023. Joshua’s Prayer After The Defeat At Ai.
Joshua’s Prayer After The Defeat At Ai.
Moses has gone to his reward, and Joshua has succeeded to the command of Israel. The passage of the Jordan has been effected. Jericho has been taken. The Israelites are encamped on the soil of Canaan, and have begun the subjugation of the land. The first place, against which a detachment is sent, is Ai; a city situated some ten miles north of Jerusalem, and embracing a large population. Joshua 8:25. Previously to the attack, Joshua had sent men to conduct reconnaissance, and report its condition. The city was represented as weak and defenseless, and but a small detachment was deemed necessary to take it. Without the usual precaution of consulting God, as to his movements, in relation to an attack, Joshua sends forward a detachment of only three thousand men— thirty-six of whom were killed, and the main body repulsed. This was, indeed, an inconsiderable loss; but even this, and much more the repulse, occasioned surprise. It was manifest that, for some reason, the divine hand was against them. In this state of uncertainty and anxiety, Joshua betakes himself to a throne of grace. There, with the elders of Israel, he humbles himself; there, “until even-tide,” he and they remain before the footstool. So far, it must be conceded, Joshua pursued a wise and becoming course. And, moreover, his pleas are excellent, and his concern for the honor of God worthy the successor of Moses. But are there not portions of his prayer apparently censurable? “To consider this trivial check,” as Dr. Scott remarks, “as the forerunner of total ruin; to inquire wherefore the Lord had brought them over Jordan; and to admit the thought, that it was in order to deliver them into the hands of the Amorites—were proofs of unbelief which may be accounted for, but were wholly inexcusable, especially after the express promises, and miraculous success, just before received.”
Yet, God kindly answers Joshua’s prayer; and while he was yet lying prostrate, as is supposed, before the ark. In that answer there is, at first view, the semblance of rebuke; but it is, probably, in appearance only. God would seem to intimate that his mournful posture had been continued sufficiently long. There was urgent business to be done. He must arise, and address himself to the discovery of an accursed thing, which had taken place in Israel; and which, while it remained covered and unpunished, would prevent the divine aid in subduing his enemies. An important practical truth is suggested by the preceding narrative, namely: that duty sometimes calls us from a throne of grace, as clearly as, in other cases, it directs us to it.
Joshua was quite right, on receiving intelligence of the defeat of the Israelitish detachment at Ai, to spread the case before God, and to continue his supplication, till he was favored with an answer. But no sooner is he informed of the state of things in the camp of Israel, and of the necessity of probing the wounds which had been caused, than it became his duty to rise, and, leaving a throne of grace, to discharge that now more imperative duty. So God decided; and vain, therefore, would it have been for Joshua to have sought the continued favor and aid of God, while the existing evil was not remedied, and the sullied honor of God was not vindicated. And often would the Christian be otherwise more appropriately employed, than continuing at a throne of grace, obligatory as the duty may be, that he should abound in prayer. Take an example: a Christian has wronged his neighbor, either in respect to his property or his good name. In some hour of temptation, he may have exacted more than was his due, or he may have spoken to the injury of his neighbor’s reputation. Is the place of prayer the proper place for that Christian? He should, indeed, humble himself before God; he may ask forgiveness; but, while at a throne of grace, with the guilt of transgression upon him, might not God well address him, as he did Joshua: “Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face?” Go, and repair the wrong you have done. Go, confess your fault. Make restitution. This is your first and paramount duty. Until that is done, a throne of grace is no befitting place for you. Your confessions; your tears; your vows, are of no avail, while you neglect the golden rule of doing to others as you would have them do to you.
Until the Christian is willing to repair wrongs done to others, he is not repentant; and, without a broken heart and contrite spirit, how can he expect pardon and acceptance from God? Says the Psalmist: “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.”
While I my inward guilt supprest, No pardon could I find;
Thy wrath lay burning in my breast. And rack’d my tortured mind.
Then I confessed my troubled thoughts; My secret sins revealed:
Thy pard’ning grace forgave my faults;
Thy grace my pardon seal’d.
Take another example: the church is often surprised that sinners are not converted. Meetings for prayer are frequent, and well attended. A spirit of prayer seems to prevail, and strong and importunate appeals are made to God, in behalf of the impenitent. Indeed, Christians appear greatly alarmed for the safety of sinners, and lie prostrate in the dust before God. Yet there are no inquiries on the part of sinners, and no conversions.
Now, we dare not say that Christians pray too much. Their fault generally is the reverse; they pray too little. And yet, in certain cases, might not God, with propriety, say to them, as he said to Joshua: “Get ye up; wherefore do you lie thus upon your face?” There are other duties connected with the conversion of sinners, besides praying for them. Means must be used. Appeals must be made. Seed must be sown. Let the children of God pray: fervently, intensely, importunately: let them also go forth, and enter into the habitations of the impenitent—speak to them—warn them—labor with them. Prayer combined with labor, and labor combined with prayer, may be expected to result in the salvation of souls. God must, indeed, be honored, and the glory of the work be ascribed to him; but never should it be forgotten that he works by means. Had this principle been recognized by some churches, and some Christians, while they would not have prayed less, they would have labored more; and blessed harvests would have been reaped, where but little, if any, fruit has been gathered into the garner of God.
Let the children of God, then, recognize the importance of this principle: that means, aside from prayer, are to be used for the conversion of sinners; and that the neglect of those means may be just as fatal to their conversion as the neglect of prayer itself. Christians may, sometimes, be at a throne of grace, when their duty, in respect to sinners, requires that they should be otherwise employed.