God, Why Have You Done This To Us?

But Israel violated the instructions about the things set apart for the LORD. A man named Achan had stolen some of these dedicated things, so the LORD was very angry with the Israelites. Achan was the son of Carmi, a descendant of Zimri son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah. Joshua sent some of his men from Jericho to spy out the town of Ai, east of Bethel, near Beth-aven. When they returned, they told Joshua, “There’s no need for all of us to go up there; it won’t take more than two or three thousand men to attack Ai. Since there are so few of them, don’t make all our people struggle to go up there.” So approximately 3,000 warriors were sent, but they were soundly defeated. The men of Ai chased the Israelites from the town gate as far as the quarries, and they killed about thirty-six who were retreating down the slope. The Israelites were paralyzed with fear at this turn of events, and their courage melted away. Joshua and the elders of Israel tore their clothing in dismay, threw dust on their heads, and bowed face down to the ground before the Ark of the LORD until evening. Then Joshua cried out, “Oh, Sovereign LORD, why did you bring us across the Jordan River if you are going to let the Amorites kill us? If only we had been content to stay on the other side! LORD, what can I say now that Israel has fled from its enemies? For when the Canaanites and all the other people living in the land hear about it, they will surround us and wipe our name off the face of the earth. And then what will happen to the honor of your great name?” [Joshua 7.1-9]

Joshua had no idea what went wrong causing Israel's small detachment of warriors to be overwhelmingly defeated by the men of Ai. Joshua, like most everyone today, instead of immediately repenting and seeking out what offense brought the curse of defeat upon Israel, suggested to God that He (God) had somehow betrayed Israel. But God set Joshua straight in no uncertain terms:

But the LORD said to Joshua, “Get up! Why are you lying on your face like this? Israel has sinned and broken my covenant! They have stolen some of the things that I commanded must be set apart for me. And they have not only stolen them but have lied about it and hidden the things among their own belongings. That is why the Israelites are running from their enemies in defeat. For now Israel itself has been set apart for destruction. I will not remain with you any longer unless you destroy the things among you that were set apart for destruction. [Joshua 7.10-12]

As seen in Joshua, it is man's proud tendency to defend himself and blame God when bad things happen. The only way to circumvent this tendency is to remain keenly and foundationally aware that bad things do not happen to good people (whether individuals or groups). The only way to remain aware that bad things do not happen to good people is to know what the One Who controls everything has said about bad things. It would seem that Joshua had inadvertently experienced a lapse in memory of what God had said about bad things some forty years earlier through Moses! However, with a quick rebuke from God, Joshua handled the problem making an example of Achan and then you know what Joshua did? He reminded himself and all Israel what God said by going to God's Word (not public opinion, not religion, not reason):

Joshua then read to them all the blessings and curses Moses had written in the Book of Instruction. Every word of every command that Moses had ever given was read to the entire assembly of Israel, including the women and children and the foreigners who lived among them. [Joshua 8.34-35]

If indeed the Old Testament points us to Jesus (and it does), then we should see that someone else questioned "why..."

At about three o’clock, Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” which means “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” [Matthew 27:46] 

In a remarkable prophetic foreshadowing of Christ, Joshua cried out, "Why?" to God in a moment of ignorance. But in an even more remarkable display of redemption, Jesus, as the omniscient Son of God on the Cross, cried out, "Why?" to God asking the question not out of ignorance, but like His Father in the Garden of Eden, used a question as the method to reveal absolute eternal truth! The truth Jesus revealed in His question was and is best described in the Apostle Paul's letter to the Church in Galatia:

But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures, “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” [Galatians 3.13]

When God asked, "Where are you?" to Adam and Eve, He was not unaware of their physical location in the Garden, but rather revealing to them that they had become lost.

When Jesus asked, "Why have Your abandoned Me?" He was not unaware of why He was being punished, but rather revealing to all that He was paying the eternal price for mankind's sin!

When Joshua asked, "Why did you bring us across the Jordan River if you are going to let the Amorites kill us?" he had to be reminded, as we all should be made aware today, that bad things call us to repentance because sin is afoot. Instead of asking, "Why have You done this to us?" Joshua should have asked, "What have we done that brought this upon us?" (so that repentance might follow).

Achan's disobedience was sin just as our unbelief in Jesus is sin. The result of sin is eternally consistent and not to be watered down or confused, whether Old Testament or New Testament. The cumulative result of every curse that Joshua described when he read from the Book of Instruction is ultimately death (with pain, loss and defeat all along the way).

When we experience curses, our first response should always be to repent and seek out the sin responsible (instead of questioning, "Why, God?"). We should constantly remind ourselves from God's Word that curses are always the result of disobedience and that Jesus, only for those who believe, provides redemption. To accomplish this, we must ignore the religion born of science (that lies like Satan who rules it) deceptively alleging that "bad things happen to good people."

From all the bad stuff going on in our homes, our churches and the world today, it is scripturally sound to conclude that we have a lot of repenting and a lot of believing to do. Otherwise, it is an exercise of pure futility to attempt to re-write the Bible in effort to separate curses from sin thus questioning God and His Word regarding our circumstances. To separate sin from curses is to deny what Christ died for.

Jesus said it best:

Go back to what you heard and believed at first; hold to it firmly. Repent and turn to me again. If you don’t wake up, I will come to you suddenly, as unexpected as a thief. [Revelation 3.3]

Father, may the truth of Your Word speak to our hearts today. May Joshua's actions point us to Jesus. May we be found repentant and believing! So be it.