Inquire of the Lord

The Israelites sampled their provisions but did not inquire of the Lord. Then Joshua made a treaty of peace with them to let them live, and the leaders of the assembly ratified it by oath. -Joshua 9:12-13 (NIV)

Last night, I talked with one of my best friends. Whenever we talk, at some point in the conversation we usually talk about some of the dumb decisions that we made while growing up. Last night, we talked about my decision in high school to become a pharmacist.

I worked as a drug store delivery boy in high school. It was a great job and the owner was a great man. Pharmacists in my estimation were well-respected in the community and made a decent living. So I decided that I wanted to be a pharmacist.

There were only two problems with my decision. I never prayed about it and I was horrible in chemistry. If you never hear anything else that I say or write, hear this: don't plan on a career in pharmacy if you stink at chemistry and remember that the best decisions are made prayerfully and thoughtfully.

The good news is that God used my poor decision about a college major to lead me to more prayerfully seek His will for my life. That ultimately led me to ministry.

In today's assigned scripture reading, Joshua and the Israelites are conquering the Promised Land. God had already told the Israelites not to make treaties with the inhabitants of Canaan (Exodus 23:32; 34:12, Numbers 33:55 and Deuteronomy 7:2, 20:17).

The Gibeonites were inhabitants of Canaan and were aware that the Israelites had destroyed cities like Jericho and Ai. Worried about their own destruction, the Gibeonites devise a plan. They act as if they are not inhabitants of the Promised Land but have instead come from a distant country because of what they've heard about Israel's God. Joshua appears a little skeptical of their story at first, but the Gibeonites do look as if they've traveled a great distance. Their sandals are worn, their donkeys are tired, and their bread is stale.

Believing that the Gibeonites were not inhabitants of the Promised Land, Joshua sees nothing wrong with offering them a peace treaty. The only problem with his decision is that he did not inquire of the Lord prior to making his decision.

When the truth about the Gibeonites became known, the Israelites were mad at Joshua for making an alliance with the Gibeonites. Joshua, however, kept his promise to the Gibeonites because God had commanded that oaths must be kept (Leviticus 5:4, 27:1). Still, it was an awkward alliance, to be sure.

Some decisions seem easy enough to make without guidance from God. Do you really need to pray about whether to wear the blue Ole Miss shirt or the red Ole Miss shirt to the game? But other decisions, like what to study in college or whether or not to enter into a covenant relationship with someone, are most wisely decided after first going to God in prayer. In the final analysis, God would probably rather you pray over seemingly insignificant things like your shirt color than to fail to pray about important decisions in your life.

May God grant you the grace to make inquiring of the Lord an important part of your daily walk.



If you're interested in reading through the Bible in a year, tomorrow's suggested readings are Joshua 12-14 and 1 Corinthians 7.