Don't Come Whining to Me!

Hey! I'm Kenaz. I'm an Israelite, one of God's chosen people. No, you've never heard of me before. If the name sounds familiar, it wasn't me, it was a different Kenaz. I'm not mentioned in the Bible. I was there, I was a part, but I guess I was one of the people not important to get my written down. But I was there! I was there during the 40 years that we had to wander in the wilderness because of our disobedience – No, I wasn't there the whole time – I was born in the wilderness during that time, that's where I was raised. Not the best life, but I saw God work miracle after miracle in our behalf. It was amazing. I was there when it was finally time to go into the promised land, and I watched the miracle as the Jordan river parted and we walked through on dry land. I was there for the battle of Jericho, as we marched around the city 7 days, wondering the whole time, “what are we doing?” And yet, on the seventh day as the priests blew the trumpets and we shouted the mightiest victory shout we could must muster, I watched another amazing miracle as the walls of the city crashed to ground, and God gave us the victory. What an amazing time to be alive! But it didn't stop there. No, this is just the background to the story I want to share with you today – my story.

Joshua was a great leader, and he didn't waste any time. He sent a small group out to scout a nearby city. I was a part of that group. Man, Ai was nothing compared to Jericho. We all agreed that after the great work of God that we just experienced in bringing down Jericho, Ai would be no sweat. We came back and told Joshua, “Don't bother sending everybody to attack Ai, just send a few thousand soldiers. There's no point in making everyone tired for this one, Ai is going to be a piece of cake.” So Joshua sent about 3 thousand troops to attack Ai. I was one of the commanders in the army, and I volunteered for this mission. I wasn't the only one, but here I was a part of leading this attack on Ai, positive that we would see another amazing work of God as we destroyed that city.

But it didn't happen! When we attacked, things turned bad. Panic just struck our men. We didn't know what was going on. It was just chaos. We couldn't keep anybody control. It was terrible. What was worse, I was scared to death. I had seen God work, I had faith that He would fight for us, I was sure that He was going to give us victory, but it didn't matter what I told myself, I couldn't keep myself together, we couldn't keep the men together, and we just turned and ran – like cowards. They chased us all the way to Shebarim – we lost 36 guys from that attack, and we didn't kill a single one of the enemy. It was awful, just awful. That wasn't just it, either. I had let my men down. I had failed! I was one of the ones that said we only needed a few thousand to win, I was one of the ones leading the charge; and instead of fighting, I had turned and ran. I had failed. It was awful.

How could God do this? How could He let us down? I was so sure; I had faith; and God let us down! When we got back, the fear that had gripped us spread like the plague – everybody was panic-stricken and … there was nothing left. Joshua took it hard, too. He tore his clothes, and just fell on his face before the ark of the Lord. He and the elders where there all day, fasting and mourning. Finally, Joshua spoke and prayed to God, I'm sure what so many people were thinking: “Oh 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! O Lord, what shall I say when Israel turns its back before its enemies? For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land with hear it, and surround us, and cut off our name from the earth. Then what will You do for Your great name?”

Now, looking back, it would almost be easy to get onto Joshua and say things like “he should have had more faith”, “he should have trusted God more”. I mean, come on. We weren't supposed to stay on the other side of the Jordan – this was the promised land! How could we have been content, when God had promised so much more! And I mean, come on. We had just seen a huge miracle at Jericho! Where was Joshua's faith in God? But I can't say that, I can't go there. I can't attack him for his lack of faith. You see, I was there. I know what it feels like. We had just suffered a huge defeat; our emotions were destroyed; we were scared to death. It wouldn't have mattered what intellectual treatise you might have given about the mighty of works of God and how we should just have faith, it wouldn't have done any good at that time. Now, I'm not saying that we were right – no, we should have trusted God more. But I can't attack Joshua for his lack of faith; because I understand, and I couldn't do any better. You see, we were defeated, we had lost. Faith was shattered; hope was gone. We were devastated. We needed to hear from God!

We did hear from God! It wasn't really what we wanted to hear, but I guess it's what we needed. God spoke to Joshua and said, “Get up! Why do you lie thus on your face? Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them. For they have even taken some 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. Get up, sanctify the people, and say, 'Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow, because thus says the Lord God of Israel: “There is an accursed thing in your midst, O Israel; you cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the accursed thing from among you.” In the morning therefore you shall be brought according to your tribes. And it shall be that the tribe which the Lord takes shall come according to families; and the family which the Lord takes shall come by households; and the household which the Lord takes shall come man by man. Then it shall be that he who is taken with the accursed thing shall be burned with fire, he and all that he has, because he has transgressed the covenant of the Lord, and because he has done a disgraceful thing in Israel.'”

