Dads

Josh 7:24, 25 "Then Joshua and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, the silver, the garment, the wedge of gold, his sons, his daughters, his oxen, this donkeys, his sheep, his tent and all that he had and they brought them to the valley of Achor. And Joshua said: 'Why have you troubled us? The Lord will trouble you this day.' So all Israel stoned him with stones, and they burned them with fire after they had stoned them with stones"

As the Dad goes, so goes the family. If the Dad screws up, then the entire family is impacted.

I am sure that Achan did not even consider this as he coveted the stuff that he saw in Jericho. God specifically told Joshua to destroy everything in the city of Jericho. He told him to only keep the gold, silver, bronze and iron for the treasury of the Lord. everything else was to be destroyed. No one was to take any spoils. This was clearly communicated to the people, but there was one, Achan, who didn't think that this applied to him. As he admitted, when he saw all of the stuff, he coveted. And when he coveted he took, and he hoarded, and he hid and people died. When the children of Israel went to fight in Ai, several of them died and they ran. Joshua went to God with a complaint...a very similar complaint that he had heard the people voice in the past: "If we are going to come here to die, we might as well have stayed where we were." God's response? "Get up. Why are you lying on your face?" In other words: Pay attention to what is going on around you. There is someone in the camp who did not follow My direction and took some of Jericho's stuff. When Joshua heard this, he had to get the families together and figure out who did it. I am not sure how he was given the discernment to know that it was Achan, but somehow he narrowed it down. The result? Achan was put to death, but not just Achan, but his sons and his daughters and his livestock and all that he owned was destroyed. All because he wanted a little gold, a little silver and some cool looking clothes.

I wonder how often we as Dad's lead our families down the wrong path because of the junk that we want? How often do we ignore our wife and kids because we want to make a little more money, or we want a bigger house, or we want the newest and hippest electronic toy, or we want a little more prestige? How often are our families hurt and our kids sent down a path of sin because we are enslaved to something? This responsibility that God has given us is actually kind of scary.

A bunch of guys spent the last 24 hours fasting and praying. I had never done that before. The thing that came out of it? We need to love our wives better. We need to disciple our kids. And we need to pray. When we fail to do this, our families take the hit. We may not feel it. In fact, we may get away with our laziness, but it all comes out in the end. We decided that we can't be like Achan. (He was even mentioned this weekend.) We have to be vigilant because our families are at stake.