warning sign: Great Things Never Came From Comfort Zones

Devoted

“For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned?
My glory I will not give to another.” 7 

Do you like the good stuff? Amazing how each of us peoples is attracted to something that we just have to have. Fortunately, we are not all drawn to the same ‘good’ stuff.

Israel had just finished forty years traveling from the southwest to the east side of what we think of as Israel. All of the adults over forty years of age have died except for Joshua and Caleb. The Israelites have crossed the Jordan River and are beginning the conquest of Canaan with the taking of Jericho which has just been completed after a seven day seige which included no military warfare until the final day. The city has been razed, destroyed, decimated and is now rubble. All of the inhabitants are deceased save for Rahab and her family. You are Joshua and with that initial victory, turn your attention toward a small neighboring village. It is a village so you send 3,000 men to subdue Ai but somehow your superior force is driven away and 36 of your men are dead with nothing to show for the efforts. You, Joshua, are Moses’ replacement and you have no comprehension why God didn’t give you the victory.

After you humble yourself before God and seek His giving you understanding, God tells you,

The Lᴏʀᴅ said to Joshua, “Get up! Why have you fallen on your face? Israel has sinned; they have transgressed my covenant that I commanded them; they have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen and lied and put them among their own belongings. Therefore the people of Israel cannot stand before their enemies. They turn their backs before their enemies, because they have become devoted for destruction. I will be with you no more, unless you destroy the devoted things from among you. Get up! Consecrate the people and say, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow; for thus says the Lᴏʀᴅ, God of Israel, “There are devoted things in your midst, O Israel. You cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the devoted things from among you.” 1  

Are you thinking this is unfair, that they had not warning? Not so. Before the assault on the seventh day, Joshua had reiterated that this city was ‘devoted’ to God,

On the seventh day they rose early, at the dawn of day, and marched around the city in the same manner seven times. It was only on that day that they marched around the city seven times. And at the seventh time, when the priests had blown the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, “Shout, for the Lᴏʀᴅ has given you the city. And the city and all that is within it shall be devoted to the Lᴏʀᴅ for destruction. Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall live, because she hid the messengers whom we sent. But you, keep yourselves from the things devoted to destruction, lest when you have devoted them you take any of the devoted things and make the camp of Israel a thing for destruction and bring trouble upon it. But all silver and gold, and every vessel of bronze and iron, are holy to the Lᴏʀᴅ; they shall go into the treasury of the Lᴏʀᴅ.” 2  

This ‘devotion’ of the firsts was one of the precepts God had given forty years before at Mount Sinai,

“… and when the LORD your God gives them over to you, and you defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. You shall make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them. 3
“None of the devoted things shall stick to your hand, that the LORD may turn from the fierceness of his anger and show you mercy and have compassion on you and multiply you, as he swore to your fathers…” 4

Back to the solution. The Lᴏʀᴅ has been specific that the Israelites cannot go forward, cannot possess the Promise Land, until they remove the fault from their midst. There is a deliberate means God provides. The next morning, the Lᴏʀᴅ will indicate by drawn lot which of the twelve tribes has the guilty party. That done, then the clans, and then down to the households in that clan comes man by man and Achan is taken as the guilty party. He is urged to confess,

Then Joshua said to Achan, “My son, give glory to the Lᴏʀᴅ God of Israel and give praise to him. And tell me now what you have done; do not hide it from me.” And Achan answered Joshua, “Truly I have sinned against the Lᴏʀᴅ God of Israel, and this is what I did: when I saw among the spoil a beautiful cloak from Shinar, and 200 shekels of silver, and a bar of gold weighing 50 shekels, then I coveted them and took them. And see, they are hidden in the earth inside my tent, with the silver underneath.” 5

Isn’t that the way of ‘good’ stuff, that which has the appearance of something we simply ‘must’ have? Anyone else have good stuff buried where it is useless? Looked good, felt good, appealed, had to have, and then buried. Yet, divides your devotion away from the Lᴏʀᴅ and what He has next for your life.

This is an Old Testament example of exemplary judgment relative to that which is devoted to God but we also have a New Testament example in Acts 5:1-11. In the previous chapter we are told that the believers in Jerusalem were growing in numbers and were committed to meeting the needs of fellow believers. The liberty of using what they possessed to serve God included some selling some of their possessions and bringing the proceeds in for distribution to those in need. Barnabas was one of those who did this and was an encourager. Another couple, Ananias and his wife Sapphira also sold a piece of property and give for distribution but in agreement with each other kept back part of the sale proceeds while presenting the gift as the entirety of the sale.

“…with his wife’s knowledge he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles’ feet. But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God.” When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last. 6  

Yes, in the age of Grace, God still takes what is said to be His seriously. As Peter said, it was his to do with as he please but when he said it was God’s, well, judgment day came early. And yes, for his wife also.

This again is an example of exemplary judgment and may not have the same instantaneous consequence as either with Achan or Ananias but ‘touching’ what is devoted to God still has consequences even if not immediate. Likely, ongoing dis-use of that which is devoted to God still has long-term results. Yes, repentance is possible but the heart set on deliberately taking what is rightly God’s has the risk of hardening the heart of the deceiver against repentance. Justification of ourselves is an enslaver of the conscience against God.

FOOTNOTES:

1 Joshua 7:10-13 (ESV) – https://www.blueletterbible.org/esv/jos/7/10-13/s_194010
2 Joshua 7:15-19 (ESV) – https://www.blueletterbible.org/esv/jos/7/15-19/s_194015
3 Deuteronomy 7:2 (ESV) – https://www.blueletterbible.org/esv/deu/7/2/s_160002
4 Deuteronomy 13:17 (ESV) – https://www.blueletterbible.org/esv/deu/13/17/s_166017
5 Joshua 7:19-21 (ESV) – https://www.blueletterbible.org/esv/jos/7/19-21/s_194019
6 Acts 5:1-5 (ESV) – https://www.blueletterbible.org/esv/act/5/1-5/s_1023001
7 Isaiah 48:11 (ESV) – https://www.blueletterbible.org/esv/isa/48/11/s_727011

 

All Scripture references from the
Blue Letter Bible, ESV
at https://www.blueletterbible.org
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001, 2007, 2011, 2016, 2025
by Crossway Books and Bibles, a Publishing Ministry of Good News Publishers.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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