A Promise Is a Promise

Well, I've uh I've mentioned this many different times from this pulpit, um, just how much I enjoy sitcoms and movies from the 80s and 90s, because that was the time frame of my childhood.

Uh, but even if your mileage may vary a little bit on that particular era of entertainment, nonetheless, I think we can all agree on one thing, that one of the best ways to make a solid movie in the 1990s was to at least make sure that it included Nicolas Cage.

Conair, right?

Great film.

They don't make him like that anymore.

Masterful script writing.

But in addition to some of those action movies that everybody loves, like Conair or The Rock or Face Off, he also had a handful of romantic comedies in the 90s, which weren't quite as popular, but one of them was called It Could Happen to You.

Maybe you remember this movie.

Nicholas Cage plays a police officer in New York City who made a ridiculous promise to a waitress at a diner.

Because after stopping in there for lunch one day, he and his partner receive an emergency call on their radio, and so they have to rush out of there quickly.

But on his way out the door, he realizes he does not have enough cash on hand to leave a tip for his waitress, and he feels bad about this.

So he makes her this crazy offer, even though she's a complete stranger.

He says, I'll make you a deal.

I have a lottery ticket in my wallet.

If I win the New York lottery tonight, then I will come back here tomorrow and I will split the winnings with you.

But even if I don't win, I'll still come back tomorrow and I'll double your tip from today.

But either way, you'll see me again tomorrow.

And of course, she doesn't believe him because he's a complete stranger, she's never met him before, but she just kind of goes along with it thinking she'll probably never see him again.

Well, the next day he comes back to the diner and he says to the waitress, All right, I'll tell you what, you get to pick.

What do you want?

Do you want half of what we won in the lottery, or do you want double the tip from yesterday?

She kind of rolls her eyes because she thinks the whole thing is just a scam, but she decides to go ahead and play along and she says, Okay, fine, I'll take half of the lottery, pay up.

What did we win?

Expecting it to be basically nothing.

And he looks back at her and says, Well, we got pretty lucky.

We won four million dollars.

And at first she gets mad at him because she thinks this whole thing is just a sick joke, but he insists that he's telling the truth, and she says, So you actually won the lottery.

You won the lottery, and you're telling me that you're going to split it with me, a complete stranger.

To which he replies and simply says, A promise is a promise.

In fact, a couple scenes later, when they're officially collecting their winnings, there's a bunch of reporters there that are asking him questions, trying to make sense of this, because they've never seen anything like this before, where a cop splits the winnings in a lottery 50-50 with a complete stranger, and he just repeats that same line to those people again.

He just says, A promise is a promise.

Now the truth is, when I was younger, I didn't really pick up on the fact that this movie is largely about infidelity, so it's not actually a great story.

But nonetheless, in the midst of an otherwise problematic plot line, there's still this little nugget in there about sticking by your word, even when it is costly to do so.

Doing what you said you were going to do, even when you would really rather not follow through on it.

We're looking at Joshua chapter 9 this morning, which from a big picture storyline perspective serves as kind of an interesting little interval in the story of Joshua, because last week in chapter 8, God gave his people victory in battle against the inhabitants of Ai.

Joshua 9 · chapter mention

And next week in chapter 10, he's going to give them victory in battle once again against more kings and more inhabitants of the land.

But this week in chapter 9, the narrator gives us this little break from the battling to describe a fascinating interaction between the Israelites and a group of people called the Gibeonites.

And within this interaction, among other things, we see Joshua ultimately stick by his word, even when it is costly for him to do so.

Because a promise is a promise.

Now we're going to walk through our passage in two parts today, which are the following: a stupid decision in verses 1 through 15, and a surprising solution in verses 16 through 27.

So, first, the Gibeonites conspire to trick the Israelites, and they stupidly decide to take the bait.

And then second, Joshua and the Israelite leaders have to try to make the most of this messy situation that they have created.

So we've got a stupid decision, and then we've got a surprising solution.

So we'll go ahead and jump right into part one of our passage, a stupid decision in verses one through fifteen of Joshua chapter nine.

We're going to read through this again.

As soon as all the kings who are beyond the Jordan, in the hill country and in the lowland, all along the coast of the Great Sea, toward the Lebanon, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizites, the Hivites, and the Jebuzites, heard of this.

They gathered together as one to fight against Joshua and Israel.

But when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai, they on their part acted with cunning, and went and made ready provisions, and took worn out sacks for the donkeys and wineskins, worn out and torn and mended, with worn out patched sandals on their feet, and worn out clothes, and all their provisions were dry and crumbly, and they went to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal and said to him and to the men of Israel, We have come from a distant country, so now make a covenant with us.

But the men of Israel said to the Hivites, Perhaps you live among us, then how can we make a covenant with you?

They said to Joshua, We are your servants.

And Joshua said to them, Who are you?

