Page 84 - Overcoming Addiction

to get our battle plan from Him. He will direct us with great precision, and as we
do exactly as He says, He will insure that we come forth victorious.
After the conquest of Jericho, the Lord instructed the Israelites to go up
against the city of Ai. If the Israelites had done as many Christians do today, they
would have concluded that what worked at Jericho would surely work at Ai as
well. But had they marched around the walls, and then shouted on the seventh
day, all that would have resulted would have been a spectacle. The people inside
the walls would have laughed at all the blowing and hollering going on, for
nothing would have happened.
Yahweh had a different plan of attack for Ai. Joshua, however, failed to
immediately consult Yahweh to know His mind. We read that Joshua sent some
men to spy out Ai, and they brought back a report. It was a smaller city, so Joshua
chose to only send a few thousand men to attack it. The Israelites, though more
numerous, were routed and thirty-six of them were slain in the battle. Joshua then
did what he should have done at the beginning. He fell on his face and prayed to
Yahweh. He waited to hear from God, and God spoke to him.
Yahweh informed Joshua that the Israelites had sinned by taking some of the
spoil of Jericho and hiding it. They had been commanded to take no spoil from
Jericho, for all was to be dedicated to Yahweh as a firstfruit offering in the land.
Because they had sinned, they could not face their enemies. They had to deal with
the sin first. If Joshua had inquired of Yahweh before sending men to battle,
Yahweh would have surely spoken to him and thirty-six lives could have been
spared.
After seeking Yahweh’s face, and removing the sin from their midst, Yahweh
gave them the plan of battle to conquer Ai.

Joshua 8:1-8
Now Yahweh said to Joshua, "Do not fear or be dismayed. Take all the
people of war with you and arise, go up to Ai; see, I have given into your
hand the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land. You shall do to Ai and
its king just as you did to Jericho and its king; you shall take only its spoil
and its cattle as plunder for yourselves. Set an ambush for the city behind
it." So Joshua rose with all the people of war to go up to Ai; and Joshua
chose 30,000 men, valiant warriors, and sent them out at night. He
commanded them, saying, "See, you are going to ambush the city from
behind it. Do not go very far from the city, but all of you be ready. Then I
and all the people who are with me will approach the city. And when they
come out to meet us as at the first, we will flee before them. They will come
out after us until we have drawn them away from the city, for they will say,
‘They are fleeing before us as at the first.’ So we will flee before them. And
you shall rise from your ambush and take possession of the city, for Yahweh
your God will deliver it into your hand. Then it will be when you have
seized the city, that you shall set the city on fire. You shall do it according to
the word of Yahweh. See, I have commanded you."

We see once again that Yahweh had a very specific plan of attack for the
Israelites to follow when seeking to overcome the inhabitants of the land of