JULY 13, Joshua 7:20-25

God is not only holy. He is omniscient – that means He knows all there is to know and all that happens in the world. Nothing can escape His knowledge – not your thoughts, your desires, your unspoken words. So, even when there was only one disobedient person in Joshua’s camp, He knew.

The Lord had declared the city of Jericho “devoted” to the Lord. Jericho was considered the “first fruit”, being the first conquered city. He commanded that the silver, gold and vessels made of brass and iron be brought into His treasury. Other than that, every life and thing must be destroyed. Of course, the promise to spare Rahab was kept.

The children of Israel were told not to take any thing from the city but Achan did. He coveted, and thus stole a Babylonian garment, two hundred shekels of silver and fifty shekels of gold and hid them among his own stuff. When God told Joshua about the curse of sin on the people of Israel, he combed the camp to find the culprit and Achan’s sin was found out. He and his family were punished by being stoned to death and burnt.

Achan broke the law of God. He disobeyed God’s command not to take what was devoted to God. He stole from God. He hid the stolen things and pretended to be innocent. When his sin was discovered, he received the death penalty. He thought he could fool everyone. However no one can fool God. Nobody can ever hide anything from God.

          TRUE or FALSE (T/F)?

          1. Achan broke only one of the Ten Commandments.            T / F

          2. Achan brought a curse on the people of Israel because
              he brought the “accursed” thing out of Jericho.                  T / F

          3. God knows our every secret.                                                    T / F

          4. God closes His eyes on the small sins we commit.            T / F

          5. Achan’s sin hurt only himself.                                                    T / F

Thought: You cannot hide your sin from God!

Prayer: Heavenly Father, help me to guard myself from sinning. In Jesus’ name, I pray - Amen.