Joshua 7 Devotional

From Trouble to Hope

“And they heaped over Achan a large pile of rocks that remains to this day. So the LORD turned from His burning anger. Therefore that place is called the Valley of Achor to this day.”Joshua 7:26 (BSB)

After Jericho, Israel is routed at the small town of Ai (7:4-5). Joshua tears his clothes and lies before the ark until evening, asking why God brought them over the Jordan at all (7:6-9). God's answer is direct. Someone has taken what was devoted to the LORD and hidden it among his own things (7:11). The chapter calls it the unfaithfulness of the Israelites, even though one man did it (7:1). Sin is never as private as it seems.

The LORD exposes Achan tribe by tribe until he confesses that he saw, coveted, took, and hid (7:21). The judgment that follows is severe, and the text does not soften it. Only then does the LORD turn from his burning anger, and the place is named the Valley of Achor (7:24-26). Yet God does not leave that valley as a monument to judgment alone. Through Hosea he later promises to turn it into an entrance to hope (Hosea 2:15). Hidden sin brings trouble, but bringing it into the light before God is the way out.

To think about: Is there something you have been hiding from God, and what keeps you from bringing it into the light today?