The Lord said: "Get Up!"

Joshua 7:10 The Lord said to Joshua, “Get up! Why have you fallen on your face? 11 Israel has sinned; they have transgressed my covenant that I commanded them; they have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen and lied and put them among their own belongings. 12 Therefore the people of Israel cannot stand before their enemies. They turn their backs before their enemies, because they have become devoted for destruction. I will be with you no more, unless you destroy the devoted things from among you. 13 Get up! Consecrate the people and say, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow; for thus says the Lord, God of Israel, “There are devoted things in your midst, O Israel. You cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the devoted things from among you.”

Joshua was devastated.  After the easy victory at Jericho, the people moved on to the next city, AI. After surveying the situation, they decided only a small army was needed to invade and defeat the city. But they were sadly mistaken, as Israel was routed and many died. What happened? Not only do we have no mention of the people seeking or hearing God's instructions, some soldiers had violated God's clear commands on what to do with the spoil of the victory at Jericho. We might say there were sins of omission and commission. God chooses the emphasize the latter. He told Joshua to stop sitting there crying about it, and to do something proactive: get rid of all disobedience. It was a setback, but not the end of the story. They needed to decide if they were going to take God's instructions seriously or not. If not, no victories. How seriously will we take total obedience to God?