True Spirituality
“‘The Canaanites and the other people of the country will hear about this and they will surround us and wipe out our name from the earth. What then will you do for your own great name?’
The LORD said to Joshua, ‘Stand up! What are you doing down on your face? Israel has sinned; they have violated my covenant, which I commanded them to keep.’”
Today’s Text: Joshua 7:1-15 (Living Life Daily Devotional)
Joshua lifted up a prayer that echoed the complaining of the “stiff-necked” Israelites in the wilderness: Why did you bring us here just to destroy us?
Given Israel’s victory at Jericho, Joshua assumed that everything was OK. But everything was far from OK. One soldier out of the forty thousand or so made a fatal mistake and kept some of the plunder of Jericho for himself.
Achan’s sin not only cost the lives of thirty-six of his brothers in arms, it risked the entire campaign of the promised land. In the presence of sin, God would not fight on behalf of the Israelites.
There are so many important lessons from this account that challenge our understanding of “spirituality” today.
(1) It’s worth noting that Joshua had no conversation with the Lord before the battle of Ai. If he had, those thirty-six lives might have been saved. Today, we have the word of God as the guide for our lives and for the church. With that, prayer is critical, not for the sake of asking God to bless our campaigns, but to listen to God through His word.
(2) Is it fair on the part of God to punish all of Israel for the sin of one man? In my humble opinion, the answer to that question from the word of God reflects the countercultural nature of true spirituality versus the kind of “spirituality” that is practiced today, more than anything else.
Generally, people are drawn to a “spirituality” that is focused on individual, personal experience. Without an individual, personal experience of something that we think of as being “spiritual,” we are left feeling flat and unfulfilled—”spiritually.” In a real way, Achan was seeking individual, personal fulfillment when he took some of the plunder for himself.
That is not to discount individual, personal experience. God made us as experiential individuals, and so individual, personal experience is a relevant and significant part of true spirituality.
However, if we separate our individual, personal experience from the spiritual life of the community, we are missing the mark with respect to the true spirituality that God wants us to practice and experience.
Christians today need to learn and to understand that true spirituality is a shared, community experience as much as it is an individual, personal experience, if not more so.
We must recognize that our individual, personal sins impact the spiritual life of our community. That truth makes no sense in secular minds, but it makes complete sense in spiritual hearts.
We must also recognize that each and every one of us has a responsibility for the spiritual welfare of the whole community. It was not just up to Joshua. If it were, they would have done just fine. It was up to everyone.
(3) Even though Joshua “complained” like the “stiff-necked” Israelites, he understood that his life was in God’s hand of grace and mercy. He said “Pardon your servant, Lord,” as he was complaining (verse 8).
Father, You are our God and we are Your people. Help me, and help Your people in Canvas, to understand what it truly means to be spiritual. Pardon Your servant, Lord and pardon Your people. We get stiff-necked often. In Jesus’s name. Amen.
