READ:
JOSHUA 7:1-12
Believers
often wonder why they have stumbling blocks on their pathway. There is a reason
behind whatever happens in life. If you have discovered any hindrance in your
life, you must take cognisance of the fact that there is a reason behind it. If
you have lost one battle after another you must find out why the situation has
remained so. Your situation may not change unless you take off whatever is responsible
for it. In our text, God told Joshua why Israel lost their battles. They had
just had a victory over Jericho but one of them stole and God decided to leave
them. They were defeated in the next battle. Joshua fell on his face in the
presence of God and God told him that they had sinned by taking the accursed
thing, and He could not therefore continue with sinners. Many of us go to God
asking for miracles, signs and wonders instead of first cleaning up our lives.
We often pray when we should spend time repenting and asking God for mercy. The
sun is always there and all we need to do is to get rid of the clouds. Whatever
is blocking your way and would not allow you to see God should be removed.
Samson’s story in Judges 16:14-20 further enunciates this. God was with Samson;
no enemy could face and defeat him. However, the story changed when he sinned.
When he got to the gate, he shook it from the foundation and carried it away.
In Judges 16, we find that he had moved far away before but the glory of God
departed from him and he was no longer the same Samson who carried the presence
of God with him wherever he went. He was arrested, shaved and made to grind in
the enemy’s temple. The Bible says that he did not know that the Lord had
departed from him. Are you at present in a situation that can be likened to
this? Then you must cry out unto the Lord for mercy. Pray like the Psalmist: “Be
merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me! For my soul trusts in You; and in the
shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge, until these calamities have passed
by.” (Psalm 57:1).
MEMORIZE:
PSALM 66:18 –If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear.
