When Defeat is a Red Flag

"The LORD said to Joshua, “Get up! Why have you fallen on your face? Israel has sinned; they have transgressed my covenant that I commanded them; they have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen and lied and put them among their own belongings. Therefore the people of Israel cannot stand before their enemies. They turn their backs before their enemies, because they have become devoted for destruction.a I will be with you no more, unless you destroy the devoted things from among you. Get up!  (Joshua 7:10-13)

The Lord had promised Joshua and the people of Israel victory over their enemies as they moved forward, step by step, into the Promised Land.

Their first victory was about as miraculous as a victory could possibly be. The famed walls of Jericho fell by the power of God, and Joshua’s army swallowed up their enemies. After forty years in the wilderness, Israel was finally moving forward into everything God had promised them.

At Jericho, their faith and obedience were on full display. God gave instructions that made little sense from a human perspective, but Israel followed them. They marched. They waited. They shouted. And God moved with overwhelming power.

The walls fell.
The enemy was defeated.
The promise was unfolding.
Then came Ai.

Compared to Jericho, Ai was nothing. It was a much smaller city with a much smaller army. The spies who surveyed the city returned to Joshua and essentially said, “Do not even trouble the whole army with this one. Send two or three thousand men. That will be enough.”

But Israel was shocked when the small city of Ai routed them quickly and fiercely. Thirty-six men died, and the rest turned and ran. The text says that when Israel fled, “the hearts of the people melted and became as water.” Joshua was devastated.

He tore his clothes and fell facedown before the ark of the Lord until evening. The elders of Israel joined him. They put dust on their heads and grieved before God.

Eventually Joshua cried out:
“Alas, O Lord God, why have you brought this people over the Jordan at all, to give us into the hands of the Amorites, to destroy us? Would that we had been content to dwell beyond the Jordan! O Lord, what can I say, when Israel has turned their backs before their enemies! For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it and will surround us and cut off our name from the earth. And what will you do for your great name?”

Joshua was dismayed. His confidence had been dismantled. He knew Israel did not stand a chance in this war if God did not continue to move powerfully and miraculously among His people. Without the presence and power of God, Israel was just another army surrounded by enemies far greater than themselves.

There is something vital here for us to learn. It is found both in something Joshua did and something Joshua failed to do.

First, there are moments in our lives when something changes so significantly that it should become a red flag before the Lord.

Joshua had watched the Jordan River part. He had watched the walls of Jericho collapse. He had been promised that no man would be able to stand before him as he walked in obedience to God.

Now Israel had lost its second battle to a tiny city. Something was wrong. Joshua recognized that immediately, and he did what we should always do when something in our spiritual lives suddenly seems deeply out of order.

He ran to God.
He fell on his face.
He cried out with his whole heart.
That part Joshua got right.

But Joshua’s prayer reveals that fear and grief had begun to distort his understanding of what was happening. He seemed to immediately assume that God had changed His mind.

Why did You bring us here?
Why did You bring us across the Jordan?
Are You going to give us into the hands of our enemies?
Would it have been better if we had never come this far?

Joshua knew something was wrong, but he assumed the problem was that God had somehow failed them.

It seemingly never occurred to him to stop and ask:
“Lord, what am I missing?”

That is a question every mature believer must learn to ask. Because God is good.
...God is perfect.
...God is righteous.
...God is holy.
...God is wise.
...God is faithful.

Therefore, when something is deeply wrong, our first conclusion should never be that God has become unfaithful.

Our first response should be humble examination.
“Lord, what is happening?”
“Is there something You are trying to show me?”
“Is there sin I have tolerated?”
“Is there something I have ignored?”
“Have I moved ahead of You?”
“Have I become proud?”
“Am I trying to do through human strength what can only be done through Your presence?”
“Is there something I am missing?”

Now we must be careful here. Not every hardship is the result of personal sin. Not every battle we lose means God is disciplining us. Job suffered while walking faithfully. David often wept while living obediently. Paul endured persecution, weakness, confusion, and affliction while standing directly in the will of God. But Scripture is equally clear that there are times when something is wrong because sin is present and has not been dealt with.

Sometimes the warning lights begin flashing. The joy of the Lord begins to disappear. Peace is continually disturbed. Prayer becomes hollow. The Word becomes distant.
Worship becomes mechanical. Conviction grows heavier. The heart becomes harder.
Our spiritual discernment becomes clouded.

We begin repeatedly experiencing the fruit of choices God has already warned us about.
Patterns of bondage return. The things that once brought life begin to feel powerless because we are trying to walk with God while protecting something God has told us to surrender. These moments should cause us to stop and seek the Lord.

Again, we should never assume that every painful season is punishment for sin. But neither should we be so committed to comforting ourselves that we refuse to ask whether sin may be involved.

Joshua fell before God asking why God had failed them.

God’s answer was shocking.
“Get up! Why have you fallen on your face? Israel has sinned.”

Then God told Joshua:
“Therefore the people of Israel cannot stand before their enemies. They turn their backs before their enemies because they have become devoted for destruction. I will be with you no more, unless you destroy the devoted things from among you. Get up! Consecrate the people.”

