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Hindrance To Victory
By Wayne Bristow Adapted from Total Life Now* by Wayne Bristow Copyright © 1995 Total Life Publications Wayne Bristow is the founder and president of Total Life International Ministries of Edmond, Oklahoma. For over four decades he has been engaged in an international ministry of crusade evangelism that has taken him to 34 countries on five continents. When a team that seemingly can't be beaten loses, everyone asks, "What happened? Often the coach will reply, "We beat ourselves." In other words, when strength is confounded, look inward to find the answer to what went wrong. This is especially true when the advance of God's work is stalled. When Jesus established the Church, He declared that "the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it," Matthew 16:18**. It is obvious that He was speaking of a spiritual army that would move from victory to victory and storm the very gates of hell. Contrast this to the defensive, retreating stances of so many churches in Europe and America and you must ask, "What has happened? What is hindering the victory?" To find the answer we must search inside the camp of God's own people. The roadblock on the road to victory will be reflected as we look into the mirror of Joshua 6 and 7 in the Old Testament. First, look back through over forty years of Jewish history and allow the Holy Spirit to set the scene. God has called Moses from the back side of the desert and stood him before the Egyptian Pharaoh to say, "Let my people go." Israel has emerged from 400 years in Egypt. God's chosen people see their bondage broken, and they are miraculously delivered. Faced with the obstacle of the Red Sea, they watch the waters part, and cross over on dry ground. The Egyptian armies drown when they attempt pursuit. God goes before His people in a pillar of fire by night and a cloud by day. When they come to a desert place, water flows from a rock. Every day, God sends manna, His own miraculous food, to sustain them. They are being brought to the Promised Land, a fruitful place, where they are to establish a nation that will honor God and bless the whole world. Finally, Israel stands on the brink of the River Jordan. On the other side is Canaan, the land flowing with milk and honey. Moses sends in spies. Forty days later, they return, laden with the fruit of the land and giving conflicting reports. Everyone agrees that it is indeed a bountiful place, but only two of the twelve spies, Joshua and Caleb, recommend moving ahead. The others say, "Nevertheless the people who dwell in the land are strong; the cities are fortified and very large…There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight," Numbers 13:28, 33. How many wonderful things have been missed because someone said, "Nevertheless?" Israel stood at a crossroads, facing a decision that would affect its history forever. On the brink of entering into the fullness of all that God intended for them, "all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night. And all the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, ‘If only we had died in the land of Egypt! Or if only we had died in this wilderness!'" Numbers 14:1-2. Inexplicably, a people who had been miraculously saved, led and kept by God, turned back in fear and unbelief. For the next forty years, they drifted through the wilderness of the Arabian Peninsula. Finally, those who had turned back from Canaan died, and a new generation had their opportunity to believe God. Moses died without entering the Promised Land. The mantle of leadership passed to Joshua, and Israel stood again on the banks of the Jordan River. This time they chose to believe God. It took them forty years to do it, but when they came into Canaan, they got in the same way they got out of Egypt, by faith. The waters parted and they crossed over on dry land (Joshua 3:14-17). For longer than I can remember, crossing over Jordan and entering Canaan has been embraced as a picture of dying and going to Heaven. Generations of evangelical Christians have sung, "On Jordan's stormy banks I stand, and cast a wishful eye to Canaan's fair and happy land, where my possessions lie." The problems with all of this begin to surface when we compare Canaan to Heaven. If you accept the land as a picture of Heaven, you have to accept that there will be conflict and war in Heaven. This is not valid. A better approach is to see crossing over Jordan as a picture of entering now, by faith, into the fullness of the abundant life that is ours in Christ. Then we can sing, "Standing on the promises of Christ my King, Thro' eternal ages let His praises ring; Glory in the highest, I will shout and sing. Standing on the promises that cannot fail, When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail, By the living Word of God I shall prevail." There is conflict in the Christian life. We are engaged in spiritual warfare. We live in a hostile world. God doesn't promise safety; He promises victory. You can be safe in a cave. You get victory on a battlefield. Immediately, when Israel entered Canaan, there was conflict. In front of them was the strong, fenced city of Jericho. Before the land could be occupied, Jericho must fall. The God who had brought them in assured them that He would see them through. "And the Lord said to Joshua: ‘See! I have given Jericho into your hand, its king, and the mighty men of valor,'" Joshua 6:2. Our God, however, is a jealous God. He will not share His glory with anyone. As He promised victory, He specifically stipulated how the spoils of Jericho were to be handled. "And you, by all means abstain from the accursed things, lest you become accursed when you take of the accursed things, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it. But all the silver and gold, and vessels of bronze and iron, are consecrated to the Lord; they shall come into the treasury of the Lord," Joshua 6:18-19. God was saying, "When I give you the victory, you give me the glory." The surest way to see God's hand of blessing depart from a man, church or nation is to give them the praise and glory that are due only to Him. For seven days, Israel marched around the walls of the city. On the last day, when they had marched the last time, the priests blew the rams' horns, the people shouted, and the walls came crashing down. Canaan was open to them; Israel seemed unstoppable. When the day after Jericho dawned, Joshua's army was confronted by an insignificant town called Ai. Compared to Jericho, it was nothing. Returning spies discouraged making everyone march against such an inferior foe. "Do not let all the people go up, but let about two or three thousand men go up and attack Ai…for the people of Ai are few," Joshua 7:3. Israel was about to make one of the greatest mistakes God's people can ever make. They were about to assume that the victories of yesterday are adequate for the battles of today. They are not. We must learn well the lessons of past experiences and they will serve us now, but history doesn't really repeat itself. God is not like ABC or CBS. He is not into reruns. Each day is a clean slate and brings challenges and opportunities that are unique in our experience. This is why I tremble when I return to a church or community where we have previously experienced great blessing. There is the temptation to assume that if we have the same personnel, execute the same strategy, say the same words and sing the same songs, we will automatically have the same results. God has something fresh for this hour. We can pray, "Do it again," but God will not restage the Great Awakening or the Prayer Revival of the late 1800s. There is nothing sacred about an April "revival meeting," and a Bible study class doesn't necessarily have to be taught in a church building at 9:30 on Sunday morning. Only a fraction of the Israeli army marched against Ai. Everyone else was given a holiday. Can't you imagine the scene in the camp of God's people that day? The women would be cooking a feast. Children, with make-believe swords, would be enacting the battle of the previous day. Little groups of men would laugh as they recounted what happened when Jericho fell. Everyone would be waiting for a warrior to stand on the crest of a hill and shout, "Victory is our. God has given us Ai!" As the celebration continued, the storm clouds of tragedy were gathering on the western horizon. Late in the day, a soldier staggered into the camp. His sword was gone. His shield was dented. His clothes were torn and the blood of defeat was on his face. He fell before Joshua and blurted out the news of a terrible ambush. The proud army of Israel had been routed by the lowly defenders of Ai. The forces that swept over Jericho were in disarray. The banner that had flown in victory yesterday was being dragged through the mud of defeat today. As the wails of new widows filled the air, Joshua fell on his face, tore his clothes, heaped dirt on his head and asked, "What happened?" "And Joshua said, ‘Alas, Lord God, why have You brought this people over the Jordan at all — to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? Oh, that we had been content and dwelt on the other side of the Jordan!'" Joshua 7:7. In other words, "How could this happen to us? What is going on?" God broke through the screams of grief and bewilderment, "So the Lord said to Joshua: ‘Get up! Why do you lie thus on your face? Israel has sinned…,'" Joshua 7:10-11. Only one thing can defeat a person or a people chosen and commissioned by God. It is not the gross immorality and injustice of our world. It is not atheistic humanism of New Age spiritual counterfeits. The one thing that can rob us of victory is sin harbored in a heart or hidden in the midst of God's people. If a church fails or a Christian falls, we must look within. We defeated ourselves. Somewhere in the camp of Israel there was hidden sin. Someone had taken for himself what belonged only to God. There was sin in the heart of one person, and this had caused a great army to go from victory to defeat. It had robbed wives of their husbands and children of their fathers. It had brought shame to a nation. God said, "Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them. For they have even taken of the accursed things, and have both stolen and deceived; and they have also put it among their own stuff. Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they have become doomed to destruction. Neither will I be with you anymore, unless you destroy the accursed from among you," Joshua 7:11-12. Only one man, Achan, had misappropriated the spoils of Jericho, but God said, "Israel has sinned." No person is an island. Our actions and attitudes have their impacts on family, church and community. When one member of a body is crippled, the effectiveness of the whole body is hindered. Sin cannot be hidden forever. Like an infection that breaks out in a fever or erupts in an abscess, it will eventually manifest itself. In Numbers 32:23, the Bible says, "Be sure your sin will find you out." When I was young, I thought that meant if I sinned God would discover it. God, however, does not discover anything. He is never surprised. He already knows. Moses confessed, "You have set our iniquities before You, Our secret sins in the light of Your countenance," Psalm 90:8. The Bible doesn't say that if we sin God will find out about it; it says that our sin will find us out. My grandfather told the