Get Up

“And the LORD said unto Joshua, Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face?” (Jos 7:10 AV)

This question from the LORD comes at the heels of Joshua’s prayer over a lost battle.  The men of Israel were told to go up to Ai and take it.  After sending spies, they counseled Joshua to send only a few thousand.  When the battle raged, Israel fled and thirty-six men lost their lives.  That is three from each tribe.  Among a nation of several million, this seems insignificant.  What Joshua was lamenting was not the loss of thirty-six men.  Rather, he was lamenting the fact Israel fled.  Joshua was afraid the other nations around them would hear Israel fled from such a small battle they would believe Israel to be cowards.  If all the nations banded together because they thought Israel cowards, then Israel would have a war on their hands they might not be able to win.  What Joshua did not know was the cause of the cowardice.  Achan, a man of the tribe of Judah, robbed God when Jericho was taken.  He kept back precious metals for himself rather than give them to God for the service of the tabernacle.  This was why Israel was cursed when they ascended to Ai.  It is the question posed to Joshua which we want to consider this morning.

This reminds me of a young person, perhaps a toddler, who is frustrated or carrying on because he believes he cannot do something that Mom or Dad knows he can.  We have wonderful grandchildren.  I had the privilege of getting to know little Jude recently.  He is a wonderful little young man with a genuine personable spirit.  He makes connections with people quickly.  My daughter-in-law sent a precious video the other day.  It was of little Jude trying to learn how to crawl.  Mom was on the other side of the room capturing this momentous occasion to share with her extended family.  Little Jude would not get up on his knees.  Jude belly-crawled with his hands, dragging his legs behind him.  One of those legs was tucked into the other.  Then he got up on one knee with the other still tucked under.  The poor child looked like a wounded soldier trying to crawl back to the line with an injured leg.  All the time he was crying a fussing.  How dare Mommy drop him on the floor and abandon him to crawl ten feet to her side!  He was fussing about something which he himself could solve.  He simply didn’t know it.  He learned all he had to do was to scoot.  He still hasn’t learned to get up on all fours.  I have a sneaking suspicion little Jude will learn to walk before he ever learns to crawl on all fours.

The question posed to Joshua was much the same.  Why are you carrying on about the cowardice of Israel when you should be finding out why it happened?  That is God’s point here.  Joshua responded in a purely emotional expression when he should have sought the LORD’s guidance as to why they could not take a town with a minimal force.  The LORD chastises Joshua, not for the act of praying, but for how he prayed.  There are times we go to the LORD and lay our heart out when the more prudent thing is to get up from prayer and figure it out.  We go to the LORD in emotional turmoil when all we had to do is stop, think it over, ask the LORD for enlightenment, and solve the issue.  We are expected to grow up.  That includes our prayer life.  It is one thing to pour out our hearts when we need to.  The LORD will not turn back that prayer.  But if, in the process, we offer nor expect and resolution, then pouring our hearts out is only an act of making ourselves feel better.  The LORD has broad shoulders.  That is for sure.  But He is not our personal destresser to be used for emotional comfort when fixing the problem would take care of it.  He is not our shrink who will listen to our emotional problems to send us out the door with nothing rectified.  This is using God instead of following God.  So, our out your heart. But do so with the intent of finding wisdom in overcoming, not with the intent of simply making ourselves feel better.