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Have you ever felt, after a spiritual stumble, that it was necessary for you to spend a period of time in humiliation before you could pick yourself up and feel right with God again? |
| Photograph by Graham Cooper |
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The Necklace
She stood looking at her reflection in the mirror. "I failed Him again," she thought, "I let Him down." As she had done all those times before when she was disappointed in herself, she reached up and unfastened the precious cross necklace that she always wore. Carefully, she placed it in her jewelry case. The necklace had been a gift from her father before he passed away and she cherished it. It had become a ritual with Mrs. Cornwall to remove the cross after she did or said something that she knew she should not. At those times she felt unworthy to wear the sacred symbol.
The children, peering around the corner, smiled at each other with glee when they saw their mother remove the cross. They had learned from experience that until she felt her penance was paid and put the necklace on again, they could get away with just about anything.
Israel's army was much bigger and stronger than that of Ai, so they took only three thousand men into battle against them. It was a piece of cake. However, Joshua and the children of Israel suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of their enemy.
"Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell face down to the ground before the ark of the Lord, remaining there till evening. The elders of Israel did the same, and sprinkled dust on their heads. And Joshua said, "Ah, Sovereign Lord, why did you ever bring this people across the Jordan to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us? If only we had been content to stay on the other side of the Jordan! O Lord, what can I say, now that Israel has been routed by its enemies?" "The Lord said to Joshua, "Stand up! What are you doing down on your face?" Joshua 7:6-8, 10.
Perhaps you can relate to both Mrs. Cornwall and to Joshua. Have you ever felt, after a spiritual stumble, that it was necessary for you to spend a period of time in humiliation before you could pick yourself up and feel right with God again? During that period, maybe the enemy pummels you like a boxer whose opponent has gotten the advantage over him and has backed him against the ropes and is giving him a major licking. You have let down your defenses because you failed. Notice that the Lord told Joshua not to lie there groveling. He told him to get up and do something about correcting the wrong. In fact, in the next verses, He tells Joshua exactly where Israel went wrong and what to do to correct it.
The Bible tells us that we should KNOW what God says about things. In education and in the business world, knowledge brings power. In the same way, knowing what God says about who we are in Christ and what He declares on other issues, brings overcoming power when we stand on it and appropriate it. Otherwise, we will most certainly be like that boxer against the ropes. We are defeated before we begin if we have little or no knowledge of God's Word.
To keep from allowing Satan to imprison us with guilt and despair when we stumble, here are a few of the facts from God's Word of which we must be thoroughly convinced:
· In Christ, our past, present, and future sins are forgiven. We only need to confess (agree with God) about our sins and get up and go on with life as if the thing never happened. Sometimes there may be things we need to make right with others involved, but as far as our relationship with God. We are justified (just as if I had never sinned).
· We never did have any righteousness of our own. When the accuser comes to call, we can just agree with him about our unrighteousness and point to Christ, our only righteousness.
· Before the episode came up in which we failed, we may have thought we had no major sin, and that was why we FELT right with God. However, our failure only proved that that weakness was present within us all along. We just became aware of it when we sinned again. Our relationship with God is not based upon our feelings but upon His Word and our faith. So, it is what He says, not how we feel. Nothing is different from the way it was before. God loved us then and was present with us and He loves us now and is still present with us.
· We are accepted in the Beloved and in Him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace (Ephesians 1:6). It's grace. It's God's amazing grace. "'Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home."
Copyright Daphne Harrington 2000