The Well

THE VALLEY OF TROUBLE

Then Joshua said to Achan, "My son, give glory to the LORD, the God of Israel, by telling the truth. Make your confession and tell me what you have done. Don't hide it from me."
Achan replied, "I have sinned against the LORD, the God of Israel. For I saw a beautiful robe imported from Babylon, two hundred silver coins, and a bar of gold weighing more than a pound. I wanted them so much that I took them. They are hidden in the ground beneath my tent, with the silver buried deeper than the rest."
So Joshua sent some men to make a search. They ran to the tent and found the stolen goods hidden there, just as Achan had said, with the silver buried beneath the rest. They took the things from the tent and brought them to Joshua and all the Israelites. Then they laid them on the ground in the presence of the LORD.
Then Joshua and all the Israelites took Achan, the silver, the robe, the bar of gold, his sons, daughters, cattle, donkeys, sheep, tent, and everything he had, and they brought them to the valley of Achor. Then Joshua said to Achan, "Why have you brought trouble on us? The LORD will now bring trouble on you." And all the Israelites stoned Achan and his family and burned their bodies. They piled a great heap of stones over Achan, which remains to this day. That is why the place has been called the Valley of Trouble ever since. So the LORD was no longer angry.
Joshua 7: 19-26

Well, the old saying that comes to my mind this morning is, "Be sure ¾ your sins will find you out." There really are no "secret sins." God knows everything we think, do, and say. If we really, really believed that I do believe our actions and our attitudes might be different.

The Lord told Joshua to do what we call a "lottery." That was the way they finally got down to Achan. He didn't run to the front of the group and confess that he was the sinner. He waited until the lottery led to him. Once in the spotlight he confessed. This is not the way God wants us to operate. He wants us to confess our sins without having to delay everyone else because of our disobedience.

So, the rock fell to Achan and Joshua went to him as tenderly as I think the situation allowed. He stated the fact that we now know ¾ the truth will set you free. Yes, the truth does set us free, but we also must suffer the consequences. That is something we just really don't like to hear.

I once knew a professor who just did not want to read the Bible because of this type of story. She just did not understand how we could continue to read about God's "old" ways of destroying people. It's true, they are hard to read and even harder for us to understand. Oh, it's easy to just say that God had to eliminate the sin. Well, it didn't work. In many people's lives even the sacrifice of Jesus for their sins doesn't work. They just go on and live in the Valley of Trouble, making permanent residence there instead of accepting the sacrifice and moving on.

Yes, sin must be dealt with. We must repent and accept the sacrifice before we can go on with God through the gates of the Valley of Trouble before we will find the door of hope.