The weakest link. Daily Devotional July 5, 2010

Daily Bible reading: Joshua 7, Psalm 137-138, Jeremiah 1, Matthew 15

We recently watched the movie "The Blind Side." I learned a lot about the importance of every position in football. When the main character, a left tackle, was not performing well, it left a very easy opening for the enemy to break through and defeat them. There is a saying "You are only as strong as your weakest link." It is often used to help sports teams understand the value of each player, and was evident in this movie that the whole team was affected by a single players performance. What many people don't realize is that it is actually a Biblical principle.

In Joshua 7, Joshua sent some of his men to spy on the land of Ai. They reported back that this land would be very easy to defeat and that there was no need to send all of the men up to conquer it. Joshua sent 3,000 men but was astonished to hear that they were defeated. When he cried out to the Lord, God told him that it was because of the sin of one of his people. They discovered that Achan had stolen some goods and buried them underneath his tent.

The Israelites discovered their weakest link, a player who wasn't doing his part. It left a gap wide open for their enemies to defeat them. It should have been a piece of cake. It should have been a very easy win. Instead they lost 3,000 of their men. They had the strength, the manpower and the strategy but this time they did not have the Lord's favor.

It may be tempting to bury our sin in our tents and think that no one will ever know about it or that it surely won't affect anyone around us. I wonder how often a family is unable to prosper because of a buried sin in on of it's members or a church unable to grow because one of the leaders or pastors was harboring sin.

It should put the fear of God in us; the issues we bury and refuse to deal with will not just affect us, they will affect the loved ones we have around us as well.

Lord, make us stonger links in our families, teams, churches and communities.

Thanks for reading,

Mel Miller