And where do you come from?

They said to him, From a very distant country, your servants have come, because of the name of the Lord your God.

For we heard a 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, to Sihon, the king of Heshbon, and to Ag the King of Bashan, who lived in Ashtaroth.

So our elders and all the inhabitants of our country said to us, Take provisions in your hand for the journey and go to meet them, and say to them, We are your servants.

Come now, make a covenant with us.

Here is our bread.

It was still warm when we took it from our houses as our food for the journey on the day that we set out to come to you, but now, behold, it is dry and crumbly.

These wineskins were new when we filled them, and behold, they have burst, and these garments and sandals of ours are worn out from the very long journey.

So the men took some of their provisions, but did not ask counsel from the Lord.

And Joshua made peace with them and made a covenant with them to let them live, and the leaders of the congregation swore to them.

Alright, so this chapter opens with both similarities and differences to some of the details that we have already seen in previous chapters.

For example, we've already been told on multiple occasions, such as back in chapter 2 and in chapter 5, that the inhabitants of Canaan have been hearing all of these reports about the God of Israel and all that he had been doing, all the way back from the Exodus out of Egypt to the crossing of the Jordan River and everything in between.

They've been hearing all these stories about the God of Israel.

However, up to this point, each time that we've been told that, it's been in the context of the Canaanites trembling with fear.

Verse 1 of chapter 5 specifically says that their hearts melted within them because of the people of Israel.

So thus far, the kings and inhabitants of the Promised Land were terrified every time they heard a new report about the Israelites.

But this time, at the beginning of chapter 9, rather than continuing to tremble with fear, we're told that all of the kings beyond the Jordan decided to team up together and fight against Israel after they, quote, heard of this.

Which begs the question after they heard of what?

What did they hear about that gave them this sudden boost of confidence to now try to team up and join forces to beat Israel?

Well, remember, in chapter 7, the Israelites were defeated at Ai because of the sin of Achan.

But then in chapter 8, the Lord gave them victory over Ai.

And then the chapter ends with this covenant renewal ceremony where Joshua read the whole law of Moses out loud in front of the whole nation.

And then immediately after that, all of the Canaanite kings joined forces to fight against Israel.

So presumably, the latest report that these kings had heard may have been the fact that Israel was currently distracted.

They were renewing their covenant and worshiping their God.

So maybe now was the time to strike.

They had just built an altar, they were making sacrifices and offerings, they were worshiping Yahweh together.

So maybe if the kings all join forces right now and strike while the iron's hot, Israel will have their guard down and they won't be ready for it.

From a political and military perspective, it's actually not a terrible strategy.

But what's interesting is that out of all the Canaanite groups that could potentially do this, that could team up together to take on Israel, the one that chooses not to do so in this chapter, ironically, may have actually been the most powerful one of all of them who could have done the most damage.

We're told in chapter 10 that Gibeon was a great city, greater than Ai, and all of its men were warriors.

So if there was like a fantasy football draft for which city you would want to join your team to take on Israel, Gibeon would have been a first-round pick.

The Gibeonite men were mighty warriors.

They knew how to fight, they had experience in battle.

And yet they're the one people group in this chapter that decides to take a completely different approach with the Israelites.

Rather than joining forces with this newly formed coalition of kings and cities, the text says that when Gibeon heard of everything that had happened at Jericho and Ai, they decided to act with cunning rather than fighting.

So apparently the Gibeonites had taken account of everything that's happened over the past few chapters, and they said to each other, look, we know how to fight, and we're typically ready to throw down with just about anybody.

That's usually not an issue for us.

But this God that the Israelites call Yahweh is on a whole other level.

I mean, they completely destroyed the city of Jericho by marching around the walls for a week.

That was crazy.

And sure, they had this temporary setback at AI, but that seemed to be self-inflicted, and then they figured it out and they wiped the floor with AI.

So, yes, we could join forces with all these other kings, all these other cities, but it's starting to seem like whoever fights against Israel's God is guaranteed to lose.

So maybe we should rethink our strategy just a little.

As the old saying goes, if you can't beat them, join them.

So the Gibeonites conspire together and they formulate this sneaky plan.

And here's what they do: they they gather together as many worn-out and junky supplies as they can possibly find.

They grab some old, worn-out sacks and worn-out wineskins and sandals and clothes, and they grab some old stale food that's completely dry and crumbly.

And the reason they do this is because they're about to go speak with Joshua, and they want to make it look like they've been traveling for a very, very long time from a very, very far distance.

They want the appearance of having journeyed for months upon months upon months, for hundreds upon hundreds of miles, even though in reality Gibeon was less than 20 miles west of Israel's camp at Gilgal.

So the actual distance was less than one day of walking.

