Hello everyone, this is the first devo to be posted on my blog and I'm pretty excited about it! I haven't written anything in a while but I decided that I really ought to be picking it back up, and what better way to do that then on my own blog! I hope you take the time to read it and I would definitely appreciate any comments or criticisms that you might have!
Today in my Old Testament 2 class we trudged on a bit further into the book of Joshua. We started in chapter 9 of Joshua and I noticed a theme in this piece of text that we can find…well just about everywhere in the Old Testament. Before I divulge this theme to you I want to provide you with the setting of story here in chapter 9.
The Israelites, led by God, were conquering the city-states in the promised land along the west side of the Jordan river. Several of the kings in that area heard about the success of the Israelite army and they formed an alliance with each other (Josh. 9.1-2). The Gibeonites, also called the Hivites, decided that they didn’t want to fight against the Israelites. So they decided to come up with a plan to lie to the Israelites and trick them into swearing an oath to them. This is where the theme arises. Joshua, through much poking and prodding on the part of the Gibeonites, decided that an oath would be fine. Did you catch what their mistake was? If you said that they didn’t seek God’s help on the matter then you would be absolutely correct!
How often do we treat situations like this? You see, the Israelites were feeling pretty confident about themselves, I mean after all they conquered the city of Jericho and just recently the city of Ai. They were feeling pretty good! Don’t we get this way too? Don’t we at times feel so “good” that we think “it’s ok God, I can get this one on my own, I don’t need your help.” We of course wouldn’t admit to saying something like that, but let’s face it, when we don’t go to go God, we think that we can handle it ourselves!
God isn’t some life preserver that lies in wait, only to be used when the waves get to treacherous for us to brave against! He should be our go to guy! The first one we talk to! The one that we tell about the bad stuff, and the good! The big things and the little things! We shouldn’t be like the Israelites were. They didn’t seek God’s counsel (Josh. 9.14). We should be seeking it before we do anything!
I wish to leave you with a quote that I find to be rather convicting:
“Don’t tell God how big your storms are, tell those storms how big our God is!”
Don’t forget to seek God’s counsel this week. In the big stuff and the little stuff. We know how the Israelites ended up, and all because they disobeyed God, and didn’t bother to ask him for guidance. Don’t neglect the opportunity to pray and tell God about your day!
Jack Dodgen
