February 7

From: Daily Sacrifice By: Henry Allan Ironside

Joshua 7:13

“There is an accursed thing in the midst of thee, O Israel”— Joshua 7:13¹³Up, sanctify the people, and say, Sanctify yourselves against to morrow: for thus saith the Lord God of Israel, There is an accursed thing in the midst of thee, O Israel: thou canst not stand before thine enemies, until ye take away the accursed thing from among you. (Joshua 7:13).

THIS was the secret of the defeat at Ai. Sin in the camp made Israel powerless to stand before their enemies. The effort of Achan to conceal the accursed thing did not prevent the Lord from dealing with Israel because of it. Only after it was brought out into the light and judged in the presence of God was victory assured to the host of the Lord. Who can tell the extent to which hidden sin has weakened the Church of God today in its conflict with the powers of evil! Only by confession and unsparing self-judgment will weakness be overcome and victory assured.

“Above the swamps of subterfuge and shame,

The deeds, the thoughts, that honor may not name,

The halting tongue that dares not tell the whole,

O Lord of Truth, lift every Christian soul.”

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