Valley of Achor

Joshua 7: 26  The they erected over him(Achan) a great heap of stones, which is there to this day; and Jehovah turned from the fierceness of His anger. Therefore the name of that place is called the Valley of Achor.

Achor - meaning  trouble in Hebrew, is the name of a valley in the vicinity of Jericho.

A week  ago, on my train trip to Chandigarh for propagating the gospel of the Kingdom, I was reading the Word; the Lord impressed me very deeply concerning the Valley of Achor. How did this come about? The origin of this phrase is note worthy and there are many spiritual lessons to learn!

Unfaithful to God’s Word

In chapter  6 of Joshua, Joshua strictly followed the command of Jehovah and conquered Jericho; in chapter 7 verse 1, But the children of Israel acted unfaithfully in that which was devoted to destruction, for Achan the son of Carmi,... took that which was devoted to destruction; and the anger of Jehovah was kindled against the children of Israel. 

Losing God’s Presence and Being Defeated

Later, because of this sin, the Israelite lost the presence of God, so Joshua had to scheme and plan according to his past experiences; by sending spies, but did not asked Jehovah. Once he lost God's presence mostly due to sin, big or small, the Lord's presence would not come again until the very sin was dealt with.Ignorant of the losing of God' presence, Joshua sent forth 3000 men, underestimating the enemy and not trusting in Jehovah. The result was obvious-- but they fled before the men of Ai, v.4b- a shameful defeat!

God’s Sovereignty Even in Our Failure Bringing in Repentance

However, God was sovereign even in our failure. Though God allowed us to pass through the valley of darkness and death, He nevertheless loved us and turned the failure into blessing by teaching lessons of life that needed to be learned.

This failure led Joshua to fell to the ground upon his face before the Ark of Jehovah until evening v.6. Then, Jehovah replied, "Israel had sinned." v. 11a.

Need for Sanctification by Dealing with Sins

After learning lesson of life, Joshua did the sanctification work, Rise up, sanctify the people, v.13. Then the person who committed the sin of disobedience by taking something devoted to destruction, a mantle of Shinar and two hundreds shekels of silver and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them, v.21. Achan and his family and everything he had, or, connected to him, were all brought to the Valley of Achor. And all Israel stoned him with stones; and they burned them with fire when they stoned them with stones,v25b. Then and only then, Jehovah turned from the fierceness of His anger, v.26b.

The Sin Committed was Covetousness—Greed, Lust for Mammon, Basically the Love of the World

“ a mantle of Shinar and two hundreds shekels of silver and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels,” v.21  were quite a treasure. No wonder, Achan coveted them. Though he knew these were devoted for destruction, his greed and lust for the world overcame him to disobey what Jehovah had commanded, and his sin led to the failure of the whole house of Israel. 

Warning to all Christian: "Do not love the world nor the things in the world."  1 John 2 :15.  For the love of money is a root of all evils, because of which some, aspiring after money, have been led away from the faith and pierced themselves through with many pains. 1 Timothy 6:10. 
And the best way not to love the world is to love the Lord Jesus Christ and be filled with His love.

God’s Presence Restored after Dealing with Sins

After this dealing with sin, Jehovah promised them victory over Ai, and instructed them how they should fight by giving them specific strategies of war, and then the victory over Ai was won.

The Valley of Achor was such a revelation to me. This is my timely need; never to take God’s presence for granted and being faithful to heed to His Word and dealing with sins in every possible way.