“But when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and to Ai, they on their part acted with cunning and went and made ready provisions and took worn-out sacks for their donkeys, and wineskins, worn-out and torn and mended, with worn-out, patched sandals on their feet, and worn-out clothes. And all their provisions were dry and crumbly. And they went to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal and said to him and to the men of Israel, ‘We have come from a distant country, so now make a covenant with us.’ So [Israel] took some of their provisions, but did not ask counsel from the Lord. And Joshua made peace with them and made a covenant with them, to let them live, and the leaders of the congregation swore to them.” (v3-6,14-15)
Inhabitants of a nearby city fool Israel into thinking they are from a distant land, and without consulting God, Joshua makes a covenant with them. This is against the original plan of not allowing any of the Caananites to live – these cities of people have now been granted immunity from destruction, though they did become Israel’s servants.
Here’s the part that impacted me: “but [Israel/Joshua] did not ask counsel from the Lord.” I admit, I have failed at this several times. More than once I trusted the word of a stranger over God, and I got burned. I cannot blame these mistakes on anyone except myself – I made the decisions, I didn’t seek counsel, it was all me.
What I find interesting in Joshua’s error in judgement, is that there don’t appear to be any immediate consequences. In fact, God soon helps Israel protect these new “allies”, and they become trades people to help Israel’s war efforts. So it seems even when we inadvertently sin, God can still make good things come from these failures.
My challenge for today is to take ownership of any sin in our lives. When I put the word of strangers over God’s I had to confess that sin and not make any excuses for it. Sure, I could have made several excuses and tried to justify my actions, but would that really help the situation? No. Denial does not alter the truth, we merely fool ourselves. Let’s ask for God’s forgiveness, and pray for His deliverance from our foolishness, so we hopefully don’t repeat the same sin over and over. This is important, because by fooling ourselves and justifying our sin we pretty much guarantees we’ll continue sinning over and over because subconsciously we don’t believe we did anything wrong.
Father God, our Strong Deliverer, great and mighty is Your name. In Your great wisdom You gave us Your Word, so I ask for Your continued wisdom in each of our lives. Father would You please continue drawing each of us nearer to You, so we rely on our own wisdom less and less. Please help us to remain humble, putting our flesh to death on the cross, acknowledging sin for what it is, and giving us the courage to face our sin head on. Please give us the discernment to know what opportunities we should pursue, and who we should trust. Spirit lead us, for we are lost without You. In the holy name of Jesus we ask this, amen.
~ Conqueror in Training