The enemy's tricks

I've been reading Joshua for the last few days and have decided that it has to one of the most confusing books to read. God has given me a real passion against injustice, yet here is the same God telling the Israelites to inflict wholesale genocide against those who live in the promised land. Now I understand the reasons why this is, but it is still difficult for me to read!

Still I always try to get something out of what I am reading and once again this is the case even through the early chapters of Joshua. Yesterday I reached Chapter 9 which tells of the way that the Gibeonites deceived the Israelites and managed to avoid the destruction inflicted on all the city-states in the promised land.

This led me to think about how easy it is for us to be deceived by the enemy in our own lives. It many ways it was too easy for the Gibeonites to trick the Israelites by pretending to be something they weren't. It came down to one thing, the Israelites took their eyes of the Lord.

"The men of Israel sampled their provisions but did not inquire of the LORD." (Joshua 9:14).

After everything they had been through and the successes that God had already given them in their battles in the promised land! After seeing the famed walls of Jericho fall! Still the Israelites forgot to go first to God and seek His will.

How often do we make decisions based on what we see rather than what God sees? How often in life do we make a decision only for it to become clear later that it was the wrong one and wasn't what God wanted for our lives?

For the Israelites they continued to make this same mistake throughout the coming centuries. Various prophets came and went, and still they didn't learn their lesson.

For us it is important that we don't make the same mistake and that instead of doing what we want, we should instead try to keep our eyes fixed on Him.