Joshua 7:14-22 - The Path of Sin

20 And Achan answered Joshua and said, "Indeed I have sinned against the LORD God of Israel, and this is what I have done: 21 "When I saw among the spoils a beautiful Babylonian garment, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. And there they are, hidden in the earth in the midst of my tent, with the silver under it." 22 So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent; and there it was, hidden in his tent, with the silver under it.   The path of sin will always take you further than you want to go. Jesus called the path of sin “the broad way” (Matthew 7:13), and because it appears to be the easy way, many chose it. In Joshua 7, Achan chose this path and caused great defeat and even death for others and his family. The first step in the wrong direction will always lead to the second step!   Achan heard his commander give the order that all the spoils in Jericho were to be devoted to the Lord and were to go into His treasury (6:17-21, 24). Since Jericho was Israel's first victory in Canaan, the firstfruits of the spoils belonged to the Lord (Prov. 3:9). But Achan disobeyed and took the hazardous steps that lead to sin and death (James 1:13-15): "I saw...I coveted...and I took" (Josh. 7:21). Eve did the same thing when she listened to the devil (Gen. 3:5), and so did David when he yielded to the flesh (2 Sam. 11:1-4). Since Achan also coveted the things of the world, he brought defeat to Israel and death to himself and his family.   Achan's first mistake was to look at these spoils a second time. He probably couldn't help seeing them the first time, but he should never have looked again and considered taking them. A man's first glance at a woman may say to him, "She's attractive!" But it's that second glance that gets the imagination working and leads to sin (Matt. 6:27-30). If we keep God's Word before our eyes, we won't start looking in the wrong direction and doing the wrong things (Prov. 4:20-25).   His second mistake was to reclassify those treasures and call them "the spoils" (Josh. 7:21). They were not "the spoils"; they were a part of the Lord's treasury and wholly dedicated to Him. They didn't belong to Achan, or even to Israel; they belonged to God. When God identifies something in a special way, we have no right to change it. In our world today, including the religious world, people are rewriting God's dictionary! "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!" (Isa. 5:20). If God says something is wrong, then it's wrong; and that's the end of the debate.   Achan's third mistake was to covet. "But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed" (James 1:14). Instead of singing praises in his heart for the great victory God had given, Achan was imagining in his heart what it would be like to own all that treasure. The imagination is the "womb" in which desire is conceived and from which sin and death are eventually born.   Achan’s fourth mistake was to think that he could get away with his sin by hiding the loot. Adam and Eve tried to cover their sin and run away and hide, but the Lord discovered them (Gen. 3:7). "Be sure your sin will find you out" was originally said to the people of God, not to the lost (Num. 32:23); and so was "The Lord shall judge His people" (Deut. 32:36; Heb. 10:30). How foolish of Achan to think that God couldn't see what he was doing, when "all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account" (Heb. 4:13).   Today, may the Lord by His grace give us wisdom and strength to take the path of righteousness instead of the path of sin! And if you are on the path of sin today, thank the Lord for Romans 5:8, John 3:16, and 1 John 1:9!   God bless!