Our Covenant Responsibility And Accountability

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! O Lord, what shall I say when Israel turns its back before its enemies? For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear it, and surround us, and cut off our name from the earth. Then what will You do for Your great name?” So the Lord said to Joshua: “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. - Joshua 7:7-11

Every covenant responsibility goes with accountability. One of the reasons why there are failures and regrets in life is due to the wrong notion that once we are blessed we are blessed and there is nothing required on our part to stay blessed. That is a great delusion.

You can hear the Psalmist complaining as if God had failed Israel, as the senior partner in the covenant with Abraham.

When you read through those verses, it was as if God failed man, but God will never fail. Such was also the frustration of Joshua in the defeat of Israel by a very inconsequential city. They ignored the dimension of deity because they over-estimated their military strength. The victory over Jericho must have got into their head, Perhaps, see the foolishness of comparing themselves with the enemy. They left God out of their strategy and went professional.

To cut the long story short, Joshua and the army of Israel lost the battle with casualties. Hear Joshua speaking out in frustrations and regret.

Joshua accused God of evil intention. He said he brought them to destroy them; he went further to desire an average rather than to achieve. Dwelling on the other side of Jordan in false contentment is falling short of the best of God. We should desire all that God plans for us. A wise man says that the enemy of the better is good. Joshua did not stop his words as he started to allow demons to build a stronghold of fear in him. He started to imagine failure and total destruction.

The enemy got the better part of this once courageous leader. Today, the enemy operates in almost a similar way except that our weapons are invisible and our targets are spiritual. Refuse to give the enemy opportunity by speaking and imagining wrong things.