God essentially told Joshua:
“Joshua, stop mourning as though I have broken My promise. I have not changed. I have not become unfaithful. There is sin in the camp, and it must be dealt with.”
Achan had taken what God had specifically commanded Israel not to take from Jericho. He had hidden it. The sin remained concealed from Joshua, from the elders, and from the people.

But it was not concealed from God. And Israel could not continue moving forward as though it did not matter. This is one of the truths that the modern church desperately needs to recover:

God is never casual about sin.

Ever.

We deeply confuse the forgiveness of sin with the toleration of sin.
Sometimes people say, “I am forgiven,” but what they really mean is:
“Because Jesus died for my sins, the active, deliberate, unrepentant sin in my life is not that serious.”

Those are not the same thing.
Yes, God loves you.
Yes, Christ died for the forgiveness of sins.
Yes, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Yes, when we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Yes, grace is greater than our sin.

But no, God is not indifferent to active, unrepentant sin in the lives of His children.
He loves us far too much for that. The grace that forgives us is also the grace that trains us to renounce ungodliness. The blood of Jesus does not merely remove the guilt of sin. The Spirit of God works to break the power of sin. God does not forgive us so that He can leave us enslaved to the very thing Christ died to free us from.

There are things God has determined to destroy that simply cannot be carried with us into the life He is calling us to live.

That was the issue at Ai.

God had given Israel the Promised Land. But Achan had carried into Israel’s future something God had commanded Israel to destroy. And God stopped everything.

This is a sobering reality.

There are forms of forward movement, spiritual usefulness, intimacy, fruitfulness, and blessing that can be severely hindered by unrepentant sin.

Not because God has stopped loving us.
Not because Christ’s blood has somehow lost its power.
Not because believers are repeatedly being cast in and out of God’s family.
But because our Father loves us enough to discipline His children.

A loving father does not watch his child walk toward destruction and say, “It is fine. He knows I love him.”

No.
Love intervenes.
Love confronts.
Love disciplines.
Love exposes.
Love calls us to repentance.

God may allow the consequences of our choices to become painful enough to get our attention. He may allow what we have trusted in to fail. He may expose the emptiness of our idols. He may remove the false peace that allowed us to remain comfortable in rebellion.

Not to destroy us.
To restore us.

That is one of the great truths of Hebrews 12: the Lord disciplines the one He loves.
There are moments when the most dangerous thing God could do would be to allow us to continue succeeding while living in rebellion.

Imagine if Israel had continued defeating city after city while Achan secretly carried the devoted things.

What would Israel have learned?
That God’s commands were optional.
That hidden sin did not matter.
That His presence could be presumed upon.
That success was proof of approval.
So in love, God stopped them.

Sometimes what feels like God standing in the way of our future may actually be God protecting our future from the person we are becoming.

We must also remember something about God that we often forget:
God is not in a hurry.
We are.
Our lives are short.
Our opportunities are limited.
Our days disappear quickly.
But God will accomplish His purposes.

God had no problem bringing the first generation of Israel to the edge of the Promised Land and commanding them to enter. But when they refused because of unbelief, God also had no problem allowing an entire generation to wander in the wilderness for forty years.
God had no problem tearing down the walls of Jericho in a moment.
And God had no problem allowing the tiny army of Ai to chase Israel down the mountain.

Why?

Because God cared about something greater than Israel simply reaching a destination.
He cared about what kind of people entered it.

What is one year to God?
What is three years?
What is ten?

God is not going to sacrifice our holiness on the altar of our hurry.

We are often desperate to know:
“When will I get there?”
“When will the door open?”
“When will the promise happen?”
“When will this season finally end?”

And God is looking at something deeper:
“Who are you becoming?”

God has powerful purposes for His children. But it is equally true that things devoted for destruction cannot be protected forever while we expect to move freely into every purpose of God.

There are sins we must confess.
There are idols we must destroy.
There are relationships we must surrender.
There are patterns we must break.
There are hidden things we must bring into the light.
There are areas of pride that must die.
There are places where we must stop blaming God and start asking:
“Lord, what am I missing?”

And perhaps the greatest thing we forget is that cleansing us from sin is not a side issue in the heart of God.

It is one of God’s greatest purposes for our lives. He does not merely want to forgive us; He wants to free us. He does not merely want to rescue us from the penalty of sin; He wants to break sin’s power. He wants to sanctify us, transform us, renew us, and conform us into the image of His Son. The Bible says that those whom God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of Christ. That is one of the greatest promises in the life of every believer.

God may use you to build things, lead things, accomplish things, serve people, preach sermons, raise children, build businesses, and change communities. His will for your life may include a series of callings, careers, assignments, achievements, and opportunities. But never forget that His ultimate purpose is His glory, and one of His greatest works in you is your salvation, sanctification, and transformation into the image of Jesus Christ. Everything else is a side mission.

So when the walls of Jericho fall, worship Him. When Ai sends you running, seek Him. And before you assume God has failed you, changed, or abandoned you, humble yourself enough to ask, “Lord, what am I missing?”

Because sometimes defeat is not the end of the promise. Sometimes it is the mercy of God refusing to let us carry something destructive into the place He is taking us. The word of the Lord is not, “It is over.” It is, “Get up. Consecrate yourself. Deal with what is in the camp. Then move forward.”