JOB 2:10 "... SHALL WE ACCEPT THE GOOD FROM GOD AND NOT THE BAD?"
ONE family TRYING TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN ANY WAY POSSIBLE.
Problems
It never fails when we decide to clean up our lives and start living in line with God, Satan attacks. He is not going to sit idly by while we move closer to God and lead others with us. This drives him mad. We have been on the spiritual mountain with God, the times when we feel as close to him as we ever have. And these are the times that Satan makes his move. When believers are close to God, it’s contagious and rubs off on the people around them. This is dangerous for Satan. Satan’s response… Problems… Joshua 10. Gibeon, for selfish reason, aligned with Israel, and their former friends hate it. This a great picture for us to see and apply to ourselves. Gibeon was part of the world that denies God and is separated from Him. The Israelites are the followers of God. Gibeon sees that if they don’t join with Israel they are doomed. Much the same way if we don’t accept Jesus we are doomed. In order to escape certain death Gibeon allies with Israel. Now back to the story, the problems arise when Gibeon’s former friends learn of their new allegiance with Israel. Their response… Attack Gibeon. Five Amorite kings gathered their forces and prepared to launch the attack against Gibeon. The idea of Gibeon joining with this new group was terrifying to the Amorite kings; it reminded them they were losing power, much the same way Satan feels when we grow close to Jesus. This also causes a problem for Israel. Because of their fresh alliance and promise to defend Gibeon, Israel is now put to the test to see whether they were all talk or if they will honor their promise, even though circumstances are difficult. When people begin acting on what God says, Satan attacks. He would never sit by while Gibeon moved closer to God and Israel takes them under their wing. The same way he is not going to sit and watch as a new Christian begins growing closer to Christ and Christ followers. Satan will put both under attack. And what better way to turn new believers away than to have mature believers let them down. Although Gibeon is the one under attack, there is far more at stake than just losing a city. Israel could lose their influence and reputation, turning Gibeon back to their old ways, which in the end affects the lost world’s view on God. We can expect the same. When we leave our old lifestyles and begin moving toward Jesus, things change. The people we were around before we found Christ are not always excited to lose a friend even if it is to some, Savior. Not to mention the anger and rage Satan feels. With every person who grows closer to Jesus, Satan is reminded that he is in a losing battle. You can be assured that trouble will be headed you’re way when you are doing God’s will. The question is, “how will you respond to the problems thrown at you?” When it’s all said and done you have very serious choices to make… Up Next: The Choices…
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Promises
We live in a world of talk. Everywhere you can hear it, read it, and even watch it. With today’s technology we have access to words and opinions of people any time we want them. All we have to do is turn on a TV or computer, take out our cell phone and fire up Twitter, Facebook, or blogs and we have more words and talk to see and hear than we could ever get through in a lifetime. And Yes, there are definitely good things about all of this, but there is also a glaring negative. Sometimes we want so badly to be heard… we say foolish things and guess what… God is listening and holding us to what we say. Israel made a promise to the people of Gibeon, and it came back to bite them. The promise they was made with good intentions, but it brought them in direct conflict with God and what He commanded them to do. Israel was angry and would have been very happy to go be God’s hand of wrath against Gibeon, but God had different plans. Where we love the idea of situational ethics, God does not. He says, “let your ‘yes’ be yes and ‘no’ be no. There is no list of exceptions. It’s simple, if you say it, follow through. In Judges 9 He reinforces to the Israelites the importance of keeping their word, reputation and following through with their promises. Keeping their word, the Israelites honored their covenant and did not attack the people of Gibeon. But don’t think that they sat by and didn’t acknowledge what happened. They did something we could take notes from. We often never acknowledge the sin of others when its easier to ignore it and move on. Israelboldly approached Gibeon about their deception and helped them to see how they did wrong and accept the consequences for their lie. One thing is for certain, when you make hard promises you can count on Satan to provide problems to make you break them, which is exactly what he does in this story… To be continued… Up next Problems… We have all been wronged by other people. It is something that happens on earth, and unfortunately you will be wronged again. But it’s how we handle these moments that can really make or break us. It’s easy to retaliate in a manner similar to what has been done to us, but it’s no secret to Followers this is not the right course of action. But we often never consider that the whole situation may actually be an opportunity for us to allow God to show up and make something bad into something amazing. Here is a story from Joshua where the Israelites are in a situation much similar to this. In this story the Israelites are deceived, which causes them to make promises, which leads to problems, and leaves them with serious choices to make. The awesome thing is at the end of all of this God is displayed in a mighty way, but it took faithful followers to make it happen…
The Deception In Joshua 9 the city of Gibeon came to Joshua and the Israelites looking to make a treaty. Gibeon had heard about Israel’s conquest and destruction of Jericho and Ai, and they are terrified. In an act of self-preservation, fearing they may be next, the Gibeonites set out to come to a peaceful solution with Joshua. In order to make the alliance happen, Gibeon uses deception. Gibeon tells the Israelites they are from a far off land and the Israelites believe and make a covenant with them. It all seems like a good day; Israel has a reputation that has far off people coming to make an alliance with them. That is one less nation to worry about attacking them after they conquer Canaan. But, Lies will be made known and everything starts to unravel when Israel finds out Gibeon is not a distant land, but rather their next door neighbors. And the moment of crisis... When we come to this point in our lives we have decisions to make. Often neither choice is a good one. The Israelites have two choices: Option 1 is to do what God commanded them and completely wipe out the inhabitants of Canaan, but in doing this they will now have to break their covenant with Gibeon and God. Option 2 is to honor their covenant with God and Gibeon, but doing this will mean disobeying God’s command to wipe out the Canaanites. To add to this is the anger the Israelites are feeling toward Gibeon for deceiving them, and rightly so. Not one of us today can say that we love when people lie to us, especially when it places us in direct conflict with something God commands. Israel response is anger and wanting to go attack Gibeon right then, but luckily Israel is being led by wise and God-fearing men, who are in tune with God… To be continued… Up next, The Promises… |
AuthorFor starters: I am nothing special, I love Jesus and He is my Lord. I am the husband of a godly woman. She is working with me to raise a godly child. I am a teacher. I love to read and write. The QuestionBlog PostsQUICK THOUGHTSVERSES TO THINK ABOUTBooks you should readArchives
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