Achan the Troublemaker February 15, 2007
Posted by Han in : Relationship with God , trackbackIn the book of Joshua chapter 1, God promised Joshua 4 things:
1) Every place that his feet step, He will give it to him (v3)
2) No man shall be able to stand again you (v5)
3) I will be with you, I will never leave you nor forsake you (v5)
4) He cause him to be prosperous and successful (v8)
So Joshua started his journey base on the promises of God. First stop, the river of Jordan. When crossing the river of Jordan, the Levites and Priests carried the ark of God and stood still on the river until the entire Israelites crossed. The ark of God represents the presence of God. Where there is the presence of God, there is power to perform signs and wonders - God dried up the river of Jordan.
Next, they went to conquer Jericho. Jericho was securely shut up with high wall. God asked them to march around the city one round for 6 days but on the 7th day, they go round 7 times and at the end of it, they shouted, blew the trumpet and sounded the horn. When God was with them, they received clear instructions. Indeed when they obeyed the instruction of God, the wall of Jericho came tumbling down. They invaded Jericho, possessed the land and the whole city of totally destroyed.
God gave them specific instructions on how to invade Jericho, He also told them to abstain from the accursed things. But someone in the camp took! So Israel committed sin by taking the accursed thing. This is an act of disobedience.
But at this point of time, nobody knew what actually happened. So they went on to attack the next nation, Ai. Joshua sent spies to Ai and they came back and said, don’t need to send all the armies, just sent 2000 or 3000 (Joshua 7:3). Obviously in this case the nation of Ai was much smaller compared to Jericho.
They were confident in attacking Ai, but they lost in the battle with 36 men killed (Joshua 7:4,5)! Israel lost! Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the earth on his face and cries out to God (Joshua 7:6-9). So God answered Joshua in Joshua 7:10-13.
They found out that the culprit was Achan.
Achan has caused Israel to lose. Disobedience cost them to lose in their second battle.
Let’s read Joshua 7:19-21,
Now Joshua said to Achan, “My son, I beg you, give glory to the LORD God of Israel, and make confession to Him, and tell me now what you have done; do not hide it from me.” And Achan answered Joshua and said, “Indeed I have sinned against the LORD God of Israel, and this is what I have done: When I saw among the spoils a beautiful Babylonian garment, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. And there they are, hidden in the earth in the midst of my tent, with the silver under it.”
Now, let’s take a look at Achan. Achan, his name means troubler or troublemaker. He has sinned. He has violated the words of God. There were 3 things that Achan did not know. First, Achan taught that no one knows what he had done. Second, Achan didn’t know that it will cause Israel to lose. Lastly, Achan didn’t know that it will cost him his life. At the end, Achan was stoned to death! It was a tragic end!
Israel lost because there is an “Achan” in their camp. If we are constantly not living in a victorious, prosperous and successful Christian life, then most probably there is an “Achan” in our life. I said most probably because sometime God can use our failure and setback as a form of teaching. But it will not be for long!
This is a very serious and important article. Either you like it or you are going to hate me! Because you may not like to read it! We must identify and stone “Achan” the troublemaker in our life. We got to deal with the “disobedience” in our life.
These are the areas of disobedience; idolatry, secret sins, materialistic, robbing God in tithes and offering, unforgiveness, stealing, gambling, lying, rebellion towards parents and the authority, wickedness, evil schemes, unholy thoughts, stubbornness, pride, self-centeredness and etc.
See, I told you, you may not like to read this but I would prefer you to get angry with me than to miss the great blessings of God listed in Deuteronomy 28. Let’s read Deuteronomy 28:1-8.
If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the LORD your God: You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country. The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks. Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed.
You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out. The LORD will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven. The LORD will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The LORD your God will bless you in the land he is giving you.
Conclusion
Indeed we are not perfect Christian. We have sinned against God. We have disobeyed Him as well. But when we look at the price that Achan paid, it is enormous! Therefore we must deal with the “Achan” in our life even though it is painful. But if we don’t, we will not receive the great blessings of God. I have decided to take the painful move, how about you?
All the best,
Han
Comments»
Praise God for a good start of such website like this,it will encourage people to walk right with God and trust Him fully!
Fr Pastor Chua Soon kiat
Gabriel…
Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us. Some of them are really interesting…
Hi Gabriel, thanks for your support, hope that these articles will help. Stay tune for more articles to come…
Gold Prices…
Some portions of this article sounds interesting. May be you have some links where I could read more about this topic?…
Hi Gold Prices, thanks for the comment. That’s my one and only article about this topic, I don’t have anymore left, so sorry! But you can email me at tay_hockhan@yahoo.com.sg or leave me another comment on which portion you’re interested in and maybe I can explore further. I pray that God will give you success and bring you to the next level in your life. Take care.
Wow…
What a powerful message brother Han.
Ya, we cannot let Achan poison our heart and soul! Indeed we don’t have forever to live on.
Thanks for the sharing… It is a very important reminder.
Jack…
Man i love reading your blog, interesting posts !…