Grace Cup 8/31/10

This morning I decided to drink from my Infinite Grace cup because spiritually I drank from God’s cup of infinite grace. Earlier in the morning I read from Joshua chapters 7 and 8 the story of the Israelites’ defeat of Jericho and Ai. The Israelites followed the exact commands of the Lord in how to defeat Jericho. It was quite dramatic I must say, all of the marching, the horn blowing, and the shouting . But they did it, the walls came down and they defeated the town. However, in their victory sin crept in the camp. One person disobeyed the commands by taking a portion of the plunder that was already clearly told did not belong to him. Not only did he take what did not belong to him, but he hid it. He covered it up to keep it for himself. So no one in the camp knew about this sin. The next scene the Israelites take off to defeat the next town. Having more confidence in themselves they took a fewer number of men. To their surprise the men of Ai chased after them and the Israelites retreated in fear and shame. “What happened,” they wondered. God revealed to Joshua that there was sin in the camp. Once it was revealed and the sin destroyed as the Lord instructed, the Israelites set out to defeat Ai again. This time God took the shame of the first try and used it for their good. This time He told them once they defeated the town they could have the plunder. The strategy was to take the strongest men to hide in ambush the night before and then send the rest the next day to defeat Ai as they tried before. When the army of Ai gathered to attack, the visible Israelite army pretended to retreat as they did the first time to distract the Ai army while the men hidden in ambush set fire to the town and attacked the Ai army from behind. The Israelites defeated Ai the second time around! I say all this to show how the shame of the Israelite army the first time was used as a trap for the enemy the second time. But this was only done after the sin was revealed and destroyed. Sometimes God has promised us a Jericho and an Ai, but in the victory of Jericho we may mess up and then Ai is out of our reach. But once we come to God with our mistakes and sincerely ask for forgiveness, He will give us back what He intended us to have and not only that, but He will use the shame of our mistake to get it back. “And we know that in ALL things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28