Joshua 9 Prone to Wander

Come, thou Fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing thy grace; streams of mercy, never ceasing, call for songs of loudest praise. Teach me some melodious sonnet, sung by flaming tongues above. Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it, mount of God’s redeeming love.

‘Come Thou Fount’ starts by setting before us a gospel-centred model for worship, both in corporately praising God and for giving Him glory in our day-to-day lives.

Here I raise my Ebenezer; hither by thy help I’ve come; and I hope, by thy good pleasure, safely to arrive at home. Jesus sought me when a stranger, wandering from the fold of God; he, to rescue me from danger, interposed his precious blood.

Without examining what an ‘Ebenezer’ is, we will have no idea what this verse means and so will never experience the joy found in this reference to God’s unwavering promises! This is a biblical idea, so let’s look at 1 Samuel 7:12

“Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen and called its name Ebenezer; for he said, “Till now the Lord has helped us.””

Ebenezer, composed of the Hebrew words ‘eben’ and ‘ezer’, literally means ‘stone of help’. Samuel is instructed to make a monument that will remind the Israelites that it is God who has carried them through all their troubles to where they are now.

O to grace how great a debtor daily I’m constrained to be! Let thy goodness, like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to thee. Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love; here’s my heart, O take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above.

This last verse is something that I identify with deeply. ‘O to grace how great a debtor, daily I’m constrained to be’ is saying that every day we find ourselves desperately in need of God’s grace. ‘Fetter’ is an old word for a chain, stressing that it is God who keeps us wandering from the blessings He lavishes upon us in Jesus. It is God who seals us for His courts above, promising that nothing “will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39). We are His, He will not lose us despite our attempts to run from Him and He will make us more like Jesus. I am relieved and refreshed when I remind myself that God is patient towards His adopted sons and daughters, and does not expect them to flourish in their own strength, but by the transforming power of the Holy Spirit.

Deceitfulness of the wicked

We have come from a distant land. Please make a treaty with us.”o

7 The men of Israel replied to the Hivites, “Perhaps you live among us. How can we make a treaty with you?”p

8 They said to Joshua, “We are your servants.”

Then Joshua asked them, “Who are you and where do you come from?”

9 They replied to him, “Your servants have come from a faraway land because of the reputation of the Lord your God. For we have heard of his fame, and all that he did in Egypt, 10 and all that he did to the two Amorite kings beyond the Jordan—King Sihon of Heshbon and King Og of Bashan, who was in Ashtaroth. 11 So our elders and all the inhabitants of our land told us, ‘Take provisions with you for the journey; go and meet them and say, “We are your servants. Please make a treaty with us.” ’ 12 This bread of ours was warm when we took it from our houses as food on the day we left to come to you; but see, it is now dry and crumbly. 13 These wineskins were new when we filled them; but see, they are cracked. And these clothes and sandals of ours are worn out from the extremely long journey.” 14 Then the men of Israel took some of their provisions, but did not seek the Lord’s decision. 15 So Joshua established peace with them and made a treaty to let them live, and the leaders of the community swore an oath to them.c

You are good at what you do

However, people who practice darkness are better

The deceitfulness of the devil

For one thing, it reminds us that Christians are in a spiritual war and that deceptiveness is the primary tactic of our enemy, the devil. Satan has his ‘wiles’ (Eph. 6:11). He is able to transform himself into ‘an angel of light’ (2 Cor. 11:14). He is especially fond of using ministers who are personable, warm and witty to distort the truth and deceive the people.

Ephesians 6:10–13 (ESV)

10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.

11Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.

12For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

13Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.

2 Corinthians 11:14–15 (ESV)

14And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.

15So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.

Guidance

but did not seek the Lord’s decision.

The importance of seeking guidance

This passage also reminds us of the importance of the people of God continually seeking the mind of God.

One commentator writes, ‘No proposed course of conduct can be so clear to a Christian as to excuse him from the duty of seeking direction from above.’3

We must ever realize how easily we can be deceived and constantly take as our motto the words of Proverbs 3:5–6.

We do not ask for help because........Pride

Proverbs 3:5–8 (ESV)

5Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.

6In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

7Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.

8It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.

Moving Fwd

How do you move forward after the mistake.....

A final lesson for us has to do with living with our mistakes. The devil would have us believe that sin disqualifies us from doing anything for the Lord! He uses this argument because he knows the effectiveness of putting as many Christians as possible on the sidelines.

Joshua’s handling of the Gibeonites shows us the right path.

We are to go on serving the Lord with our Gibeonites in our midst.

we are not to ignore our sins or pretend that they did not happen

but we also are not to let them cripple us or keep us from usefulness in the future.

These Reminder should help us fly right

Let us get our Gibeonites under control, and let’s make them serve us while we serve the Lord. How can our Gibeonites serve us? They humble us by reminding us how weak we are and how we constantly need to look to the Lord for guidance. God can always use humble people.