Sin in the Camp: Joshua 7

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What happens when a seemingly innocent childhood snack turns into a lesson on honesty and integrity? Join me, Jessi Morgan, as I recount a humorous yet thought-provoking tale from my father's childhood in McCullough, Alabama, involving Vienna sausages and a dose of family wisdom. Inspired by Joshua 7, this episode of the Jessi Morgan Devotions for the Christian Heart Podcast reflects on how personal stories and scripture intertwine, revealing the profound ways God's teachings impact our lives.

Key Passages

Joshua 7

Joshua 2

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, hello.
You are listening to the JesseMorgan Devotions for the
Christian Heart Podcast, episode42.
This week's devotional istitled Sin in the Camp, joshua 7
.
Let's go.
Hi.
I'm Jesse Morgan.
I used to just share home decorand renovation tips on social
media, but now I'm sharingsomething even closer to my

(00:20):
heart my journey and love forJesus Christ, my Savior.
Welcome to the Jesse MorganDevotions for the Christian Hot
Podcast.
This is a weekly devotional.
I started back in May 2024, butthe inspiration for it came
much earlier.
It was rooted in a faithjourney that began when my
daughter was born four monthsearly in 2023.
Through that challenging time,god worked in ways that truly

(00:42):
amazed me.
On this podcast, I sharepersonal stories of faith, woven
together with scripture to showjust how incredible God's word
can be in our everyday lives.
My hope is that through thesestories, you'll be encouraged,
uplifted and reminded of God'slove and presence, no matter
what you're going through.
So I invite you to spend lessthan 15 minutes with me each

(01:04):
week as we reflect on thesedevotionals together.
Let's all pray within Sin inthe Camp, key Passages Joshua 7,
joshua 2.
Are you ready to laugh, becauseI've got a story for you today.
Thank you for being here on thepodcast and all the support.

(01:25):
I really appreciate it.
So let's start with a funny,funny story, a story that really
resonated with this lesson forthe day.
It's one of my absolutefavorites from my dad's
childhood.
Now to this day, my father willnever eat Vienna sausages.
I mean, he will physicallyleave the table or turn his nose

(01:47):
up at them like they don'texist.
And once you hear this story,you'll understand why.
So let's go back to my dad'schildhood.
He grew up in a smalltwo-bedroom house on a few acres
of land in McCullough, alabama.
Now, I don't even know if youcan really find that on the map,
but that's where he and his 10brothers and sisters were raised

(02:11):
by their dad after their motherpassed away when he was six
years old.
Being the second youngest, mydad looked up to his older
siblings, of course.
Whatever they did, he wanted todo.
Whatever they didn't like, hedidn't like either.
He followed their lead,sometimes for better and
sometimes for worse.
One day after school, one of hisolder sisters got off the

(02:32):
school bus earlier than she wassupposed to.
Instead of going straight hometo do her chores, she decided to
hang out with a group of girlswho weren't exactly the best
influences.
She decided to hang out with agroup of girls who weren't
exactly the best influences.
They stopped at a littleconvenience store and spotted a
crate of Vienna sausages justsitting outside on the porch.

(02:53):
Now, keep in mind, my dad andhis family didn't have much.
They worked in the fieldsbefore and after school and
things like Vienna sausagessomething we might take for
granted were actually a luxuryto them.
So his sister and her friendssaw an opportunity.
They stole some of those Viennasausages, split them among
themselves and she brought aportion of them home.

(03:15):
When she got home, she sharedthem with my dad and two of
their other siblings.
Like any big sister, she tookcharge handing them out like
this Okay, don one for you andtwo for me.
But my dad didn't care aboutthe uneven distribution.
He was just excited to have ataste of those Viena sausages.

(03:37):
Everything seemed fine untilabout an hour later when my
grandfather, his dad, came home.
He gathered everyone in theroom and said something like
this I just talked to theconvenience store owner down the
road and he told me that somekids stole a batch of Vienna
sausages today, and one of thosekids was my daughter.

