Courage to StandIsampula

No Allegiances

In a fallen world, there are tricksters out to scam us daily. But more than these fraudsters, we need to guard against the greatest deceiver of them all, the devil, and protect ourselves from falling for his lies. Where our sinful nature is the enemy within, Satan is the enemy outside of ourselves, bent on deceiving us (Revelation 18:23).

In Joshua 9 we read that word of Israel’s victories has reached the surrounding nations, so a group of cities unite forces to fight Israel. One of those cities, Gibeon, comes up with a crafty plan to dupe Israel’s leaders. Through Moses, God had forbidden Israel from forming allegiances with their neighbours, so the Gibeonites pretend to be from a distant land. The men dress in tattered clothes and carry stale food, so Joshua and the other leaders believe the story that they’re from further afield. The peace treaty these men propose seems like a good idea. Joshua does attempt to figure out where the delegation is from, but he and the other leaders don’t pray for discernment and direction, and things go badly – just as they do for us when we fail to seek God’s opinion on matters in our lives.

The leaders’ error was leaning on their own understanding rather than considering what God said. We too are deceived by the enemy when we go by our senses, rather than living by faith and following God’s Word. We can look to the smartest minds in the world or the media, but let’s not kid ourselves. None of us is above being deceived. Satan calls evil good and good evil. Truth is under attack. In our cultural moment, there’s mounting evidence of all the ways the devil twists the truth about our finances, sexuality, career, social media engagement, and other arenas of life. To shield ourselves from the enemy’s duplicitous ways, Paul urges us to put on the full armour of God and take up the sword of the Spirit, God’s Word (Ephesians 6:10–12).

That’s where we started this journey – with God telling Joshua to be strong and courageous and to meditate on His Word, day and night, following its instructions unwaveringly. Let’s thank God that victory is ours in Christ, and that He gives us the courage to stand.