Three steps down to sin

And Achan answered Joshua and said, "Indeed I have sinned against the LORD God of Israel, and this is what I have done: When I saw among the spoils a beautiful Babylonian garment, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. And there they are, hidden in the earth in the midst of my tent, with the silver under it." – Joshua 7.20-21

As bad as not checking with God was, Israel had a much bigger problem. Joshua was really bothered about the defeat at Ai. He did the right thing by talking to God about it, but as you read his prayer he almost sounds like he is blaming God for the defeat.

So when God answers Joshua God points out that the problem is that there is sin in the camp of Israel. Someone had sinned and that sin affected the entire nation.

So Joshua began searching to find the guilty party. It took a while, but eventually it comes down to a man named Achan. It doesn’t take long for Achan to concede his guilt and tell how it happened.

What happened to Achan is a good picture of what we need to be aware of when we are tempted to sin. Achan put it pretty simply:

I saw
I coveted
I took

Somewhere in the ruins of Jericho Achan saw a beautiful robe and other treasures. He knew he should not take them but whenthey caught his eye he stopped and had another look. The longer he looked the more he wanted them. Eventually his lust won out and he took the robe and the rest and hid them away. For that hidden sin Achan, his family, and all the nation suffered defeat.

So how does this apply to us?

Those three little things are pretty much what happens every time we see. We see something that catches our eye. It may start as a quick look. There is nothing working when we see something. We can’t avoid what we happen to see.

The problem happens when we don’t stop there. The problem is that if we keep looking at some shiny bauble of sin we increase the chance that we are going to want it. But it is still not too late to stop the sin choice.

But then Achan took the last step. He took the garment. Then, in his guilt, he had to hide it in shame.

Isn’t that just like us when we sin? We see something, tangible or intangible, that draws our attention. We have a good hard look and then we want it. They we take it and then we hide our sin because we are ashamed of it.

We ought always to be on guard to the three steps to sin and by the grace of God cut it off with the seeing.