Thursday February 26, 2009 THE VALLEY OF DISASTER
Joshua said to Achan, "Son, give honor and praise to the LORD God of Israel! Tell me what you have done. Don't hide anything from me." Then Achan answered Joshua, "It's true. I have sinned against the LORD God of Israel. This is what I did: I saw a fine robe from Babylonia, five pounds of silver, and a bar of gold weighing about one pound among the loot. I wanted them, so I took them. You will find them buried inside my tent with the silver beneath them." Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent. The loot was buried inside with the silver beneath it. They took the loot from the tent and brought it to Joshua and all the people of Israel. Then they laid it out in the presence of the LORD. Joshua and all Israel took Achan (son of Zerah), the silver, the robe, the bar of gold, his sons and daughters, his cattle, his donkeys, his sheep, and his tent - everything he had - and brought them to the valley of Achor [Disaster]. Then Joshua said, "Why did you bring this disaster on us? The LORD will bring disaster on you today!" And all Israel stoned Achan and his family to death. Then they burned the bodies and piled stones over them. They made such a large pile of stones over Achan that it is still there today. Then the LORD withdrew his burning anger. For this reason that place is still called the valley of Achor today. Joshua 7: 19-26 Well, the old saying that comes to my mind this morning is, "Be sure - your sins will find you out." There really are no "secret sins." God knows everything we think, do, and say. If we really, really believed that I do believe our actions and our attitudes might be different. The Lord told Joshua to do what we call a "lottery." That was the way they finally got down to Achan. He didn't run to the front of the group and confess that he was the sinner. He waited until the lottery led to him. Once in the spotlight he confessed. This is not the way God wants us to operate. He wants us to confess our sins without having to delay everyone else because of our disobedience. So, the rock fell to Achan and Joshua went to him as tenderly as I think the situation allowed. He stated the fact that we now know - the truth will set you free. Yes, the truth does set us free, but we also must suffer the consequences. That is something we just really don't like to hear. I once knew a professor who just did not want to read the Bible because of this type of story. She just did not understand how we could continue to read about God's "old" ways of destroying people. Well, they are hard to read and even harder for us to understand. Oh, it's easy to just say that God had to eliminate the sin. Well, it didn't work. In many people's lives even the sacrifice of Jesus for their sins doesn't work. They just go on and live in the Valley of Disaster, making permanent residence there instead of accepting the sacrifice and moving on. Yes, sin must be dealt with. We must repent and accept the sacrifice before we can go on with God through the gates of the Valley of Disaster before we will find the door of hope. Father, I do not want to take up residence in the Valley of Disaster. I praise You for the sacrifice of Jesus. I praise You for the atonement for my sin. Help me to keep my eyes on You and press on toward the door of hope. ******************************************* O. Addison Gethers e-mail address : [email protected] or [email protected] window live messenger: [email protected] aim: durangoadd64 skype: cowboys62 yahoo messenger: OADDISONGETHERS --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Deaf-Blind Inspirational Life Group" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/DBILG?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
