Victory From Defeat

Hey! It's me again, Kenaz. For those who didn't read my last blog, I'll reintroduce myself. My name's Kenaz. I'm an Israelite, one of God's chosen people. I'm not ever mentioned in the Bible, so if the name sounds familiar, it wasn't me, it was somebody else. I was born and raised during the 40 years that we had to wander in the wilderness because of our disobedience. I was there for the miracles of God when we crossed the Jordan river on dry land, and watched as the walls of Jericho just crashed to the ground.

As I shared in the last story, I was a part of the losing attack on Ai, as God judged Israel for my brother Achan's sin when he took the forbidden things from Jericho. I shared the lessons that I learned from that incident. That our sin doesn't just affect us, but has a devastating effect on others. That God takes sin seriously, whether it's something big, or something small. That we cannot tolerate sin in our lives.

But that wasn't the end of the story. I want to share the rest of it with you this evening. After we stoned Achan and all that he had, after we destroyed the sin from our midst, God's presence and favor was restored to us. In fact, God spoke to Joshua and said, “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. And you shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king. Only its spoil and its cattle you shall take as booty for yourselves. Lay an ambush for the city behind it.”

We weren't allowed to keep anything from Jericho – Achan did and it cost him his life, and caused our failure the first time we attacked Ai. But now God was saying that we could keep everything from Ai. This time, it was ok.

Well, Joshua didn't waste any time. He assembled all the people together, and this time we weren't messing around. Instead of selecting 3,000 men to attack, he chose out 30,000 to attack. Ten times the number from last time. Once again, I had the privilege of being one of the commanders in the army; I was going to get a second chance at Ai – the battle I had previously lost, was going to be won, because God was with us this time!

Then Joshua laid out the battle plans. He chose 5,000 men to go hide in ambush on the west side of Ai. They were going to wait there until Joshua's command. Then the rest of us, 25,000, with Joshua as our leader would attack from the north side of the city. The enemy troops would come out to fight us, like they did the last time we attacked. When they came out of the city, our army was going to turn and run, just like we did the last time – but this time, it wasn't going to be because we were afraid, it was a part of the battle plan. When the people of Ai saw us running, they would think they had defeated us again, and chase us, just like last time. But this time, the troops in ambush would spring from hiding and storm the city while the gates were open. When they had captured it, they were to set part of it on fire as a sort of smoke signal. That would be the sign for us to turn back, and destroy the enemy army.

What a plan! We were actually going to use our prior defeat as the means for victory. But get this, this is the best part: That wasn't Joshua's plan. That was God's plan! God's the one that said to set up the ambush. God was going to take our defeat, our failure, our loss – the result of our sin – and He was going to take that scar, and make it the very stepping stone to victory! What an amazing God that redeems situations! The very wounds that we had as a result of sin, God was going to use for His glory!

That night, we moved out. The 5,000 were able to place themselves unnoticed on the west side of the city. Our army of 25,000 moved into the valley on the north side, ready for the battle. This time, our faith was restored; we believed again; we trusted God again; and we were ready to see God work yet another miracle in our midst. Early in the morning, as the sun was just beginning to show, the watchmen on the walls of Ai spotted us. The troops from Ai rushed out to meet us in battle. This was it! Joshua gave the command, “retreat!” And our whole army turned and ran. It reminded me of the last time I was here – oh, but it was so different. I wasn't afraid, there was no chaos; I could feel the presence of God in our midst. This time, it was different. We were laughing and praising God as we fled before the enemy. It worked to; they took the bait; they thought they had us just like last time. They pulled together all the troops they had, they even got the soldiers from Bethel, a city just a few miles away, to join in the attack. They thought for sure they would route us again. But they had another thing coming.

Just then, I glanced over to see Joshua, and he pulled out his spear and pointed toward Ai. For just a moment, the question passed through my mind, “is it going work?” “what if the ambush fails?” But I wasn't about to be conquered by fear again – we had the living God on our side – we were living in spiritual victory – and I knew He would give us the victory in battle.