story of a boy who had a passion for watermelons. One summer, he fell into the habit of going into the field, finding a ripe melon, breaking it open, eating the heart and leaving the rest to ruin. His father quickly called him on the carpet and sternly warned the boy of the consequences of another offense. For several days, he avoided the melon patch altogether, but eventually his chores took him that way. He saw what must have been the largest watermelon he had ever seen. Overcome with temptation, he broke it open, dug out the heart and immediately remembered his father's threat. He gathered the broken pieces and rushed to the creek bed. There he dug a hole, buried the evidence of his crime, kicked loose dirt around and scattered dead leaves as a cover. For several days, he was as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs. When his father spoke, he would jump about a foot high. Slowly, however, his appetite returned; after an hour or so he could fall asleep at night, and he could look at his father without flinching. He thought that he was "home free." Then, one afternoon his father was walking along the edge of the creek. To his utter amazement, watermelon vines were growing up and down the bank. He took a stick, dug at the base of the vine and said, "Oh, I see." Soon, the boy saw. His sin had found him out. God is not a traffic cop trying to catch you speeding. He isn't hiding with a club in his hand, so that when you get out of line he can say, "Aha!" and whack you. He loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. He wants you to experience TOTAL LIFE, Now and Forever. Sin, however, can abort God's plan and turn your victory into defeat. Sin has within it the seed of death. This is what the Bible means when it says that "the wages of sin is death," Romans 6:23. When sin lies covered in a heart, it germinates and sprouts as anger, lust and greed. It will break a mother's heart, dissolve a marriage, ruin a business, corrupt a government and engulf a world in war. This is why sin must be dealt with soon and severely. It must not be allowed to bear its tragic fruit. Warning against national foolishness, the writer of Proverbs said, "Righteousness exalts a nation, But sin is a reproach to any people," Proverbs 14:34. Achan's sin was exposed and he was brought before Joshua. It was too late for repentance. Repentance isn't being sorry you were caught. It is genuine sorrow for disobedience that results in a radical change of mind and direction. Proverbs 28:13 says, "He who covers his sins will not prosper, But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy." For Achan, there was no intention of repentance. He hid what he had stolen and went his own way, until his sin brought defeat and shame to Israel. Sin is like a disease invading a healthy body. If there is alertness to early symptoms, action can be taken that will stop its progress before it becomes terminal. The Bible describes sin development, "But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death," James 1:14-15. Carefully study the confession of Achan when he was brought before Joshua. First he said, "I saw among the spoils a beautiful Babylonian garment, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels," Joshua 7:21a. At this point, he could have gone on his way without sin. Having temptation ring your doorbell is not a sin. The trouble begins when you invite sin in for dinner. The Apostle Paul wrote, "No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it," 1 Corinthians 10:13. Achan, however, entertained temptation. He said, "I coveted them." To covet is to desire intensely that which belongs to someone else. He wanted to own something that already belonged to God. Finally, that which he had rehearsed in his heart became a reality. He said, "I took them." Even then, it was not too late to repent. If he had stopped immediately, dropped what he had taken and cried out to God his confession, his sin would have been forgiven and Israel would have gone from victory to victory. Instead, he acknowledged, "There they are, hidden in the earth in the midst of my tent, with the silver under it," Joshua 7:21b. That was the damning end of the matter. Achan, what he stole, his family and all that they possessed were taken to the valley of Achor (trouble), and all was lost. Sin had brought forth death. Sin is the attitude of selfishness and rebellion that says, "I choose me instead of God. I'll please myself and clutch everything tightly." Is there hope for the person, family or nation caught up in sin? Is there a way out of the valley of Achor? Yes; see sin for the lethal spiritual cancer that it is and allow God to deal with it utterly. He promises, "If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and heal their land," 2 Chronicles 7:14. Time will not eradicate hidden sin. The longer it lies covered, the more tragic the consequences. Don't let it take root. Before it can bear fruit, let God extract it with hands of love. The penalty has been paid for all of your sins. They were judged in Christ on the cross. Standing on that ground, and turning toward God from sin, you can claim by faith 1 John 1:9, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." When the hindering sin has been dealt with, you can again expect victory. "Now the Lord said to Joshua: ‘Do not be afraid, nor be dismayed; take all the people of war with you, and arise, go up to Ai. See, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land,'" Joshua 8:1. * For information about how to order personalized copies of Total Life Now, go to http://www.totallifenow.org/Archive/0401/TLN.htm. ** All scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. |
Copyright ©2001 Dale Freeman. All rights reserved.