Joshua - From Faithful to Faithless

Joshua and the Israelites have an amazing victory in the battle with Jericho, but there was a condition to this victory, all the spoil had to be given to God. This did not happen and now the people of Israel have become self confident and not relying on God. It is their disodedience to God and their own self confidence that see them lose a battle with the city of Ai. Joshua and the Israelites had failed God and in this passage we see the sin of disobedience but also the sin of omission - not doing what should have been done. What can we learn? (1) God does not want us to be self confident but to be God confident. We are to rely on God and not on our own strength; (2) God wants us to be in a relationship with Him, spending time in prayer and His word; (3) God wants us to obey Him. He wants us to focus on His ways and the not the ways of the world.