Chapter 4

  

Week 4 Devotional thought:

  

That which is devoted is among you, O Israel. You cannot stand against your enemies until you remove it.

-Joshua 7:13

The story of Achan is rather remarkable. One man’s sin against God costs the entire nation blessings otherwise received. YahWeh was always clear when it came to the spoils of battle. Don’t pillage items, no matter how valuable, that were once dedicated to idolatry. Holiness and impurity can not coexist. The fact that many of these items consisted of gold, silver and bronze, highly valuable commodities, was beside the point. God had proven himself faithful to provide for every need. He parted the Red Sea, felled the walls of Jericho, rained down manna from heaven, and rescued the Israelites from superior fighting forces. When Achan took what was forbidden he demonstrated a lack of trust in God’s future provision. An idol became his idol, the thing in which he places ultimate trust. This idol must be stripped from the camp. Why? God is not an enabler. He refuses to grant the blessings associated with his name while another god (money, wealth, position, power, romance) takes priority. Achan perhaps wanted to embrace God without letting everything else go. That never works. The call toward Christ is full and unconditional obedience. Whatever gets in the way becomes the thing God determines to strip away. He finds the impurity, exposes it, and targets it for extinction. Why? Because He desires to open up the windows of heaven and pour out His blessings on you. Therefore, let Him have His way. He has your best interests in mind. When your idols stand, so will your enemies. When your idols fall, so will the enemies that keep you from ultimate victories. Pray that God will open your eyes to the passions or pursuits that take precedence over God. Then, give Him permission to strip them away.

  

Weekly Response

  

1. Do you, like Gideon, rely on numbers for security? Or perhaps your idol is something else. An idol can be “personal idols,... or money, power, and achievement, or access to a particular social circle; or other emotional dependence of others on you; or health, fitness, and physical beauty.” What’s your idol that stands above God? What do you run to for comfort? For meaning?

2. Have you ever felt like a dog chasing car tires? Have you ever reached your pursuits only to be insatiably unfulfilled?

3. “God detests idol worship not because it’s bad for Him but because it’s bad for you.” Do you trust God to strip away what is not good for you because of His love for you? Or do you still see Him as tyrannical and controlling?

4. Why do we sometimes think that we know better than God what we need? What is so hard about giving up control?

5. What Scripture can you think of that is relevant to the “stripping process?” figure into this stripping process?

6. How does “love” fit into this discussion?

7. How do you tend to view unfortunate events in your life? What is your first reaction?

8. Can you view these events as something God has either allowed or brought into your life in order to refine you?

9. What are you pursuing in your life right now? What do you want? To what extent have you brought these pursuits to God?

10. Are you willing to be fulfilled by the things of God?

11. “On the day that you realize God has called you for a purpose and wants to release His divine energy, power, and wisdom in you and through you to accomplish the objective for which you were born, you will see the unfortunate events in your life through a different light.” What are your thoughts on this?