Day 71 - Joshua 8-9

ONE-YEAR JOURNEY OF THE BIBLE
Day 71 - Joshua 8-9 (Is God a Part in Your Decision-Making?)
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"Then the men of Israel took some of their provisions; but they did not ask counsel of the LORD.   So Joshua made peace with them, and made a covenant with them to let them live; and the rulers of the congregation swore to them.  And it happened at the end of three days, after they had made a covenant with them, that they heard that they were their neighbors who dwelt near them."  (Joshua 9:14-16)

When the inhabitants of Gibeon learned that God had commanded Israel to totally destroy the inhabitants of Canaan, they resorted to trickery in order to save their lives.  Who can blame these people?  I give them a lot of credit for recognizing the hand of God upon Israel and against all the nations that dwelt in Canaan because of their evil practices.

The idea that God would completely wipe out not just one, but several nations, including children and women, is without question, one of the most, if not the most disturbing matter concerning the God of the Bible.  Since I do not intend to write about this subject in this post, suffice it to say that the Bible teaches that God did so in order to establish a people for Himself from a land whose people were utterly evil.  It was a graphic lesson to the Israelites that sin, which was typified by the inhabitants of Canaan, was to be utterly destroyed, for God cannot dwell with sin.

What I wish to focus on in our text above is the danger of not consulting God in our decisions. Joshua and the leaders of Israel, we are told, did not "ask the counsel of the Lord" in the matter of the Gibeonites.  As a result, a people that God wanted wiped out of the planet in His divine judgment were allowed to live amongst God's people.

"What does this mean to me?", you may ask.  I'm glad you did.  As God's people, it is to our best interest that we consult God in every major decision we make.  I say major because obviously, we do not need to ask God the color of the shirt we should wear.  Oh, if only I could revert time, I would make sure I consulted God and waited on His answer on several bad decisions I have made in my life.

Along with age comes wisdom, especially the wisdom to learn from one's mistakes.  I would like to think that I am one who has learned from my past mistakes of not consulting God on major decisions.  Now that I'm in my fifties, I have learned to consult God on a daily basis especially in major decisions like how I should spend the rest of my life here on earth.  I believe that He is calling me and my wife to go back to the Philippines to serve Him there.  We are still waiting upon God to confirm most of the specifics of what we are to do once we get there for good later this year but we have full assurance that He will honor our commitment to always consult Him on everything.