Have you tried and failed? Perhaps you have written an exam
for the umpteenth time and you’ve met failure, you have planned for marriage
but every person who hangs around leaves just in time before the marriage, you
have searched for a job and you’ve failed every job interview since, you have
produced song after song and none has become hit, you have written book after
book and you’ve made no sales, you probably are in your battle of Ai. God wants
you to know that despite your failures, you will enter into your place of
success. Just have faith.
Ai was a little city that occupied a part of the land of
Canaan that God had given to the children of Israel. He had told them to bring down
every occupant of the land in order to take over it. Before the children of Israel
arrived Ai, they had just won a battle over Jericho with the help and direction
of God. Jericho was a great city with huge walls and giants residing in her.
The children had been afraid to take the land but they cried to God for help
and He sent help to them.
When the children of Israel arrived Ai, they saw it was
little. Joshua sent some spies to spy the land. Their reply in Joshua 7:3 was
confidence boosting. They said “ let not all the people go up but, let about
two or three thousand men go up and attack Ai, do not make the whole people
toil up there, for they are but few.” The result however was that the men of Ai
overran them and slew thirty two of them.
That you have faith in yourself to achieve anything doesn’t
guarantee that you will get what you want. We may think we qualify for
something but it does not arrive to us no matter how much we try. There have
been exams you’ve written that you thought you would pass, the job interviews
you went through that you thought you would be called to start work. Think
about all the opportunities you thought you qualified for but you never got.
The children of Israel lost to little Ai because God was out
of the business. They pushed God aside. Jericho was huge, they called God, but
little Ai, we can deal with that. That’s how we are too. We leave the big problems
to God and carry the small loads on our shoulders. That’s no wisdom!
Wisdom is to commit all that you do to God however little or
big it is. God wants to know you are putting Him first in all that you do.
Maybe the reason you have failed all the while is because God was always out of
your deal.
When Israel lost to Ai, Joshua remembered God. He had
trusted the advice of people and they failed, now He had to return back to God.
He had been certain of victory because he was fighting God’s battle, but when
God is out of His battle, we will end up losing even God’s fight.
God told Joshua the reason they lost. It was because of one
Achan who had disobeyed Him by taking what He had warned them not to take.
Maybe you have to call God now to ask some why questions. Why have I tried all
this while and failed? My friends are married, why has mine been hitting the
wall? People have been making success at what I am doing, why has my case been
different? I am certain God will show you why.
The moment Joshua discovered why, he dealt with the
situation and God was appeased, He returned back to their fold. The reason why
you been failing may be because of sin, may be because of a family curse, may
be because of an ancient landmark. Whatever it is, you have to deal with the
problem. God will only arrive into your situation when you show sufficient
commitment with Him to resolve those issues.
It is wisdom to not put God out of the decisions you make.
When God comes in, He makes your battle easy. This is what Joshua realized
afterwards.
A major lesson God taught Joshua is in Joshua 8:2 He said
“...you shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king..” Don’t
underrate your enemy, your situation, your examinations, your illness. Treat
each situation seriously. Give your best shot to that little thing you are
doing as much as you will give to the big deal.
God said to Joshua “ lay an ambush against the city, behind
it”. Wisdom from God gives you direction on how to defeat your challenge. Your
difficult situation has remained where it is because you’ve failed to get the right
way from God. God knows the best strategy for you to win your war. That you
succeeded using a strategy the other time doesn’t mean it is going to work
every time. Get current wisdom from God for your present situation or
challenge.
Wisdom requires preparation. You must be prepared to win.
Joshua realized this thus he chose thirty thousand men as against three
thousand that he had sent earlier. What you may need is better input than you
have always given. Perhaps, you need to study more, prepare harder or plan
better.
Wisdom requires that you obey God to the latter. God said to
Joshua “lay an ambush” and he did just that. He laid out the strategy to the
valiant men who obeyed and did as they were told. It will be foolhardy to know
how to achieve a goal but you don’t follow through to get it done. If God tells
you, here is the way, just follow.
The summary of the battle of Ai is that after the loss, the
children of Israel celebrated another victory. What God is saying to you is,
you might have been lacking wisdom from God that’s why you failed all the
while. Enter into God’s wisdom and see the difference in your life.
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