Sometimes – we look at God’s promises with a “win some, lose some” kind of attitude. But God’s promises aren’t hit and miss. They’re promises that never fail. So – why do we lose some?

Yesterday on the program we looked at the fact which turns out to be blindingly obvious that if we want to take hold of God’s promises we have to do it His way. It’s an awesome thing when we finally get a handle on what it means to call Jesus the Lord of our Lives. Not just believing in Him as a kind of, you know, insurance policy for eternity, just in case. But living our whole lives for Him.

Yeah, there’s a cost, but it’s when we lay down our lives and put Him in the driver’s seat in every department that all of a sudden we find ourselves laying hold of His promises. In effect, living the in the Promised Land. A land of peace and joy in our hearts even though we go through battles and trials.

The problem is, every now and then when the promises of God are flowing in our lives, we think we can sneak something in, just something little. A compromise here, a white lie there, some little dishonest gain here. Just little things. I mean, by and large I’m playing God’s game why should he care. It’s only a little thing!

King Solomon was one of the wisest men who ever lived and he wrote this. You can read it in the Song of Solomon in the Old Testament Chapter 2, verse 14. He said:

Catch for us the foxes for the little foxes are the ones that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in the bloom.

In other words, it’s the little foxes that ruin the vine, even when it’s in bloom, even when things are looking rosy, it’s the little foxes that rob us of the fruit.

We’re going back today to the story of Joshua and Israel and the Promised Land. Centuries before this story Abraham had been promised by God, this land that we now know as Israel, the land flowing with milk and honey. And Israel spent centuries in slavery and oppression in Egypt and then forty years in the desert on the Exodus. There were lots of trials and tests and finally they make it to the Promised Land. The promise of God to Joshua is this:

I have given you every place where you set your foot as I promised Moses. Your territory will extend from the dessert to Lebanon from the great river Euphrates all the way through the Hittite country to the great sea on the west. No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses so I’ll be with you. I will never leave you or forsake you.

Great. So they honour God, they cross over, they destroy Jericho. It’s a miracle, this fortified city. They march around it for seven days blowing their trumpets and all of a sudden the walls come tumbling down. Not just some fable. This actually happened. And God gave them instructions. With Jericho, when they attacked they weren’t to take any plunder or booty. Why? Well God doesn’t tell us why, He just says this to them. Joshua Chapter 6, verse 18:

Keep away from the devoted things so that you will not bring about your own destruction by taking any of them. Otherwise you’ll make the camp of Israel liable to destruction and bring trouble on it. All the silver and gold that you find and the articles of bronze and iron are sacred to the Lord and must go into His treasury.

Well, fair enough, but you know something God wouldn’t notice if I just took one little thing for myself would He? I mean, surely not. I know He said, ‘Don’t take it so you won’t bring trouble on yourself’, but just one thing, it’s so shiny, so attractive, just one thing. Ever been there? I have. It’s called temptation. God’s way or my way. Clear choice. And so often it seems like such a little thing. No one else will know. God wouldn’t mind. We rationalize. We are masters at this stuff. But a man called Achan took some stuff. No one else knew. Joshua didn’t know. He just went on to the next battle after Jericho.

After all, the Lord had promised to be with Him and never to forsake him. In Joshua chapter 7, verse 1 this is what it says:

But the Israelites had acted unfaithfully in regard to the devoted things. Achan of the tribe of Judah took some of them so the Lord’s anger burned against Israel.

Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to a place called Ai which is near Bethaven to the east of Bethel, and told them, ‘Go up and spy out the region’. So the men went up and spied out Ai. When they returned to Joshua they said, ‘Not all the people will have to go up against Ai. Send 2,000 or 3,000 men to take it and do not weary the people for only a few men are there’.

So about 3,000 men went up there and they were routed by the men of Ai who killed about 36 of them. They chased the Israelites from the city gates as far as the stone quarries and struck them down the slopes. At this the heart of the people melted and became like water.”

Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell face down to the ground before the Ark of the Lord and remained there till evening. The elders of Israel did the same thing and sprinkled dust on their heads and Joshua said, ‘God, why did you ever bring this people across the Jordan to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us. If only we had been content to stay on the other side of the Jordan. Oh, Lord, what can I say now that Israel has been routed by its enemies? The Canaanites and the other people of the country will hear about this and they will surround us and wipe out our name from all the earth. What then will you do for your great name?’

The Lord said, ‘Joshua, stand up. What are you doing down on your face. Israel has sinned. They have violated my covenant which I commanded them to keep. They have taken some of the devoted things. They have stolen, they have lied. They have put them in their own possession. This is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies. They turn their backs and run because they have been made liable to destruction. I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy whatever among you is devoted to destruction”.

See they did all the same things they did in Jericho when they got to Ai. In Jericho they won and in Ai they lost. Why? Because of that one small sin. That hidden compromise. This one little thing robbed them of the promise of God. Let me say it again. This one little thing robbed them of the promise of God.

Wake up! How many want to be walking in the Promised Land. The success of what God’s called them to do, but sneak these little compromises in along the way. Come on! They rob us of the promises of God. Why did God make up that stupid rule? Don’t take the gold or the silver. To test their obedience. To sift the chaff from the wheat.

When Joshua dealt with this Achan brutally – had him stoned to death – God set things right. In our lives, in yours and mine, that’s what we need to do with those little compromises. Deal with them brutally. There is no room for compromise because those little hidden compromises rob us of the promises of God.

If you’ve been sitting and waiting for God to deliver on his promises and they’re not coming, they’re not coming, they’re not coming. What is He saying to you right now about the Achan’s – the little foxes – the little, seemingly inconsequential compromise in your life. Get it out. Deal with it like Joshua did.

As soon as he’d done that God gave him a plan. They took Ai and victory returned. God’s promises returned. Come on! God’s promises are not a case of win some, lose some. God delivers on each and every promise.

We rob ourselves of the promises when we let the little foxes creep in. Get rid of them! Decide once and for all, I want to live in God’s Promised Land. I want to be successful at the things that God calls me to do. I want to experience the miracles of God in my life. I want Jesus as Lord of my life. What do you think? That God’s promise is worth it.