Joshua must have asked all of those questions. He had experienced a great victory at Jericho, only to experience defeat in his next battle at Ai. After he repented and led the children of Israel to repentance, he then led them to capture Ai. Now that he had seen another victory, what would he do differently from what he had done after the victory at Jericho? He must have known that this was a critical moment. Defeat often shows its ugly head right before or after a great victory. Therefore, Joshua knew that he must take care in what he did after the victory at Ai.

The Bible says that he assembled the people and built an altar. "Then Joshua built on Mount Ebal an altar to the LORD, the God of Israel" (Joshua 8:30 NIV). The first act after victory was an act of worship. Joshua knew that his focus in their victory at Jericho and Ai was completely upon God. Therefore, he immediately led the people to get their focus back upon God. Too often we take our focus off the Victor and get it on the victory. The Source and Sustainer of every victory in the believer's life is God, Himself. We must be care not to get caught up in the victory, but rather caught up in the Victor.

Central to the worship of God was the Word of God. According to the Bible, Joshua "read all the words of the law-- the blessings and the curses-- just as it is written in the Book of the Law" (Joshua 8:34 NIV). Joshua took the children of Israel back to their roots. He read them what God had said in the past and reminded them that God had not changed. He read them "all the words of the law." I'm convinced that we, too, must immediately turn to the Word of God after a great victory. God's word leads in the path of victory, but also keeps us on the path of victory.

Joshua through the Word of God also reminded the people of the choice that they must continually make. There were blessings to be received and curses to be experienced. The choice belonged to the children of Israel. If they kept their eyes upon God and obeyed His word, there were more blessings in store for them. If they took their eyes off God and disobeyed Him, there were curses in their future. The choice was simple. But their experience of victory didn't exempt them from any future curse. They experienced victory, but it was imperative that they walk in victory.

There was one final note about Joshua's "the day after victory" experience. He not only worshiped God, and reminded the children of Israel of the Word of God, but he was also very careful in his handling of the Scriptures. He didn't pick and choose Scriptures that would make the people feel good. He read and reminded them of the difficult things. The Bible says, "There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded that Joshua did not read to the whole assembly of Israel, including the women and children, and the aliens who lived among them (Joshua 8:35 NIV). It's often the case that after a great victory that we want to pat each other on the back and talk about how great we are and revel in all the great things that we've accomplished. But Joshua reminded them of everything that God had said - the great blessings and the terrible curses; the wonderful promises and the solemn judgments. He told the whole story, not part of it. That's the secret to victorious leadership.