Deception: Joshua 9

There are many things in life that clothe themselves in fooling attire, only to be rotten, debased, and not God's best. Joshua and the children of Israel experienced being deceived by people who dressed up to act as if they came a long ways, when in all reality they came from down the street. The key verse in Joshua 9 is v14, "So the men took some of their provisions, but did not ask counsel from the Lord." I could imagine these elders of Israel taking the food from these Gibeonites and saying to themselves, 'we will see if you are telling the truth, just give me a piece of bread.' And after eating the bread I can see them spitting it out because of the crustiness and nastiness of the bread. I could imagine them thinking, 'these guys must be telling the truth, because that is some nasty bread, Lord help these people.'

However, since they failed to consult the Lord, they looked just at the appearance and not was underneath. They looked at just what they saw and experienced, not what God would have revealed to them if they consulted Him. I believe this should be a lesson for us even today. We live in such a deceitful society and culture. Things are not always as they appear. That man at our work or lady, may not be what they appear. They may appear very innocent and nice and flattery, but what they are doing is flirting. That job, although may be very good and higher paying, may take you away from your family and church community. That device we are on all the time, may help us stay intouch with friends and family and help us buy things we need, yet it can lead us and draw us in the wrong direction. The car we want and probably deserve, although nice and good, may lead to us being so tied up in debt that we will not be able to give to the kingdom of God. Our busyness, although getting a lot done, may be taking us away from faithfulness to God's mission of reaching people to bring them into a relationship with Him.

There are things in our life that on the surface appear very flattering and appealing to the eye, yet underneath will lead us away from God or prevent us from living as fully devoted to God as He would have us live. We cannot make the mistake that these leaders in Israel made, which was to think they knew best or that they had things under control. Pride leads to fall and failure in God's eyes. Pride leads to a breach and break in covenant with God. Because remember just as Israel was, we are too, in a covenant relationship with God.

So, what we need to do is to run to God for counsel and wisdom and ask Him to reveal to us things in our life that may be deceiving us from fully living for Him. This could be a person, thing, item, job, preference, attitude, or hobby. After asking God to reveal, we need to be quiet and listen. Father today give us wisdom and insight into our lives and areas of our lives that might be in jeopardy of being deceived into not fully living and obeying you. Give us ears to hear and eyes to see. May we surrender to your counsel and direction in our lives.