Tricked!

TODAY’S SPECIAL: Joshua 9:1-21

TO CHEW ON: "The Israelites sampled their provisions but did not inquire of the Lord." Joshua 9:14

Have you ever been tricked? Maybe you were tricked for a good thing, like having someone throw a surprise party for you. Or maybe it was for a bad thing, like falling when someone pulled a chair away. The Israelites had a trick played on them the day some raggedy strangers rode into camp.

“Who are you and what do you want?” Joshua asked them.

“We’re people from a far country,” they told him. “We’ve heard about how God has helped you and we’re scared of you. We want to sign a peace treaty with you.”

“How do I know that you’re not from close by?” Joshua asked.

“Here’s proof,” the men said. They showed Joshua dry, moldy bread, cracked wineskins, torn faded clothes and worn out sandals. “These things were all new when we started on this trip,” they told Joshua. “We’ve been traveling so long the bread got moldy, the wineskins cracked and our clothes wore out.”

The Israelites eat the Gibeonites bread - Artist unknown

Joshua and the people tried the bread. It was very old. They examined the wineskins and the clothes. They certainly were worn out. “Yes, we’ll sign a treaty with you,” Joshua told the travelers. But he had missed doing one thing. What was it?__________ (Joshua 9:14)

Just three days later Joshua found out the truth. The men, who said they came from far away, were from Gibeon which was nearby. They had tricked Joshua and the Israelites with old bread, cracked wineskins and dress-up clothes.

If Joshua had asked God what to do, God could have warned him about this. But he didn’t ask. Instead he chose to handle things on his own. Now the Israelites had to keep their promise to protect the Gibeonites - who were really their enemies.

We too face problems and make decisions every day. Many of these things may not seem important enough to pray about. But this story teaches us that no problem or question is too small to bring to God.

PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for caring about the big and small things in my life. Please remind me to ask for Your help with everything. Amen.

MORE: Don’t sweat the small stuff
Instead pray about it.

List three small things for which you could ask for God’s help.
1.
2.
3.

Pray about them now. Then don’t forget to listen for God’s answer.

Answers

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Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.


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