Joshua 8:1 And the LORD said unto Joshua, Fear not, neither be thou dismayed: take all the people of war with thee, and arise, go up to Ai: see, I have given into thy hand the king of Ai, and his people, and his city, and his land.
What does faith look like in real life? One man says, “I am going to do this on my own. I don’t need God.” Well, that is obviously not faith. Another man says, “I am trusting God. I am not going to do anything.” Is that faith? Well, not necessarily.
In Joshua 8, we find that the people of Israel had just been thoroughly defeated in battle. They were defeated because they had become a little self-confident. God had given them a wonderful victory at Jericho. God had given them that victory. They hadn’t gained the victory for themselves. They had acted in obedience, which was acting in faith.
The very next city they were to confront was a little city called Ai. Flush with the victory over Jericho, those who had spied out the land of Ai reported to Joshua, “Let not all the people go up; but let about two or three thousand men go up and smite Ai; and make not all the people to labour thither; for they are but few. So there went up thither of the people about three thousand men.” So, they didn’t send very many people. Was that an act of faith or an act of presumption?
Well, we know that it was an act of presumption because we know what happened in the story and the Bible’s comments about it. We know that in the victory over Jericho, Israel had sinned inasmuch as Achan, a warrior of Israel, had disobeyed God by taking the accursed things that God had told them not to take.
The irony is that right after Achan was condemned and punished, God blessed them and allowed them to take the very things that He had cursed Achan for taking. It is foolish to steal what God would give. Faith is realizing that everything belongs to God and accepting those things from His hand. So, they were living in presumption because they had sin in the camp, and they looked at Ai and thought, “We can take this with a small number.”
After they were defeated by Ai, the Lord said to Joshua, “Fear not, neither be thou dismayed: take all the people of war with thee, and arise, go up to Ai: see, I have given into thine hand the king of Ai, and his people, and his city, and his land.” What a contrast between the small force they had taken against Ai the first time and this overwhelming army that approached Ai the second time.
Were they trusting God when they sent the small force or when they sent the large force? Ironically, when they sent the small force it was not an act of faith but an act of presumption. It was an act of “this is all it takes because we are good, mighty, and amazing.” Sometimes our first battle is with our assumptions.
When they sent all the men of Israel against Ai, they were trusting God. They were following God’s orders. The takeaway for us today is that trusting God with all your heart does not mean serving Him with half your strength. If I am really trusting God to do what He alone can do, then I am going to do everything I should do, and when I do what I should do, I know that God will do what I cannot.