Christ on the cross will draw you. He will win you from the world and its vanities, from sin and its charms, from the Evil One in all his power. "When I survey the wondrous cross On which the Prince of Glory died, And pour contempt on all my pride." Take your stand by the cross, and from there take your view of the world and all that is in it. You will learn to take a just estimate of its worth; and you will feel,The love that died this death for me is far better worth having than ten thousand worlds.' Make this your daily, hourly prayer :"DRAW ME." (Cant. i. 4.) : Your experience will be: "Sweet the moments, rich in blessing, Which before THE CROSS I spend." VIII. ACHAN. JOSHUA VII. THE children of Israel, under the command of Joshua, had crossed the river Jordan, and had taken the city of Jericho. It had been a miraculous victory, not by force of arms, but by the word and power of the Lord. All within that city was "accursed," or as our margin says, "devoted." (Joshua vi. 17, 18.) The silver and gold were to come into the treasury of the Lord, all besides was to be utterly destroyed, under pain of God's curse. This was the command of God, very plainly and clearly expressed. But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing, and God's anger rested upon them, and He withdrew His help from them. The little city of Ai, which according to their own showing was likely to fall an easy prey to them, proved too strong for them, and they fled before the men of Ai. (Ver. 4.) "The hearts of the people melted and became as water." (Ver. 5.) It was unaccountable that they should thus at once be defeated, and especially after their late brilliant success such a disaster was entirely unexpected. Joshua, who was ignorant of the sin committed, was in despair; he could not understand this mysterious dispensation. God had promised to be with him, and had given him signal proof that He was with him, and now comes this ignominious defeat, this flight of the people before a very feeble foe. I. Let us mark what Joshua did in his trouble. HE WENT TO THE ARK OF THE LORD. (Ver. 6—9.) If we turn to Exodus xxv. 21, 22, we shall find there this promise concerning the ark: "There will I meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat.... of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel." It was therefore to meet the Lord, to commune with Him, to ask His will and His help, that Joshua went before the ark of the Lord. We should do well to follow the example of Joshua in the day of our trouble. The ark, with its mercy seat of pure gold, was a type of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is to Him that we must go in our hour of need: it is from Him that we shall get counsel and direction as to the way which we should take. This is the privilege of the child of God. Joshua tells out his whole mind to God: humbled to the very dust, he spends many hours in the Lord's presence, he and the elders of Israel. It was so incomprehensible to him he can only say, "Wherefore is this? and what shall I say, and what wilt Thou do to Thy great name?" Joshua was passing through a time of darkness. The honour of God was very dear to him: that seemed touched. The promises of God had been very strong: they appeared broken. The "foundations seemed destroyed," and he knew not what to do; but he had, early in his command, to learn God's abhorrence of evil, and that none could prosper where there was sin allowed. II. GOD'S REPLY TO JOSHUA. (Ver. 10-15.) It is a very solemn one: "Israel hath sinned." There was the reason of the withdrawal of His help, and of their consequent failure. "Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies.... neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed thing." Thus God speaks, telling Joshua plainly the cause of His displeasure, which must at once be removed. There was an accursed thing in the camp, and it must be found out and utterly destroyed, else there would be no more victory. There is a deep and solemn lesson for us, my friends, in this. We are all engaged in a holy war: our enemies are strong, and the cities to be besieged many and great. If we are harbouring anything in our hearts contrary to God's Word, if our spirit is not steadfast with God, we shall be like the children of Ephraim, "who being armed and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle." (Psa. lxxviii. 9.) "Thou canst not stand before thine enemies, until ye take away the accursed thing from among you." The accursed thing in this case was gold and silver: it mattered little what it was, all from that city was accursed. (Ver. 13.) Jericho is a figure to us of the world, upon which God's curse has rested. And if we are burying in our hearts anything of the world, and giving it a place there, it will be the "accursed thing" to us which will cripple us in our spiritual warfare. God's word to us is, "Love not the world, neither the things of the world." (1 John ii. 15.) "Touch not the unclean thing." (2 Cor. vi. 17.) If, therefore, we are conscious that we are not "growing in grace," we should do well to examine ourselves and see whether we are in any way inclining to the world, whether we are allowing ourselves to give an undue affection to any forbidden thing. "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me." (Psa. lxvi. 18.) We shall be overcome by the enemy if we are not with a true and single heart seeking God's grace and help; we shall have no victories, except "the world be crucified to us, and we to the world." (Gal. vi. 14.) III. ACHAN'S SIN. Joshua was directed by God to find out by lot who the guilty person was. E |