But nonetheless, the Gibeonites they move forward with their plan by disguising a group of them in these worn-out clothes, with worn-out supplies and crusty food, and they go see Joshua at Gilgal and say to him, We have come from a distant country, so make a covenant with us.

Now, the specific strategy that the Gibeonites use here is actually much craftier than initially meets the eye.

In fact, this has caused many commentators to wonder if maybe somehow some of the inhabitants of the land of Canaan had been learning about some of the Israelite laws that had been written down by Moses.

Because in Deuteronomy chapter 7, the Israelites are explicitly prohibited from making a covenant with any of the Canaanites in the promised land.

Deuteronomy 7 · chapter mention

And God specifically says that if you do so, they will turn your families away from me to worship and serve their false gods, and they will pull you into their sinful, idolatrous, debaucherous way of life.

So under no circumstances were the Israelites allowed to make a covenant or a treaty or an agreement with any of the kings or the cities in the land of Canaan.

However, in Deuteronomy chapter 20, there were different instructions given for people from faraway cities who were outside of the promised land.

Deuteronomy 20 · chapter mention

In those instances, terms of peace can be offered, and an agreement can sometimes be reached, as long as those cities were not trying to make war against Israel.

So those laws were slightly different, but the law of Moses was very clear.

Under no circumstances could they compromise or make a covenant or an agreement with any of the Canaanite cities, but under select circumstances, they could make a covenant or an agreement with faraway cities outside of Canaan.

And that being the case, commentators wonder if maybe the Gibeonites knew about these laws, because they specifically went to great lengths to disguise themselves as distant, faraway travelers, before going to Joshua and then telling him, we have come from a very faraway place.

So please, let's come to an agreement of some kind.

Make a covenant with us.

It's almost as though they knew that Israel had this different set of laws for making treaties with faraway cities than they did for cities within Canaan.

But regardless of whether or not they knew those details or not, their sneaky plan is fully in motion.

But the initial response they receive from the men of Israel is definitely one of skepticism.

The men say, Well, how do we know that you came from faraway?

How do we know you don't actually live right here?

And if you do live right here, we can't do that.

We can't make a covenant with you.

So at first they're they're careful, they're measured, they're skeptical, they don't want anyone to pull one over on them.

So the the start of this interaction is actually pretty good for them.

But unfortunately, the conversation that follows just kind of reads like a sad comedy.

Because there's no way it should have been this easy to fool them.

Joshua asks them, Who are you?

Where are you from?

But they don't even actually answer his question.

They just say, Oh, we've come from a really faraway place.

You've probably never heard of it.

It's one of those one-horse towns, not a lot going on there.

It doesn't even show up on most maps.

We've come from really, really far away.

But reports have slowly made their way over to us about your God, Yahweh, and everything that he did for you back in Egypt and against the kings, Sihon and Og in the wilderness, and we just couldn't believe what we were hearing.

And we said to ourselves, man, we need to go meet these people.

We need to take the best that our land has to offer.

We need to grab our best position uh provisions from our faraway country, and we need to go make a covenant with these people.

And here, look at the bread that we bought.

When we left our house, it was still fresh and warm, but but we've been traveling for so long that now it's crumbly and stale.

And like, look at our clothes.

When we first left, they were nice and new, but we've been coming from so far away that now they're basically falling off of us because it took us so long to get here.

On the one hand, it feels like kind of an obvious scam.

But on the other hand, they are actually being somewhat careful with their words, because notice that when they mentioned all the reports that they've heard about, they purposely did not mention the most recent ones of Jericho and AI, because those events just happened and they happened very close by.

So they made sure to avoid those details because they don't want to undermine their own story and blow their cover.

Instead, they specifically only mentioned things that happened a long time ago very far away, so that it seemed somewhat legit that those rumors maybe had spread to a faraway country.

But still, even if they are being somewhat careful with their words, you would think that Joshua, this victorious battle warrior, would be smart enough to see right through this.

You'd think he'd be sensible enough not to fall for something like this, and yet we are told that in response to this half-baked story, the men of Israel took their provisions, Joshua made a covenant with them and swore not to harm them.

And I think the craziest part about this is the fact that rather than slowing down and carefully and deeply considering all of this, literally all they did was taste test the stale bread and give it a thumbs up.

All it says is the men took some of their provisions, which means after this weird and suspicious story from the Gibeonites, the only thing they did to test their claims was eat some of the crumbly bread.

And apparently after doing so, they they ate it and they just kind of looked around at each other and like, yep, tastes old.

Joshua, the bread seems pretty old, so it must mean only one thing.

They're telling the truth.

They came from really far away.

And the next thing you know, a covenant is being made.

But even though that's the craziest part, that's actually not the saddest part.

The saddest part comes in the second half of verse 14, where it says they did not ask counsel from the Lord.

In other words, they didn't pray.

This was a completely prayerless decision by Joshua and his fellow leaders in Israel.

