He hid it among his stuff.

So the Lord said to Joshua: "Get up! Why do you lie thus on your face?  Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them.  For they have even taken some of the accursed things, and have both stolen and deceived; and they have also put it among their own stuff.  Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they have become doomed to destruction.  Neither will I be with you anymore, unless you destroy the accursed from among you.  Get up, sanctify the people, and say, 'Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow, because thus says the Lord God of Israel: "There is an accursed thing in your midst, O Israel; you cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the accursed thing from among you."

Joshua 7:10-11 

 

What do you have among your stuff?

     

     Achen knew God.  He knew they were not to take anything from the city of Jericho.  He had seen first-hand the power of God.  Yet  he apparently thought he knew better than God.  The "stuff" he took was valuable and desirable.  Surely God wouldn't mind if he took these things for his own.  No one would know if he mixed them in with the things God had already blessed him with.  His "stuff" was more important to him than God.  His greed, his desires, what he thought was ok to do was more important to him than obeying the God that had preserved and blessed him.

     Is our "stuff"  honoring God? Is the substance of this physical life more important to us than God? Are we serving God or do we serve our stuff?  We cannot serve both.  Do we trust God or do we trust in our own judgment and our possessions?  Is God first in our lives?  What is most important to us?

​

Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened,

That it cannot save;

Nor His ear heavy,

That it cannot hear .

But your iniquities separated you from your God,

And your sins have hidden His face from you,

So that He will not hear.

Isaiah 59:1-2

 

If I regard iniquity in my heart, The Lord will not hear.

Psalm 66:18

 

      Can we expect God to bless us if we are serving other gods? 

​

You shall have no other gods before Me.

Exodus 20:3

​

Jesus said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.  This is the first and great commandment.

Matthew 22:37-38

​

     Your actions speak louder than words.  You may say you love God, but what you do shows what is most important to you.

 

But do you want to know,  O foolish man,

that faith without works is dead?

James 2:20

​

     This is not legalism.  This is not earning salvation.  This is evidence of where you stand with God.  Who you serve is the evidence of what is really in your heart.  You won't be perfect, but what you put your energy toward, what you strive for, what your priorities are, shows who (or what) you really worship.  

     Are you too busy or too tired to go to church every Sunday? Sunday night? Prayer meeting?   Are you too busy to read the Word and pray every day?  Are your thoughts centered on Godly things (Philippians 4:6) or worldly things?  Does your relationship with God affect some, or all, or none of your daily life?  Is God relegated to some Sunday mornings while you serve other gods the rest of the week?  Do you put God in your schedule when you have time for Him, when it's convenient, when you don't have anything "more important" to do?  What happened to Israel over and over in the Old Testament when they "worshiped" like that?

     We need to put God first.  We need to serve Him, look to Him, live in worship to Him all the time.  He gives us every breath we take.  He orchestrates our lives.  We can trust Him and if we love Him and belong to Him, we will trust Him with every aspect of our lives.  If we plan our schedule around Him, we can trust Him to help us get done the other, less important things we need to do.  He knows what we need (Luke 12:22-32).  

​

     When you said, "Seek My face,"

My heart said to You, "Your face, Lord, I will seek."

Psalm 27:8

 

But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

Matthew 6:33

​

      Much of the trouble in our world is of our own making.  God has blessed, and Christians have worshipped the blessings instead of God.  Thanking and worshiping and glorifying God is an addition to our lives instead of the foundation.   This is wrong.  

     We need to examine what is important.  What is among our "stuff."  Is it all God honoring?  Or are we trying to hide things that are more important to us than God, thinking God won't know or won't care?  

​

 No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other.  You cannot serve God and mammon.

Matthew 6:24

​

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.  For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. 

Galatians 6:7-8  

 

​