Clean Slate Confession

Joshua 7:10 (CSB)

¹⁰ The Lord then said to Joshua, “Stand up! Why have you fallen facedown?

This might seem like a random verse for this time in history where we are all social distancing but as I was reading through the book of Joshua this week, the verse seemed to jump off the page.

 To give you a little background on what was happening in the story, God’s people were told to defeat the Canaanites as they moved into the Promised Land. They, the Israelites, where set apart for holiness in every way since they belonged to God. The rules were to go in, defeat the Canaanites in Ai and not take any of the spoils from the battle with them. The battle didn’t go so well. Some of the Israelites were killed and they all  fled, retreating from the one task they were given to do that day.

After hearing this, Joshua, their leader, and all the people were utterly faint of heart. Joshua fell face down before the place where God’s presence dwelled, the ark, and cried out to God, “God why did you ever bring us here. The people have turned their backs on you and even ran away in fear from our enemies. When the rest of the Canaanites hear about our epic failure, they will wipe our name from the earth. What are we going to do about your great name.” (paraphrase Joshua 7:6-9)

Then the Lord said to Joshua,  “Stand up! Why have you fallen facedown? Israel has sinned.” (Joshua 7:10) God replied as if to say, “What are you doing? The reason why this happened is because they have violated my covenant that I made with you. You are a people that are set apart for holiness.” (paraphrase Joshua 7:11-12) 

The rest of the story reveals the reality that sin against a holy God must be punished. The people found the plunder hidden under the ground in one man’s tent. He tried to bury it thinking it wouldn’t be a big deal and no one would even notice, but it caused the whole army that day to lose the battle.

When we hide our sin, we lose the battle against sin and instead say yes to our flesh.

Therefore the man who took the plunder and his whole family were no more. The area where this took place was named “The Valley of Trouble.” (Joshua 7:26) 

---

So, what does this have to do with us? During this quarantine, it has been so easy for me to get annoyed at the people around me, namely my husband  since he in fact who I’m around all day long. Instead of looking at the sin at others, let’s look at ourselves to see if there is anything we are burying and acting as if it’s no big deal at all. All sin, any sin, is an offense to God. 

Then STAND UP against the sin. Confess it. Fight it. Instead of falling into temptation or being crushed by the sin realize that a man, a perfect man, already came who was crushed by the weight of that sin and for all sin. But, he didn’t stay crushed, he stood up against the darkness and defeated it wholly, fully, and for all. 

Clean Slate

One thing my husband and I have been doing at the end of the day, as per recommendation from a good friend of ours, is taking a few minutes to reflect on the day. It’s called “Clean Slate.” Think about if there is anything that you might have done to dishonor, disrespect, offend, or sin against the people you interact with in any way. If so, confess the sin first to God and then to that person.

When you end the day with confession, you cloth it in grace-filled conversations, wrapped in humility, forgiveness and love.

---

Married– This practice of confession is helping my husband and I in our marriage and it’s something we recognize not many couples engage in on a regular basis. It certainly wasn’t something we did on a daily basis at all until recently. But it makes sense to practice regular confession as we seek to reflect Christ & the church rather than letting things pile up, even little things that we may not even realize.

Singles– If you aren’t married, I think it definitely still applies. Whether you live alone, live with roommates, or family, this applies on some level. James 5:16 says “confess your sins to one another and pray for one another.” If I would have done something like this with roommates, even on a weekly basis, I think it would have painted a deeper picture of what it means to be a community that honors each other, bears one another burdens, and confesses sin.