Dave's Diary

Daily Readings: Joshua 9 and Psalm 9

This morning I find myself impacted by two lessons from Joshua 9.

The first is a “negative lesson” from a mistake the Israelites made. They were deceived by the Gibeonites’ very simple trickery becase, as we read in v.14, “The Israelites sampled their provisions but did not enquire of the Lord.” They thought they were being cautious and were clever enough to discern the truth for themselves so, in their pride, they did not stop to pray and seek God’s will. That was a big mistake that haunted them for generations: they trusted their own abilities and discernment too much. Prayer: Lord, help me to avoid this mistake and always to seek Your will and Your way through prayerful listening and sensitivity to the Holy Spirit!

The second is a “positive lesson” from the very high value they placed on keeping their word. When they saw they had made a mistake in concluding a treaty with the Gibeonites and that this mistake was leading them away from the will of God, they still refused to take the “easy way out” and break their treaty. The leaders said: ‘We have given them our oath by the Lord, the God of Israel, and we cannot touch them now. This is what we will do to them: we will let them live, so that God’s wrath will not fall on us for breaking the oath we swore to them.’ (v.19-20) The original treaty had not been God’s will, but breaking one’s word was also not God’s will, and two wrongs could never make a right. Through maintaining the value of truthfully keeping one’s word they were saved from making two mistakes. Prayer: Lord, grant me the courage and the Holy Spirit’s empowering to keep my word and walk in the truth, even when doing so makes my life more difficult. Amen and amen.