We need to be reminded that God’s wisdom is not the wisdom of a supercomputer. We need fresh conviction that God’s presence must do God’s work. We need to be warned that relying on artificial intelligence instead of the Holy Spirit must eventually end in defeat. To illustrate, I would like us to travel back thousands of years and bring AI to the Canaanite city of Ai.
Victory at Jericho
Let us begin on the eve of Joshua’s initial invasion into the land of promise.
Imagine you gaze at the fortified city of Jericho from a distance. You consult your military council, your maps, your men, and you double-check the steps of your invasion. You open your MacBook and take another bite of the apple, asking ChatGPT to review your strategy and recommend any alterations for your plan of attack. Well, Yes, it quickly replies. Alterations are needed for all of your plans, at every level.
Cross the Jordan during flood season? Impossible. Circumcise your army in enemy territory? Foolish. Expose your entire force to hostile eyes for a week? Unwise. March around the walls for seven days, and then expect a shout and trumpet blast to bring down the foe’s stronghold? Comical.
God’s strategy for victory defied computation. His thoughts were not the thoughts of men or angels. His ways were not the ways of a supercomputer. So Joshua must take the army, walk around the city for seven days, give a big shout and trumpet blast, and expect the miracle. Day one passes — nothing. Day two passes — no sign of progress. Day three passes — naught but amusement from the walls above. Where is the battering ram; where are the scaling ladders? the enemy wondered. What are they doing?
A ram’s horn could not unglue brick and mortar. What did Jericho need to fear from a box, seven priests, seven trumpets, or seven days of the enemy getting their steps in? The commanders of Jericho didn’t need superintelligence to compute whether these walks posed any real threat. If they could have asked, ChatGPT would have compiled the findings of the greatest architects and war generals of all time; it would have scoured all the books of science and warfare and found no evidence whatsoever that their wall was in any danger from quiet walks or loud shouts. But then they soon felt the tremor beneath their feet. The Hebrew God — in the foolishness of his wisdom — was against them. The wall crumbled; they were soon dead, their city ablaze.
What can we say of this victory? It was illogical, unfathomable, unreasonable, a perplexity to men, angels, and mainframes. The utter oddity of the triumph was a signature — this battle belonged to the Lord. Like so many other battles, it was promised of God, acted by man, realized by faith. “By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days” (Hebrews 11:30).
They did not need the best of natural or artificial intelligence; they needed the foolishness of faith and God’s presence (1 Corinthians 1:25). On the eve of battle and the start of this seven-year campaign, God did not send technology to assist Joshua; he sent the Commander of his army to prostrate Joshua. What God gave to Joshua he gives to us today — not cheat codes and shortcuts but a promise: “Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9).
Defeat at Ai
Now contrast this with the second battle, the only one Joshua loses. He sends out spies to Ai. The report returns, insisting this small population required only a fraction of their force. Joshua sends three thousand men, a reasonable tactic given the size of the opponent. Had they consulted their computers, three thousand would have been a logical strategy. But to everyone’s astonishment, Israel flees against the little brother of mighty Jericho. Thirty-six men die in the embarrassment.
Joshua tears his clothes, and he and the leaders throw dust upon their heads. What went wrong? How had they failed so miserably? The hearts of the people melt. Is God giving them the land or not?
They trusted their eyes, trusted their sense of things. They assumed they had enough knowledge and acted on what they had. The Lord need not be troubled with this small affair. This victory is manageable. Divine guidance would be overkill. They didn’t need the theatrics of faith as before; they had this in hand. Alone, they could see, come, and conquer. No need of a Revealer for revelation. They mistook knowledge of the mission for God’s presence with them on that mission.
Had they asked the Lord beforehand, they would have discovered that all was not right in their camp. Their eyes scanned only the enemy, not themselves. The Lord could have revealed their disobedience prior to their defeat. Thirty-six men could have lived.
Brothers, God’s eyes are not just on the sinful Canaanites in the land of promise. His eyes are upon us and our people. How we obey him, depend upon him, seek his face has more to do with victory than competent plans or comprehensive sermon outlines. We cannot lean on our own understanding (or that of a computer) even when we possess superior numbers. What will that avail us if God sees an Achan in the camp?
And how many preachers mimic Achan with his stolen plunder? Contraband discourses, borrowed knowledge, unlawful paragraphs copied and pasted because a quick AI prompt was easier than doing the work themselves. To me, these have the glimmer of cursed objects, gold and silver under the ban.
The victory at Jericho taught all Israel that God must lead them into battle. Trust him even when the plan doesn’t make sense. Have you not learned the same? The Bible is a long account of such unorthodox conquests — men having their faith tested, hazarding life itself on what God said rather than what they thought.
What is a studied and well-expressed sermon built largely on the foundations of artificial intelligence? Is it not stolen plunder? What value is that orthodox teaching, conjured with a few keystrokes, when bereft of orthodox affection? Is this the blessing that Jacob wrestled all night for, the blessing that marked him the rest of his days? Men’s sacred trains of thought ought never run on AI search engines. There may be gold in their orthodoxy or oratory, but too often these are nuggets taken by the hand of laziness, inexperience, and lack of prayer. A lifetime of AI-produced sermons, Bible studies, and Sunday school lessons will not honor God and will end in defeat.
Victory at Ai
Israel repented; Achan was destroyed. They reengaged the foe.
God now gives them instructions for ambushing the adversary. His plans for them — shrewd and tactical — differ little from what any general could provide. Troops sneak behind the city in the night, and a small decoy force pretends to flee again, luring the enemy army out of the city. This time, the hidden troops destroy the city and encompass the foe. A far cry from silent walks and blowing trumpets, this plan agrees with the reason of both man and computer.
But even here, God adds his signature. Israel would gain victory, based not on their superior plan or numbers, but because Joshua obeyed the Lord, holding up his spear for the entire battle: “Joshua did not draw back his hand with which he stretched out the javelin until he had devoted all the inhabitants of Ai to destruction” (Joshua 8:26). Like Israel’s first battle out of Egypt, when Moses held his staff over the battlefield for the victory against Amalek (Exodus 17:8–13), so now, Joshua holds up his spear to ensure success. Such are the ways of God.
What is the point? Ministers must never replace their reliance upon God and his Spirit with any tools. The warrior of God does not trust in his spear or his chariots or his ChatGPT. If you are abusing your tools, put them away. You don’t need them. If you can use such permissibly, resolve to never use such lazily. God is your sole trust.
The work of ministry is supernatural. Take your computer to the graveyard and see what success it has in calling forth the dead. But one word from Christ Jesus, one visitation from the commander of the Lord’s armies, and Lazaruses come forth still. The weakness of man — his limited knowledge, his lack of eloquence, his human imperfections — are more than a match for the foe when God is with him. By faith, his shouts can bring down the impenetrable walls of the rebel heart, for God has promised to be glorified in man’s weakness, engraving his greatest signature upon the foolishness of the cross.
But grab irreverently for knowledge that is
