Faith Amongst Grasshopper HeartsSample

 Presumption

Joshua, after the wonderful victory at Jericho, had a much easier challenge with regard to the city of Ai which was smaller and less fortified. He followed the same human strategy as before. He sent in spies who brought back a very positive report. Their advice: "This is easy! You'll only need a small force and we can do it without breaking a sweat!"

What Joshua did not know is that Achan had disobeyed the Lord and brought God's anger against the people. (We dealt with this last time...) Now, if Joshua had sought the Lord in prayer before rushing in to Ai, the Lord would have revealed the problem to him. Unfortunately Joshua did the "practical" preparations but not the "spiritual" ones. He presumed that the Lord would help him.

When the people of Ai send them packing, the people's hearts melt in fear. Joshua is petulant. He and the elders prostrate themselves in dust and ashes and complain to God. He sounds scarily like the Israelites complaining to Moses "Why did you ever bring us here?" He even resorts to the tactic of saying "Lord, what will our enemies think of you?"

God is straight with Joshua - "Get up! Stop being so petulant. Israel have sinned and violated my covenant. (And if you'd prayed about Ai, I would have prompted you about all this.)"

It's very easy for us to rush ahead of God. It's very easy for us to pre-assume (presume) His blessing instead of listening and asking for it. Very often we make very human plans which, just before we put them into action, we ask God to bless. It's very often in the wake of our greatest successes that we make the mistakes that lead to our biggest failures.

Joshua learned a tough lesson about taking time to talk and listen to God. This is a lesson we must learn too.