Joshua 7:10 “And the LORD said unto Joshua, Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face?”

The Israelites had just won an awesome victory over Jericho, so I’m sure they thought Ai would be just as easy to conquer. If God was with them before, surely he would be with them now. Ai was a small town and the Israelites were so confident of their victory that they only sent a portion of their army to battle. Yet instead of the Israelites rejoicing in another victory, their hearts melted because Ai was killing their men.

Their leader Joshua fell to the ground, mourning and pleading to God. His prayers went on until the evening. Joshua may have thought that if he prayed long enough, then God would surely do something to turn the tide of the battle. Instead, God told him to get up off the ground. Joshua’s prayers were not enough. God wanted Joshua to take action.

God told Joshua that someone in the camp had taken spoils from the battle and placed them in the camp. Israel had been unfaithful to God in doing this, and unless it was taken care of they would continue to see defeat. After the Israelites punished the perpetrator, they soundly defeated Ai and rejoiced in their delayed victory.

The thought strikes me that God told Joshua to stop praying. Obviously, God desires that we pray, but God also desires action. Joshua could have prayed for months or even years, but unless he took action to get rid of the sin in the camp, he would continue to see defeat.

We sometimes get the notion that praying is all we need to do in regard to a situation. For example, we may pray for months or years that a relative will turn his life over to Christ. Then we start to doubt God because the relative still lives in sin. God heard our prayers, but he also wants us to take action. In this case, perhaps he wants us to tell our relative about Jesus Christ or invite him to church.

When we pray, we need to ask God what action he would have us take. Christian living is more than prayer. It’s also taking hold of the wisdom God gives us and actually applying it.