Choosing Well

By Ted Pagel Jr.

Our lives consist of and are often defined by the multitude of decisions we make throughout our lifetime. Our wise decisions reap positive outcomes and move us toward lives of fruitfulness. But if we make bad decisions, we usually find ourselves entangled in a web of consequences that keep us from experiencing God’s best for our lives.

If you don’t believe that, ask someone whose life has been ham­pered by marrying the wrong person, who has lost their financial resources in a bad investment, chosen the wrong profession, decided to have an affair, surrendered their virginity to the wrong person, intended to try drugs just one time or ignored God’s call on their life. The list of bad decisions a person can make goes on.

How can one avoid making a wrong decision? The Bible gives insight in its story of a bad decision Joshua made—a decision that would ultimately cost the children of Israel. The choice he made had sub­stantial and permanent consequences.

As Joshua and God’s people moved into the Promised Land, they encountered several enemies that were determined to stop them. At the beginning of Joshua 9, we read that all the kings whose kingdoms were beyond the Jordan banded together when they heard about the Israelites’ success at Ai. Their purpose was to unite so that they could fight Joshua and the Israelites using their combined strength. The best way to fulfill their agenda was to cause the Israelites to make a bad decision.

We have an enemy, Satan, who is determined to prevent us from moving into God’s best, and the same tools he used against ancient Israel he still uses against us today. The pressures they felt are the same pressures we experience in our daily walk. Satan still uses the same tools and the same types of people in our lives to influence decisions that are contrary to God’s will.

Unlike the rulers of the kingdoms who banded together to wage war using their combined brute strength against the Israelites, the people of Gibeon acted more craftily. Joshua 9:4 says, “They resorted to a ruse.” When they heard that the Israelites were coming, they sent a few people out as messengers. They purposely disguised themselves to deceive Joshua and the elders about who they were or from where they had come.

Verses 4-5 continue: “[The Gibeonites] set out as envoys, and took worn-out sacks on their donkeys, and wineskins worn-out and torn and mended, and worn-out and patched sandals on their feet, and worn-out clothes on themselves; and all the bread of their provision was dry and had become crumbled.”

Looking like they did, they could easily have approached the Isra­elites’ camp and not appeared threatening. Then they presented their situation to Joshua. They explained that they were from a faraway country and wanted to make a covenant with the men of Israel.

When questioned by a few Israelite men about the possibility of their not living far away, Joshua 9:8-12 says the Gibeonites replied: “Your servants have come from a very far country because of the fame of the Lord your God; for we have heard the report of Him and all that He did in Egypt, and all that He did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan. . . . So our elders and all the inhabitants of our country spoke to us, saying, ‘Take provisions in your hand for the journey, and go to meet them and say to them, “We are your servants; now then, make a covenant with us.”’”

They lent further credibility to their story by showing their provisions: What had once been warm and fresh bread was now crumbly and dry. Once new wineskins were cracked and leaking. And their clothes and sandals were worn as if they had suffered the wear and tear of a long march.

Deception comes in three forms.

1.  There is an appearance that seems legitimate. In the case of Israel and the Gibeonites, the Gibeonites altered their appearance to deceive Israel into thinking that they were a distant people and, therefore, not under God’s ban. Satan will attempt to distort the appearance of truth to convince us that a bad decision is actually a reasonable one.
2.  There is an appeal that looks and sounds good. The Gibeonites were a people of compromise who would do anything to get out of a tough situation. They presented themselves as a humble people, attempting to appeal to Israel’s pride—the same strategy that Satan will use, attempting to cause us to think that we can handle any situation without God’s counsel. Satan will try to get us to ignore the counsel of our parents, business associates, mate, Christian friends, God’s word and even our own conscience in his attempt to get us to make a bad decision.
3.  There is an argument that seems to make sense. They quoted God’s own command, using religious language, and made it appear that they were from a far country and, therefore, not under God’s command for destruction. They even attempted to make it seem that they also wanted to serve God by entering into an agreement with His people.

Satan will use your propensity toward making bad decisions and give you compelling arguments about why you need to move in the direction of those bad decisions. But don’t let him deceive you. He is a liar, and the truth is nowhere around him or in him.

And Joshua 9:14-15 describes a most damning decision: “So the men of Israel took some of their provisions, and did not ask for the counsel of the Lord. Joshua made peace with them and made a covenant with them, to let them live; and the leaders of the congrega­tion swore an oath to them.”

Joshua made a bad decision that would impact Israel for generations to come, all because he neither sought God’s counsel nor God’s will. He neglected the two things that would have rescued him from a bad choice: his relationship and walk with God. It’s imperative that we walk daily with God, so we can distinguish His voice from all the other voices that vie for our attention.

We face the same predicament if we are not praying daily, investing time in His word, and seeking His will. Remember, we are all one decision away from a different life. Choose well!

Bad decisions are eventually exposed, and within three days the ruse was exposed. If Joshua had instead spent those three days consulting God before making the decision, he could have avoided a consequential disaster. The discovery of a bad decision is painful for all involved.

Don’t judge a situation by its appearance. The crucifixion appeared to be a disaster; instead, on the third day, a glorious result was in evidence. Often, we get into trouble because we rush in making decisions instead of waiting for God’s timing.

A wise man once stated that God leads, and Satan pushes. If you are feeling pushed, you’d better find out who is doing the pushing. And if it isn’t God, you’d best not yet decide! Wait for God, and He will lead you!

Joshua and the sons of Israel didn’t waste any time in tracking the Gibeonites down, and after three days, they reached the city. They did not attack the Gibeonites because they had sworn an oath to them “by the Lord the God of Israel” (Joshua 9:18). When the congregation grumbled against the leaders, Joshua explained that breaking the oath by attacking the Gibeonites would cause God’s wrath to be unleashed against the Israelites again. So the Israelites had to be content to make the Gibeonites their slaves.

God doesn’t waste anything in His economy. He can even take our bad choices and make something beautiful and beneficial from them.

We serve a God of the second chance, the third chance . . . the 65th chance, and so on. We should be thankful we don’t serve a God who has the mindset of “one and done.” He’s a God of mercy and grace.

So the Gibeonites became slaves with no social standing with Israel. As long as they stayed in this role and did not try to influence Israel away from God’s will, God would protect them. But if they failed to do so, God would deal with them.

The Gibeonites never did rebel against Israel. Because of their exposure to the altar of the Lord, they became believers, went into captivity with the Jews when they were exiled to Babylon, later helped to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem, and even stayed faithful to God when Israel chased after false gods.

The consequences of our actions may not be fully removed until we get to heaven. However, we can rest assured of 1 John 1:9 (NASB): “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” God will deliver us from being victimized by our bad decisions now!