The Conquest of Ai

Joshua 7:1-8:29

But the sons of Israel acted unfaithfully regarding the things under the ban...therefore the anger of the Lord burned against Israel. - Joshua 7:1

Imagine God as a fireplace with two giant logs inside. These logs are God's passions. One log is called glory. The other is called holiness. When His people are disobedient and sinful, these logs erupt into flame. This is God's burning anger. It's different from our anger, which is set aflame by our our passion for our own glory. God's anger is right, because His glory and His holiness are proper passions. And in Joshua 7, His anger rages against Israel for sinning against Him.

The result of God's burning anger: Israel's sin rises to the top where it is visible and can be scraped away. God's anger is a purifying anger that burns the sin out of His people, like gold refined through intense heat.

Here God uses defeat to purify His people. Other times He might use failure, misfortune, calamity, setbacks. As painful as these things are, they are sometimes flames God uses for the good of His people. But we want holiness without fire, don't we? Just like we want muscle without exercise, wealth without work, sex without marriage, character without trial, success without discipline, life without death, salvation without crucifixion - we want holiness without fire. But it is the flame that purifies.

May we be open to the purifying flame of God's loving anger.