Bad Decision, Destructive Consequences

Life comes at you fast. We make many decisions every day. According to Psychology today, the average person makes up to 35,000 decision per day. That number is not a small number at all. That means we make two thousand decision per hour, or one decision every two seconds. Making so many decisions in a day could cause one to make decisions without thinking them through. The sheer number of decisions could cause a person to view those decisions as inconsequential. We tend to think that our decisions our solely our own decisions and they affect only ourselves. How wrong we are. We were taught in school that we are unique individuals, and our choices belong only to us. The good of the community or of the family have given way to the desire of the individual. Selflessness has been replaced with selfishness.

The decisions that we make are not in a vacuum. If you are born of a woman, if you are single, if you are married, if you are a human being, your decisions have lasting effects. Your decisions affect those around you. Therefore, we must question everything with the consciousness of God’s Word asking the questions. I am not saying to be skeptical of everything, but to be discerning with a spiritual lens gaining clarity through the truth of the Word of God. I would like for you to consider for a moment the story of Achan in Joshua 6 and 7. The Children of Israel were on their way to the promised land, and they came up to the fortified city of Jericho. You have heard the story. God gave specific instructions as it related to how the men of war were to conduct themselves. In Joshua 6:18,19 we see the instructions as follows:
And ye, in any wise keep yourselves from the accursed thing, lest ye make yourselves accursed, when ye take of the accursed thing, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it. But all the silver, and gold, and vessels of brass and iron, are consecrated unto the LORD: they shall come into the treasury of the LORD.

These instructions are truly clear. However, Achan faced with a choice made wrong decisions as we human beings often do. There are choices and decisions that we cannot take back no matter how sorry we are for the choice, and no matter the river of tears we shed. Let me get to the point. Achan chose to disobey the commandment of the Lord. Here is the crux of what I have chosen to discuss with you today. As the children of Israel continued their conquest to the promised land, they came to a small city named Ai. A city that they would have crushed under normal circumstances. However, Israel was embarrassed in the battle and were chased back with casualties and shame. This was perplexing and very confusing to Joshua who received the following promise from God.

Joshua 1:5
There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.

Yet, here was Ai standing before Joshua making it seem as though the Most High’s Word was not true. When circumstances contradict the Word of God, please know that God cannot lie. Things are not what they seem. There is something else happening. This was true with Israel. So, Joshua goes before the Lord and rolls on the ground, throws dust on his head and cries before the Lord all day. Finally, the Lord says, “Get up, why are you rolling on the ground?” I am paraphrasing of course. In Joshua 7:11, it gets remarkably interesting and educational. God says:

Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them: for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own stuff.

Already we are seeing how Achan’s decision to disobey the voice of God is affecting those around him. The Lord says that Israel sinned, and Israel transgressed by taking the accursed thing, stolen, dissembled (to lie with the intent to deceive), and were so bold to put it with their own stuff. Ahcan has caused all of Israel harm by disobeying. Men lost their lives because Achan took an outfit, two hundred shekels of silver, and a gold wedge that weighed fifty shekels. Achan’s willful disobedience made the Word of God to the nation look to be a lie. Ahcan’s sin was attributed to the nation. How serious is God about his Word?

After the Lord told Joshua that something was amiss in the camp, Joshua went into action to find the culprit that troubled Israel. Joshua 7:12 tells us the consequences of the accursed thing being among the people.

Joshua 7:12
Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they were accursed: neither will I be with you anymore, except ye destroy the accursed from among you.

The Lord gave Joshua a strategy to find out who caused this calamity to come upon the camp. Once it was known that it was Achan the punishment was swift and severe.

Joshua 7:25,26
And Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the garment, and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his asses, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had: and they brought them unto the valley of Achor. And Joshua said, why hast thou troubled us? The Lord shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones.

My God! It has taken me time to get here, but here we are. How do you think Ahcan’s sons and daughters felt about their father’s decision? His wife and children did not know what their Achan had done. Yet they suffered for a decision that they did not make nor were they privy to. Achan’s selfish act brought destruction to his entire bloodline. His decision was not his own. It affected his wife, his household, his livestock, his children, and his children’s children who were yet to be born. So much loss for an outfit, pieces of silver, and a wedge of gold. Is disobedience to the Word of God worth it? A resounding NO is the answer. Let your choices and decisions be vetted by the Word of God. Intentions do not matter. What matters is the impact. The Bible declares that the Word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword and that it is a discerner of the thoughts and intent of the heart. If every decision is subject to the sword of God, God’s Word will cut away the fluff and deception and leave you with the clarity needed to make the right decision. Choose the Word of God, choose life.