(03:59):
Now I need to ask did any ofyou eat them?
Because the store owner saidthose Vienna sausages were
poisoned, they were a bad batchY'all.
The room went silent.
My dad's sister, withouthesitation, said no, daddy, we
didn't eat any of them.
And grandpa Asked again.

(04:21):
Their dad asked again are yousure?
And she nodded positive.
And that was that.
And their dad left the room.
Now my father, at around 10, 11years old, looked at his sister
like she had lost her mind.
My dad whispered we did eatthem.

(04:42):
Why didn't you tell?
Daddy whispered, we did eatthem.
Why didn't you tell daddy?
She shot a look at my dad andsaid Don don't say a word, we'll
be fine.
15 minutes passed, then 20, thenmy dad couldn't take it anymore
.
He busted into the room wheremy grandpa was and yelled oh

(05:08):
daddy, please, daddy, we atethem.
She gave them to me and I atethem.
We all ate them.
Am I going to die, daddy?
I'll never eat a Vienna sausageagain.
I'm so sorry, daddy.
Help me.
Daddy, am I going to die?
Daddy?
The fear took him outImmediately.
My grandfather gathered everysingle one of them who had eaten
those sausages and gave themcastor oil.
Now, if you don't know whatcastor oil is, just know it's

(05:32):
nasty, but it's also a stronglaxative.
So, needless to say, theysuffered while getting those
vienna sausages out of theirsystem, and y'all, my dad, has
never touched Vienna sausagessince.
So why am I telling you thisstory?

(05:54):
Because look how one act of sinstealing affected the entire
family.
Even though my dad's sisterstole those sausages, my dad and
his other siblings were just asguilty.
Why?
Because they participated andwhen confronted, they lied about

(06:14):
it.
They went along with thecover-up and in the end, they
all suffered together.
This reminds me of the story ofAhan and Joshua 7.
After Israel conquered Jericho,their next mission was to take
out the town of Ai.
It should have been an easy win, but when they sent 3,000 men

(06:34):
to fight, they were defeated andaround 36 men of Israel were
killed and the rest were forcedto retreat, were killed and the
rest were forced to retreat.
Joshua, the fearless leader, ofcourse, was devastated.
He fell before the Lord andcried out in Joshua 7, 7 through

(06:56):
10.
I'm just going to paraphraseright now but sovereign God, why
did you bring us across theJordan?
Just to let us be destroyed?
What will happen to your greatname.
And God responded stand up,what are you doing on your face?
Wow, what a response.
What a moment from God andJoshua.
Joshua was crying and pleading,but God wasn't having it.

(07:19):
Then God revealed the realreason in Joshua 7 11.
It says Israel has sinned.
They have stolen, they havelied and they have taken what
was set apart for me.
So someone in the camp haddisobeyed God's command.
After Jericho's defeat, god hadinstructed them to dedicate all

(07:41):
the plunder to him, but one man, ahan, decided to keep some for
himself, secretly, through aprocess of elimination.
Joshua discovered that Ahan wasthe culprit.
When confronted, ahan finallyconfessed.
It says in scripture as wellyes, I have sinned against the
Lord.

(08:01):
I took a robe, silver and goldand I hid them in my tent.
Because of Ahan's sin, theentire nation suffered defeat.
So his punishment was to bestoned alongside his family,
specifically his children.
If you look in Joshua 7, 24through 25.

(08:23):
Now keep this in mind.
It may seem like Joshua and theIsraelites were being ruthless
and mean by punishing Ahan andhis entire family, but let's
take a step back and look at thebigger picture.
The Israelites were actually afair people.
They didn't blindly condemneveryone connected to someone

(08:44):
who had sinned.
A perfect example of this isRahab's story in Joshua 2,
remember, rahab was a prostitutein Jericho, but she believed
that Israel's God was the trueGod.
When Israelite spies came toJericho, she hid them from the
city officials and pleaded forher life and the lives of her
family members.
The spies saw her faith and herwillingness to do what was

(09:08):
right, so they spared her andher household when Jericho's
fell.
Now, contrast that with Ahan andhis family.
He didn't just take a little.
He had a significant amount oftreasure under his tent and,
considering the effort it wouldhave taken to hide it all, it's
likely that his family knewabout it.

