therefore that place has been called the Valley of Achor ever since.
Achor means "trouble" in Hebrew ... I know this because my Bible tells me, but I knew it first because my creative, amazing friend, Callie used it in her business name. Because of her, I also know of another reference to achor in Hosea. Hosea is the picture of God redeeming His wayfaring people ... those who have run off after idols and other gods, who have abandoned their God. He has allowed them to be exiled, but is constantly calling them back to Him. We find that he desires to restore and make achor, not a place of trouble, but a place of HOPE! Only our God can do that.
Again, I am saddened that some dear friends are in a place of trouble because of the sin of those they love. And I am looking forward to the day when our God makes that a place of HOPE! Because only HE can do that ... and that's exactly what He does ... make sinners clean, make the broken whole, bring HOPE from despair and beauty from ashes.
"Therefore I am now going to allure her;
I will lead her into the desert
and speak tenderly to her.
There I will give her back her vineyards,
and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.
There she will sing as in the days of her youth,
as in the day she came up out of Egypt.
"In that day," declares the LORD,
"you will call me 'my husband';
you will no longer call me 'my master.'
Hosea 2:14-16
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