Leading You Forward

And he cried out:
“Alas, O Lord god, why have you brought this people over the Jordan at all…”

Joshua did not know yet that there was hidden sin among the people. Achan had taken what God had commanded Israel not to take from Jericho. Before Israel could return to Ai, the sin God had exposed had to be addressed.

Once the sin of Achan was revealed and dealt with, God spoke to Joshua again. And notice where He sent him. God was sending Joshua back to the place of defeat. Back to Ai.

And perhaps that is why God’s words to Joshua matter so much:
“Do not fear and do not be dismayed.”

The first time Israel went against Ai, the spies had expected a small force to be enough. Now Joshua was facing Ai again. But before he took another step, God spoke. He told Joshua to take the fighting men, arise, go to Ai, and set an ambush.

Then God made a remarkable statement:
“See, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, and his people, his city, and his land.”

The battle had not even begun, but God spoke of the victory as already His to give. He wasn’t telling Joshua to pretend Ai had never happened. The defeat was real. The loss was real. But Ai did not get to decide what happened next. This time, Joshua would go back under God’s direction.

There are some places that are harder to return to because we remember what happened there the first time. Not every setback is caused by disobedience, as Israel’s defeat at Ai was.

Maybe you tried something and failed.
Maybe you handled something badly and wish you could go back and do it differently.
Maybe you have prayed, asked God to forgive you, learned from what happened, and yet when you find yourself standing near that same place again, the old defeat comes rushing back.
What if it happens again?

That is a different kind of fear.

There have been times in my life when I would much rather move on than go back.
Going forward can sometimes feel easier because there isn’t a memory attached to it. Going back means remembering what went wrong. What I said. What I did. What I didn’t know. What I wish I had done differently.

Sometimes God does lead us forward into something completely new. And sometimes the next step may lead us back toward something we once feared or failed to accomplish.

Not to shame us with the place where we failed.
Not to make us relive it forever.
But to show us that the story did not end there.

The God who was with Joshua at Jericho was still God after Ai.
And He would still be God when Joshua stood before Ai again.

Our failures may become part of our story, but they do not become the author of it.
God still is.

FEAR NOT when you must rise after failure.
BECAUSE GOD IS still leading you forward.