March 10

If you have even wondered why you don't hear more about lost city of Jericho, it is in Palastinian Territory. They are not exactly excited about people digging around in there. Here is a link to what they have found.

http://www.christiananswers.net/q-abr/abr-a011.html

To me the bigger and more intersting story here is not of Jericho which we all know about but of Ai. With Jericho they sought God's advise on exactly how to conquer this large walled city. They had everyone involved. Then they spied out Ai and thought, "Man, this is going to be a piece of cake". We don't even need the whole army to wipe out this little hick town. They were getting prideful and thinking that THEY had wiped out Jericho- quickly forgetting the Lord. Then it comes to light that not only had they not sought the Lord, or any of His instructions but that someone had sinned and taken things they were not supposed to. It seems from the accounts that I have read that sometimes they are allowed to take the plunder and sometimes not. I am not sure if there is a 'rule of thumb' or if they have to wait for the Lord's instructions each time. I guess we will find out as we go.

At any rate, they take care of the sin problem, consecrate themselves and THEN follow the Lord's instructions. Then they have victory. A good pattern to follow. I know that we are all soooo proned to think, "well, this worked in the past" or "this worked for so and so". But we have to seek the Lord EACH time!!