(09:29):
They weren't innocentbystanders.
They participated in coveringup his sin.
So, while Ahan was one whoinitially disobeyed, his family
sinned as well by hiding thestolen goods and lying, and
because of that, they allsuffered the consequences.
Yes, being stoned was harsh,but that was the standard of

(09:50):
justice within the community.
It fit the crime in the contextof their time.
Now does that mean that in 2025,we should go around condemning
people in the same way?
Absolutely not.
But what we should do isencourage honesty, confession
and repentance.
God does not tolerate sin inhis camp, and as believers, we

(10:14):
shouldn't either.
Instead of hiding our mistakesor compromising our faith, we
should be striving for truth,accountability and a heart that
seeks God's grace and mercy.
This story and the ViennaSausages story teaches us a
powerful lesson One person's sincan affect the entire group,
and then the entire group cancompromise with that sin, and

(10:38):
sin as well.
Right, ahan's sin didn't justaffect him, it affected everyone
, and when we try to hide oursin, we prolong our suffering,
just like my dad and hissiblings too.
So let me ask you are youtolerating sin in your life?
Are you compromising yourobedience to God for a quick fix

(11:00):
?
Because sin doesn't just impactyou, it affects your family,
your church, your community, andif you cover it up instead of
confessing it, you're onlymaking it worse.
But here's the good news wedon't have to stay in that place
.
Right, god hates sin in thecamp.
He hates compromise in the camp, but you know what he loves

(11:22):
Faith in the camp.
Jesus Christ already paid theprice for our sins.
When we repent, we don't haveto suffer the way Ahan did.
We have grace, we haveforgiveness.
So will you choose to hold onto sin, or will you surrender,
confess and move forward infaith.
I hope you choose faith.
Let's pray.

(11:42):
Heavenly Father, we come to youtoday just so thankful and full
of praise for all theopportunities you've given us.
Thank you for this podcast andI pray that it inspires others
to keep sin out of their homes,their circles and their lives as
much as possible.
Lord, we are so grateful thateven when we do fall short, we

(12:03):
have the chance to repent,because Jesus Christ paid the
ultimate price for our sins onthe cross.
Thank you for the lesson welearned through Joshua, showing
us that you do not tolerate sinand that when we compromise,
hide the truth or refuse toadmit our mistakes, we're
hurting ourselves.
Thank you for your presence,lord, your grace and the way you
continue to guide us.

(12:23):
We love you and we praise youand we give you all the glory In
Jesus' name.
Amen, till next time, myfriends.
On to Joshua 8 on the nextepisode.
God bless Well.
That wraps up this week'sepisode.
I hope these devotions help youdraw closer to God each day.
If this episode encouraged you,please share it with someone

(12:47):
who might need the same message,and don't forget to subscribe
so you never miss a weeklyepisode.
Also, if you feel compelled,leaving a nice review would be
so appreciated as well.
For more information or toreach out, check the show notes
or visit jessimorganhomecom orfind me on Instagram at
jessimorganlife.
Remember God's timing is alwaysperfect.

(13:09):
Keep trusting him Until nexttime.
This is Jessi Morgan praying on.
Just want to have a quick shoutout to my dad and his siblings.
They are just extraordinarypeople and their bond as
siblings is just one of thestrongest I've ever seen.

(13:29):
Siblings is just one of thestrongest I've ever seen and I'm
telling you the amount ofstories from their childhood and
growing up in Alabama are justthere's just so many, and some
of them are just absolutelyhilarious Hilarious.
So love you, daddy, love youfamily.
God bless.

(13:50):
Cherish the moments.