The Israelites conquered Jericho but Jericho also conquered them. In the dramatic overthrow of Jericho one lone solider, named Achan, stole forbidden contraband and brought God’s discipline via a rout at the village of Ai. Joshua fell on his face before the Lord Who said, in effect, “Get up it’s no time for a prayer meeting, Israel has sinned!” Joshua moved with dispatch to rectify the dangerous situation. The people appeared tribe by tribe, clan by clan, family by family and then man by man.
When Achan was identified as the saboteur Joshua showed no diplomacy. Directly and dramatically, Joshua demanded, “My son, give glory to the LORD, the God of Israel, and make confession to Him” (7: 19). When we plan praise services we rarely incorporate confession but it is indeed a vital way to give praise to God.
One of the reasons confession glorifies God is that it precludes God being faulted with the disastrous consequences to our sin. Confession says, “This is my fault not God’s!” In his confession of adultery, David transparently told God, Against You – You alone – I have sinned and done this evil in Your sight. So You are right when You pass sentence; You are blameless when You judge (Ps. 51: 4). Confessing on behalf of the nation, Jeremiah cried, The LORD is in the right, for I have rebelled against His command (Lam. 1: 18).
When I maintain my innocence while God appropriately disciplines me for sin I make God look like “the bad guy” in the estimate of others. We will never know this side of heaven how many people have developed twisted views of God because His people failed to confess sin and others concluded that He was some maniacal monster getting His jollies torturing His own. When I honestly reveal my sin and submit to my discipline I reveal a God passionate for purity and anxious to restore His child.
History will record that such candid confession is a significant part of virtually every real revival. Many have been the Achans who have lined up through the Christian centuries to confess with conviction to churches their sin. God does not condone in saints what He condemns in sinners and will deal deliberately to discipline the offender. Confession glorifies God by saying it’s my fault not His.