Wow! Not what we were expecting! Sin, sin caused this! It all made sense now. Let me back up, and explain something. God had commanded us that no one was to take anything from Jericho. We were to destroy everything. The only exception was the gold, silver, bronze and iron. But we still weren't to take it – it was dedicated to the Lord. God had told us that if anyone took anything, there would be severe consequences. I guess He was serious. You know, God is always serious about sin. And now, we had lost the battle because someone had disobeyed God's command. Not only that, we were doomed to destruction unless we took action, unless we destroyed the sin from among us! God had spoken and said, “I don't want your whining. I want your repentance!” The sin must be destroyed... man, tomorrow wasn't going to be a fun day....

We started early in the morning and Joshua gathered everyone together. This was it, the big test. Joshua brought us before the Lord by tribes. Reuben... no. Simeon... no. Levi... no. Judah... taken. Judah? Not Judah! You see, I'm from the tribe of Judah, those are my people! Someone from my tribe could do this? It got worse, as the families came, the Zarhites were taken. I'm a Zarhite – that's my family. Somebody in my family committed this sin? My family was responsible for our loss in battle? How could this be? Then we went through the Zarhites, and Zabdi was taken. This can't be real! Zabdi? Zabdi was my grandfather! No! Not my family, not my people. This can't be! How could we be the ones that are responsible? Who would do such a thing? Then Joshua went through the household of Zabdi man by man... and Achan was taken. No! No! It can't be! Not Achan! Anybody but Achan! Achan's my brother! There must be some mistake! How could he do such a thing? How could he be the one that separated a nation from God? Anybody but Achan! Not Achan!

Sure enough, Achan admitted to taking of the accursed things from Jericho. He said that when he saw them, he coveted them, and took them. He took a beautiful Babylonian garment, two hundred shekels of silver, and a 50 shekel wedge of gold, and hid them in the ground under his tent. That's it? Something so small? Surely we can overlook something so small, surely he doesn't have to be punished for that? I mean, he's my brother! Can't we just forget about the whole thing? No! God had spoken. But surely God can't be serious! Surely He must understand! I mean, it was something so little; He would let us off with that, wouldn't He? No! God had spoken. Sin is sin, no matter how great or small. And until the sin was destroyed, God's presence would not be with us. Did we want God, or not? The choice was up to us. We had to obey God!

So we did. We took Achan, the silver, the garment, the gold, his sons, his daughters, his oxen, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent, everything he had. And we stoned them and then burnt them with fire. It was the hardest thing in my life – to cast stones at my own brother. But God had commanded that we destroy the sin from among us. And when we did, God's anger turned away from us. God's presence was restored. Afterward we piled up a huge pile of stones, that stayed for years, as a reminder that God is serious about sin.

God is serious about sin! God had commanded. We had sinned. We could not win if they we didn't take drastic action. It was either severe punishment or God was out of here. We could not take it lightly. Did we want victory? Did we want God's blessing? Did we want God's presence? If so, then we must deal drastically and immediately with the sin – destroy it! And we did. The sin seemed so small, I mean a Babylonian garment, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, and that separated the entire nation from victory! But you have to understand, Achan's sin was an affront to God's holiness. God's holiness must be preserved – He's serious about that. We'd better be serious, too. It's not just Achan's sin. Any sin, no matter how big or small, is against God. It is attack on who God is, an attack on His holiness. We must not take sin lightly.

Not only that, we need to realize that sin affects more than just us – our sin will have devastating effects on others. I wonder if Achan thought of others as he stole the things in Jericho, as he took that which was dedicated to God? Did he have any idea that his sin would cost the lives of 36 of his fellow soldiers? Did he think about his family, his children, who would also perish because of his sin? I don't think so. Sin blinds us. It makes us think that we will be the only ones affected, that it won't bother anyone else. Not true! Achan's sin not only cost his own life, but cost the lives of many others, and put his whole nation in jeopardy.

These are the lessons that God taught me through all of this. They were hard lessons; I lost my brother, I lost a battle, I lost fellow soldiers, I lost a lot. But I learned in a way that I will never forget: Sin is Serious! We must not tolerate it in our lives! Sin will separate us from God, it will keep us from victory. Even a little sin, something we think that only we know about, something that only affects us – it will cause defeat! How often does a small amount of sin keep us from experiencing victory!

I wonder as you're reading this, if it might be possible that you're tolerating sin in your life. Perhaps it's just a little thing. Perhaps no one else knows – you are hiding it underneath your tent, and no one can see. But God sees. And I'd invite you to take this opportunity and pray and get serious with God. God is serious about sin, and we need to be serious. Will you take that step and tell God that you are serious? Will you take the drastic action required to sever sin in your life? Will you accept God's forgiveness now? Perhaps sin is stealing your joy. Perhaps it is keeping you in defeat. Maybe up to now you have thought that it doesn't affect anyone else, but it does. Will you bring it to God? He can restore victory in your life.