No hiding from God

 DEVOTION

JOSHUA

NO HIDING FROM GOD

Josh 7:13-26

13 "Go, consecrate the people. Tell them, 'Consecrate yourselves in preparation for tomorrow; for this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: That which is devoted is among you, O Israel. You cannot stand against your enemies until you remove it. 14 "'In the morning, present yourselves tribe by tribe. The tribe that the LORD takes shall come forward clan by clan; the clan that the LORD takes shall come forward family by family; and the family that the LORD takes shall come forward man by man. 15 He who is caught with the devoted things shall be destroyed by fire, along with all that belongs to him. He has violated the covenant of the LORD and has done a disgraceful thing in Israel!'" 16 Early the next morning Joshua had Israel come forward by tribes, and Judah was taken. 17 The clans of Judah came forward, and he took the Zerahites. He had the clan of the Zerahites come forward by families, and Zimri was taken. 18 Joshua had his family come forward man by man, and Achan son of Carmi, the son of Zimri, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken. 19 Then Joshua said to Achan, "My son, give glory to the LORD, the God of Israel, and give him the praise. Tell me what you have done; do not hide it from me." 20 Achan replied, "It is true! I have sinned against the LORD, the God of Israel. This is what I have done: 21 When I saw in the plunder a beautiful robe from Babylonia, two hundred shekels of silver and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. They are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath." 22 So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent, and there it was, hidden in his tent, with the silver underneath. 23 They took the things from the tent, brought them to Joshua and all the Israelites and spread them out before the LORD. 24 Then Joshua, together with all Israel, took Achan son of Zerah, the silver, the robe, the gold wedge, his sons and daughters, his cattle, donkeys and sheep, his tent and all that he had, to the Valley of Achor. 25 Joshua said, "Why have you brought this trouble on us? The LORD will bring trouble on you today." Then all Israel stoned him, and after they had stoned the rest, they burned them. 26 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.

NIV

This is the rest of the story. Although they came tribe by tribe, family by family, and man by man, the LORD knew exactly who he would call out and his name. Achan was the man the LORD was waiting for a confession of guilt. What happened is not part of our lives as we live under grace. We do not need to be concerned that the church will take us outside and stone us and then burn all our possessions, in fact, that is so far from how we live by faith today. Yet, there is this one idea that causes us to ponder. First, Achan coveted this robe from Babylonia and about five pounds of silver and about one and a half pounds of gold and he took them and buried them in the ground within his tent. We wonder what good that silver and gold would be if it was buried in the ground. Was it that Achan just knew he had it and that was enough? But the truth here is about coveting. We live in a culture where we are exposed to so many things. We can shop in any store in the world in our pajamas when we scroll the internet. We can see so much we would like to have that we do not even recognize we are coveting. Yet, are we disobeying God, as Achan did? The Israelites were specially commanded not to take anything, but to destroy everything which included all that is devoted to destruction. We are simply told not to covet what belongs to someone else, whether that is his salary, education, or fame. We cannot allow ourselves to be jealous of someone’s good looks, the car they have, or the position in the body of Christ. However, are we wrong to want what we see in the store when we have the funds to buy it? Is that coveting? It is just a thought. Yet, the other truth that is staring at us is the idea that Achon tried to hide his sin. The Lord knew who it was before the confession took place. There is nothing hidden from the Lord God Almighty, for if there could be anything hidden from him he would not be the Lord God Almighty. We can hide things, even our sins from other people, but we cannot hide anything from our Lord. We might try to bury something deep within our hearts, as men can only see our exterior, while God sees deep within our hearts. David knew this truth when he penned Psalm 139. He asked the Lord to search him for He knows him, and that the Lord knows when we sit and when we rise and He perceives our thoughts from afar. The Lord discerns our going out and our lying down and the Lord is familiar with all our ways. He knows before a word is on our tongue. David knew the lord knows us completely. We cannot hide anything, even our thoughts from the Lord. Let us be aware of the grace we live within, however, we also need to be aware of living with the Living God Almighty who dwells within us as the Holy Spirit, who knows everything about us, although we do not need to live in fear of God, yet in reverence of him because of grace. Let us never even attempt to hide anything from God.