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Day 60 Joshua 7:6 And Joshua rent his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the LORD until the eventide, he and the elders of Israel, and put dust upon their heads. 7 And Joshua said, “Alas, O Lord GOD, wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over Jordan, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? Would to God we had been content, and dwelt on the other side Jordan! 8 “O Lord, what shall I say, when Israel turns their backs before their enemies! 9 “For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it, and shall environ us round, and cut off our name from the earth: and what wilt thou do unto thy great name?” 10 And the LORD said unto Joshua, “Get thee up; wherefore lie thou thus upon thy face? 11 “Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them: for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own stuff. 12 “Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they were accursed: neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed from among you. 13 “Up, sanctify the people, and say, Sanctify yourselves against tomorrow: for thus says the LORD God of Israel, There is an accursed thing in the midst of thee, O Israel: thou cannot stand before thine enemies, until ye take away the accursed thing from among you. 14 “In the morning therefore ye shall be brought according to your tribes: and it shall be, that the tribe which the LORD takes shall come according to the families thereof; and the family which the LORD shall take shall come by households; and the household which the LORD shall take shall come man by man. 15 “And it shall be, that he that is taken with the accursed thing shall be burnt with fire, he and all that he hath: because he hath transgressed the covenant of the LORD, and because he hath wrought folly in Israel. Temptation causes people to do things they otherwise wouldn’t do and bring trouble to themselves and their families. Israel had just come from a great victory over Jericho and planned to go against Ai with only a few men because the city was small. Yet as small as the city was, Israel fled from the people and lost thirty-six men. When Joshua prayed and asked God why they lost the battle, God told him someone in the camp had stolen something that belonged to God alone in the battle of Jericho. God then instructed Joshua on what he should do to find the guilty party. As Christians, you see something you want and don’t think it will harm you. Yet, it is the one thing that will bring you to your knees in shame. Satan knows your weaknesses and tempts you until you give in to the temptation. It’s easy to tell someone to stand strong and another to actually do it. How do you overcome temptation? God told Joshua what he needed to do to get rid of the evil in their midst. His solution was to destroy the person who sinned with fire. That is still God’s solution to sin. However, Jesus gave you another solution; His death for your sin. When you confess your sin, God will forgive you and cleanse you from all unrighteousness so you can spend eternity in heaven instead of in the flames of hell. 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (KJV) Satan will tempt you. When he does and you give in, you can go to God and ask for forgiveness. It doesn’t matter how often you sin the same sin, it only matters that you are genuinely sorry for your sin and confess it to God. Peter asked Jesus how often he was to forgive someone for sinning against him. Jesus told him as often as the person asked his forgiveness. Matthew 18:21 Then came Peter to him, and said, “Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Till seven times?” 22 Jesus said unto him, “I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.” It is only in forgiveness that you can overcome temptation and stand against Satan. When you know God will forgive you, it gives you the leverage you need to stand against him. However, it does not give you permission to sin again. Romans 6:1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? 2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? 3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? 4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: 6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. (KJV) We are all sinners in need of God’s forgiveness. God will forgive us. Don’t be like the person God destroyed because he took what belonged to God and hid it from sight. God’s sentence without confession is still hell. Let’s pray: Father, show me my sin and forgive me when I confess my sin according to Your Word. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen. Copyright © 12 August 2021 by Valerie Routhieaux Image courtesy of Pixabay.