Joshua. With the Gibeonites, Israel consulted the "evidence" without consulting God. It's easy to say, "God gave me a brain, eyes, ears, a nose and some common sense to handle this myself." There should be people in our lives that we can trust and take at face value because they earn that trust with every good decision and every kept promise. But what about those who promise over and over again that they are being truthful and keep letting us down? What about those we don't really know and who might have a motive to lie? In all those circumstances we must keep our hearts open to God's promptings. I will never forget how I intentionally ignored a whisper from God and plunged ahead with a decision because all the "facts" lined up. It hurt me and our church for many years.
Today's list of defeated enemies speaks to me of God's faithfulness and Joshua's obedience. God was faithful to "deliver" Israel's enemies into their hands. Joshua and his leaders had learned from past mistakes, and were soundly destroying their enemies. It sounds so unrefined to us, but it is a picture of the ruthlessness we must have over the sin in our own lives.
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