God told Joshua to “Get up (Jos 7.1, 13)!” The children of Israel lost a battle they should have easily won. They lost the battle to a city which should have been easy to overtake. In fact Joshua reduced the number of his attackers because the battle was to be easy. However, someone in the camp sinned. God told the children of Israel not to take anything from Jericho for their own personal gain. Everything from Jericho was to be consecrated and given to God. The battle had been His. As the children of Israel approached the small town of Ai, their excitement could hardly be contained. They saw the consequences for their enemies for being on the wrong side of God. But one of them had sinned greatly and the result would be a loss for all of the people.
Upon hearing of the humiliating and devastating defeat, Joshua and other leaders fell to their faces in shame and in prayer to God. Initially it appears as if Joshua blames God for the defeat. Later in the prayer it becomes apparent Joshua is not worried about the nation’s glory or even his own, but is concerned about how the people and their enemies would now view the God of Israel.
God allowed Joshua and the elders to remain on their faces until the evening (7.6). We are not told for how long these leaders were in this position of sorrow and humility. What we do know is God was watching and eventually told them to “Get up,” sanctify the people and God would reveal the guilty party who caused this great defeat to come upon the people on the next day. When there is “sin in the camp,” whether that sin is in our homes, or the church we must be humbled before God asking His forgiveness. However, after a time of prayer, we must also as we repent, “Get up” and whatever we can to correct the wrong, correct the sin and move on. Paul states “For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of. but the sorrow of the world worketh death” (2 Cor 7.10). When we have sinned, we must pray to God, but then we must “Get up,” correct the wrong as best we can and move forward in a life which better reflects the light of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.