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Saved by Deception

by Jerry Ousley
9/13/2024 / Christian Living

Saved by Deception

By Jerry D. Ousley

Facing certain destruction, a small town of Hivites, Gibeon by name, realized they were doomed unless they could come up with a plan. There seemed to be only one hope. Choosing a handful of men, they dressed in old, tattered clothes, took wineskins that were ready to burst because of their age, took bread that was old and molded, shod their feet with shoes that were all but worn out, and sent them to the camp of the Israelis.

Once they arrived, they told the story that they had heard of how God fought for the Israelis. They were careful to mention only older incidences and none of those newer ones like Jericho and Ai. They had traveled from a far distant country, as their clothing, shoes, bread and wine proved. Joshua and the elders of Israel bought it, hook, line and sinker. They agreed to a treaty not only staying away from them, but even agreeing to protect them as allies.

Later, they discovered that they had been deceived by the people of Gibeon. They confronted them about it and the Gibeonites told them how they had done it to keep from being annihilated.

Because of the gross sin of the people who occupied the land, God had told Moses, and then later on, Joshua to completely wipe out those currently occupying the land. To Christians it may sound horribly wrong, but their sin was so bad that they had become incurable. The Gibeonites figured out that surrendering now would indeed save them from being killed.

Israel had given their word, even though they had been deceived, their promise still stood. They did, however, put them to work doing slave labor for Israel. Israel’s mistake was that they didn’t first seek God before they made the decision to make a pact with the Gibeonites. They gave their word and were thus bound forever to honor their promise. You can read their story in Joshua 9. Verses 14-15 tells us, “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.”

The lesson for us in this incident is that we must seek God in the decisions we are making. There is more to the story of the Gibeonites and we will explore the rest of the story over the next few weeks. But for today, it is extremely important that we seek God in our decisions.

I know I have gotten into trouble many times over the years simply because I didn’t ask God about it first. I have been involved in ministry all my life. I know today that God chose unconventional means for me to be of service to Him. But when I was younger, I strongly felt that God wanted me to get a large tent, and do some traveling preaching the good news. I did secure a tent. It was given to me as a matter of fact. It was old and in bad need of repair. So, I bought a heavy-duty canvas needle and strong thread with which to repair it and got to work. But it was so rotten that repair was out of the question. I would sew up one tear (and believe you me, it was not an easy chore). I would then pull out another part to sew and rip it in a new place as I pulled on it. It became very obvious why it was given to me. It wasn’t worth fixing and was very difficult to get rid of.

But I didn’t give up. I was able to borrow a tent from a fellow minister and set it up for two different sets of meetings. But I failed and failed miserably. You see, I thought it was a good idea. After all, I was doing it for God (or was I?). Surely it was a good thing to do. But that wasn’t what God had for me. And so, I failed.

I still fail God sometimes. But I have learned to seek God, and to listen to Him. Service to Him is not measured by large numbers, great miracles, or any accolade man could give. Success in ministry is in doing exactly what God wants me or you to do. It may seem very menial. It could be great. The point is that we are obedient to God.

God does have something for you to do. It may be a great service, or it could be a single child. But regardless the high or nearly no exposure, it isn’t about us. It is about doing what God wants and doing it His way. So, be obedient to God, and you will see success in whatever He tells you to do.

Jerry D. Ousley is the author of ?Soul Challenge?, ?Soul Journey?, ?Ordeal?, ?The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional and his first novel ?The Shoe Tree.? Visit our website at spiritbread.com to download these and more completely free of charge.

Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com-CHRISTIAN WRITERS

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