I couldn't see them, but at that same time, our ambush swept at the city from behind. My buddy, who in the ambush, told me that Ai was just sitting wide open. They had left the gates open and there wasn't a man in that whole city who could swing a sword. Our guys blitzed the city and set it on fire as fast as they could. In no time at all we could see the smoke billowing up from the city. We weren't the only ones to see it either. When the army from Ai looked back at their home, they realized it wasn't their home anymore, and they had fallen into a trap. We saw the change in their army, man, they just fell apart – fear swept their ranks; it was utter chaos. The very same thing that had stuck our army the last time we attacked, was now striking them. And I knew, this was the work of God.

Oh, man, we turned back and charged at them as fast as we could. The boys were hollering and whooping the loudest war shouts they could muster. Our boys in the ambush came out of the city and attacked their army from the back side. We had them trapped – they couldn't run, and God had struck them with fear so they couldn't even fight. Israel's two armies converged and we just smashed them, we obliterated the whole army – there was nobody left.

We swept up to the city and mowed it down like it was nothing. We killed everyone, just like God had commanded. But, like I said earlier, God had said that from Ai we could keep the spoil.

As I was going through one of the houses looking for people, I happened to glance down at the floor, and you know what I saw? A beautiful Babylonian garment! It looked almost just like the one Achan stole from Jericho. I would have never dreamed of seeing another one anywhere. As I searched the rest of the house, I spotted some gold and silver as well. The very things that caused Achan to sin. That got me thinking about my brother again. I wonder, as he was going through Jericho, if part of the temptation was a lie of the devil that if he didn't take these things now, he would never get another opportunity. You see, some things are sinful, other things, though not sinful in themselves, can be sinful if we go about them in a wrong way. Gold, silver, clothes – the things that Achan took from Jericho – they weren't sinful. The sin was that they were dedicated to God, and he was stealing! Oh, but, this was his only chance! It was now or never! Not even true – it was a lie of the devil. Just think, if he would have resisted temptation, Israel wouldn't have lost the first battle, 36 of our soldiers would not have died, Achan would be alive and everything he owned, and in the plunder of Ai, he could have gotten the gold, the silver, and even the Babylonian garment – and it wouldn't have been sin. Here they all were, right before my very eyes, and in this battle, God had said that we could keep the spoil. Oh, that we would trust God to provide for our needs and even our desires, instead of seeking them out in our own way! Let us not fall prey to the lies of the enemy!

Well, we took the livestock and spoil out of Ai, and then we burned it to the ground. The king of Ai we hanged, and then threw his body in the city gates. We raised a burial mound of rocks for him, just like the huge pile of rocks that we raised over my brother Achan's body in the Valley of Achor. The first pile as a commemoration of our defeat, our sin, our failure. The second pile as a commemoration of our victory through God.

But you know my favorite part of the whole story? It wasn't the fact that we won – though that strengthened my faith in God. It wasn't finding the Babylonian garment, gold, and silver in the house – though that reminded me that God always knows best. It wasn't even watching God paralyze a whole army. My favorite part was that God used Israel's defeat, my failure, our lost battle – which was caused by sin – He used that as the key to our victory!

Now, do I think that was God's original perfect will? I don't think so. It wasn't God's will that we would sin. Besides, He had a million ways He could have used to defeat Ai the first time. He didn't need us to sin in order to accomplish His will. That's nonsense. But once we did sin; once we failed; the second time, God chose to use our defeat to bring victory. You know what that tells me about God? God is in the business of redeeming situations! God is the Redeemer! He doesn't want to waste anything you have gone through, or anything that you will ever go through!

Now, don't misunderstand me. He did not use our sin. The sin was wrong. He condemned our sin, and we had to repent and turn from our sin and destroy it in our lives! It was not the sin that He used. But it was the result of the sin that He used to bring victory. It was the scar that sin had left on our lives, that permanent stain, that He redeemed for His glory! Praise the Lord!

God redeems situations!

I wonder as you're reading this, if that is where you stand. You have some hurt, some pain, some scar. Something that is the lingering result of prior sin in your life. You have repented and denounced the sin business. But that failure, that defeat, that was caused by sin, still haunts your life. Why don't you stop and pray right now and consecrate that pain, that hurt, that scar, whatever it is in your life, and give it to God, the Redeemer of Situations, who can take your defeats and turn them into victories!