(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
Joshua 7:6–9, “And Joshua rent his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the LORD until the eventide, he and the elders of Israel, and put dust upon their heads. And Joshua said, Alas, O Lord GOD, wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over Jordan, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? would to God we had been content, and dwelt on the other side Jordan! O Lord, what shall I say, when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies! For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it, and shall environ us round, and cut off our name from the earth: and what wilt thou do unto thy great name?”
Joshua reached a crisis in his leadership at a very early stage. When he began as the leader the Lord made many amazing promises to him (see Josh 1:5–9, “There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them. Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.” for example.) As far as Joshua knew, he had followed these recommendations to the letter. There is no evidence to suggest that Joshua was personally involved in any sin or that he had encouraged anyone else to sin. He did exactly as the Lord told him and commanded Israel to follow in his footsteps. Suddenly, even though he did as he was told, he experience a devastating defeat. The Lord told him that his way would be prosperous. Earlier the Lord had allowed Joshua to take the credit for the miracles and Joshua’s reputation was greatly increased. Now that there was a catastrophe Joshua’ reputation would suffer severely as well. What was he to do? It is always hard for any person who has to suffer for the choices that another person has made. We live in a random, arbitrary, chaotic world so people suffer when it is not their fault. However, the tendency of the rest of the world is to blame any person suffering for their problems. There is a tendency to say that someone deserves their own suffering because they have done something to deserve but this isn’t always the case. How is a person to cope with this problem? Joshua did the best thing first, he came to the Lord and prayed. He was very strong in his complaints. Any person who is suffering can follow this example and come to the Lord with prayers and complaints. It is always good for us to empty our hearts to the Lord and then to trust Him for the solution. A time of suffering and grief doesn’t have to be an occasion to deny our faith it can be a time to increase our faith and grow in grace and a knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (2 Pet 3:18, “But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.”)
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