Ai was a smaller city compared to Jericho. The Israelites thought this can be easily conquered. After all, they had cracked the winning code.Why to bother God with this? They can easily do it themselves. They were so confident of their victory that they only deployed 3000 soldiers. However, the outcome was a disaster they never expected. They were routed by the people of Ai and about 36 soldiers were killed. What really happened? There are two distinct learnings from this story.
1. Israelites misunderstood that Jericho victory as their victory: Unfortunately they realised after the defeat that they had won at Jericho because of the Lord. They had developed a lot of self confidence and self glorification. They did not go back to God but tried to handle the battle themselves. How many times in our life we face such situations! How many times we take matter in our own hands! How many times we have higher self confidence than God confidence! We should allow God to take control in every battle, small or big since the battle belongs to the Lord.
2. There was sin among them which they failed to notice: Again because of overconfidence of Israelites, they failed to guard themselves and sin entered quietly. We are most vulnerable to sin when we have got victory. We need to be sensitive to sin no matter how small or insignificant it might be. It has the ability cause mass destruction. Sin is a recipe for disaster and God hates it. Sin results in death. The Bible says "The wages of sin is death" Romans 6;23. However, we have a hope. The good news is that God has made a way through Jesus Christ. He has taken away our sin and given us victorious life. Praise God for Jesus!
1. Israelites misunderstood that Jericho victory as their victory: Unfortunately they realised after the defeat that they had won at Jericho because of the Lord. They had developed a lot of self confidence and self glorification. They did not go back to God but tried to handle the battle themselves. How many times in our life we face such situations! How many times we take matter in our own hands! How many times we have higher self confidence than God confidence! We should allow God to take control in every battle, small or big since the battle belongs to the Lord.
2. There was sin among them which they failed to notice: Again because of overconfidence of Israelites, they failed to guard themselves and sin entered quietly. We are most vulnerable to sin when we have got victory. We need to be sensitive to sin no matter how small or insignificant it might be. It has the ability cause mass destruction. Sin is a recipe for disaster and God hates it. Sin results in death. The Bible says "The wages of sin is death" Romans 6;23. However, we have a hope. The good news is that God has made a way through Jesus Christ. He has taken away our sin and given us victorious life. Praise God for Jesus!
Dr Sanjay Patra
Sanjay is a Bible teacher and a mentor to Crossway leadership. He has a Ph.D in commerce and is a qualified Chartered Accountant. He works as the Director of FMSF and is an advisor to the German embassy on secondary matters.
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