http://gospeltranslations.org/w/index.php?title=For_the_Love_of_God,_Volume_1/July_7&feed=atom&action=historyFor the Love of God, Volume 1/July 7 - Revision history2024-03-28T22:43:53ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.16alphahttp://gospeltranslations.org/w/index.php?title=For_the_Love_of_God,_Volume_1/July_7&diff=20037&oldid=prevJoyaTeemer: Protected "For the Love of God, Volume 1/July 7" ([edit=sysop] (indefinite) [move=sysop] (indefinite))2010-08-09T17:51:14Z<p>Protected "<a href="/wiki/For_the_Love_of_God,_Volume_1/July_7" title="For the Love of God, Volume 1/July 7">For the Love of God, Volume 1/July 7</a>" ([edit=sysop] (indefinite) [move=sysop] (indefinite))</p>
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</table>JoyaTeemerhttp://gospeltranslations.org/w/index.php?title=For_the_Love_of_God,_Volume_1/July_7&diff=20036&oldid=prevJoyaTeemer: Created page with '{{info}} ====JULY 7==== ''Joshua 9; Psalms 140—141;'' Jeremiah 3; Matthew 17 THE ACCOUNT OF THE GIBEONITE DECEPTION ('''Josh. 9''') has its slightly amusing elements, as wel...'2010-08-09T17:49:46Z<p>Created page with '{{info}} ====JULY 7==== ''Joshua 9; Psalms 140—141;'' Jeremiah 3; Matthew 17 THE ACCOUNT OF THE GIBEONITE DECEPTION ('''Josh. 9''') has its slightly amusing elements, as wel...'</p>
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====JULY 7====<br />
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''Joshua 9; Psalms 140—141;'' Jeremiah 3; Matthew 17<br />
<br />
THE ACCOUNT OF THE GIBEONITE DECEPTION ('''Josh. 9''') has its slightly amusing elements,<br />
as well as its serious point. There are the Israelites, poking around in<br />
moldy bread and holding serious conversations about the distance these emissaries<br />
must have traveled. Yet the sad fact is that they were snookered. What<br />
lessons should we learn from this?<br />
<br />
''First'', many believers who have the courage to withstand direct assault do not<br />
have the sense to withstand deception. That is why in Revelation 13 the dragon<br />
has ''two'' beasts—one whose opposition is overt and cruel, and the other who is<br />
identified as the false prophet (see the meditation for December 22). That is also<br />
why in Acts 20 Paul warns the Ephesian elders not only of rapacious wolves that<br />
will try to ravage the flock of God, but also of the fact that from among their own<br />
number men will arise who will “distort the truth” (Acts 20:30). Such people<br />
never announce what they are doing: “We are now going to distort the truth!” The<br />
danger they represent lies in the fact that they are viewed as “safe,” and then from<br />
this secure vantage they advocate “progressive” positions that distort the Gospel.<br />
The deceptive power may be tied to such overt tricks as flattery—the very device<br />
used by the Gibeonites (9:9-10). In our day, deception becomes all the easier to<br />
arrange because so many Christians are no longer greatly shaped by Scripture. It<br />
is difficult to unmask subtle error when it aligns with the culture, deploys spiritual<br />
God-talk, piously cites a passage or two, and “works.”<br />
<br />
''Second'', the failure depicted in 9:14 has haunted many believers, and not only<br />
the ancient Israelites: “The men of Israel sampled their [the Gibeonites’] provisions<br />
but did not inquire of the LORD.” Doubtless their inquiring of the Lord<br />
would have been direct; perhaps the priests would have resorted to Urim and<br />
Thummim (see meditation for March 17). We shall never know, because the people<br />
felt they did not need the Lord’s guidance. Perhaps the flattery had made them<br />
cocksure. The fact that their decision was based on their estimate of how far these<br />
Gibeonites had come makes it obvious that they were aware of the danger of<br />
treaties with the Canaanites. The failure must therefore not be taken as a mere<br />
breach of devotions that day, a hastiness that forgot a magic step. The problem is<br />
deeper: there is an unseemly negligence that betrays an overconfidence that does<br />
not think it ''needs'' God in this case. Many a Christian leader has made disastrous<br />
mistakes when he or she has not taken time to seek God’s perspective, probing<br />
Scripture and asking him for the wisdom he has promised to give (James 1:5).</div>JoyaTeemer