And in Numbers 27, it mentions the fact that Joshua, as the leader of the nation, was supposed to regularly go to Eliezer the priest to inquire before the Lord for wise decision making.

This was kind of an old covenant version or method for praying for wisdom and guidance with decision-making.

This is something he was specifically told to do on a regular basis.

Slow down, go before the priest, and inquire before the Lord so that you don't screw up things for the nation.

But in this particular instance, instead of doing that, instead of bathing the decision in prayer and asking the Lord for guidance, they put all of their trust in this lame story from some strangers they've never met and in the taste of some moldy bread that easily could have been moldy for any other reason other than traveling from far away.

And because of that, they allowed themselves to be duped into violating the law of Moses and entering into a covenant agreement with a Canaanite city, which God explicitly told them never to do because of the egregious and disgusting sins of the Canaanites.

This is a pretty stupid decision, not Joshua's best moment.

But as stupid as it was, Joshua and the Israelite leaders, they now have to try to make the most of a messy situation by arriving at a surprising solution.

As we continue into part two of our passage with verses 16 through 27.

We'll go ahead and read through it.

At the end of three days after they had made a covenant with them, they heard that they were their neighbors and that they lived among them.

And the people of Israel set out and reached their cities on the third day.

Now their cities were Gibeon, Shaphira, Biroth, and Kiriath Jiram.

But the people of Israel did not attack them, because the leaders of the congregation had sworn to them by the Lord, the God of Israel.

Then all the congregation murmured against the leaders.

But all the leaders said to the congregation, We have sworn to them by the Lord, the God of Israel, and now we may not touch them.

This we will do to them.

Let them live, lest wrath be upon us because of the oath that we swore to them.

And the leaders said to them, Let them live.

So they became cutters of wood and drawers of water for all the congregation, just as the leaders had said to them.

Joshua summoned them, and he said to them, Why did you deceive us, saying, We are very far from you when you dwell among us?

Now therefore you are cursed, and some of you shall never be anything but servants, cutters of wood, and drawers of water for the house of my God.

But they answered Joshua, Because it was told to your servants for a certainty that the Lord your God had commanded his servant Moses to give you all the land, and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land from before you.

We feared greatly for our lives because of you, and we did this thing.

And now, behold, we are in your hand.

Whatever seems good and right in your sight to do to us, do it.

So he did this to them and delivered them out of the hand of the people of Israel, and they did not kill them.

But Joshua made them that day cutters of wood and drawers of water for the congregation and for the altar of the Lord, to this day in the place that he should choose.

Alright, we're going to pick up the pace through the rest of this passage.

But a few days after making this covenant, somehow the Israelites receive word that they had been fooled.

We don't know exactly how they found out about this.

It doesn't specifically say, but it seems like maybe somebody told them, You guys got played.

These people live right here in the land.

In fact, they're spread out among four different cities in the land, Gibeon, Shaphirah Biroth, and Kiriath Jiram.

So upon hearing this, Joshua and the Israelites immediately set out to confront them in these cities.

But when they do so, the result of that confrontation is not exactly what you would expect, because the truth is, technically speaking, this covenant is fraudulent.

The whole thing is a complete sham.

The Gibeonites lied about who they were, they lied about where they were from, and they even dressed up in costumes to try to sell their story.

So to the average Israelite, this probably wasn't all that complicated.

It's pretty simple.

The Gibeonites lied.

The covenant is null and void.

It's simple as that.

The only thing left to do is go confront them and do what should have been done in the first place and take care of business.

It's pretty straightforward.

This is not that hard.

But that's not at all what happens.

Instead, when they go to confront them, Joshua and his leaders make their position very clear to all of the Israelite people.

Do not touch them.

Do not attack them.

Do not harm them at all, because we swore to them by the Lord that we would let them live.

Instead, they're going to come work for us.

They'll be cutters of wood, drawers of water within the nation of Israel, and nobody is allowed to fight with them in any way, shape, or form.

Do not bother them.

And the narrator makes it clear that this decision was not well received by the people.

In fact, we're told that the congregation murmured and complained against their leaders.

So everybody thought this was a complete joke.

They're just thinking these people lied.

They tricked us into breaking one of our own laws.

Why would we not just get rid of them and be done with it?

This is easy.

But despite his plummeting approval rating as the leader of the nation, Joshua's orders are clear that the Gibeonites are not to be touched.

But he does have some questions for them.

He asks them, Why did you do this?

Why did you deceive us?

Why did you tell us that you came from far away if you actually live right here in the land of Canaan?

And in a moment of complete and total honesty, for the first time in this entire interaction, we see complete honesty.

And they tell him, Because we heard that your God Yahweh had told this guy Moses that he was giving you all of this land.

And we were afraid because after what happened with Jericho and Ai, it is clear your God never loses a fight.

So we came up with this crazy plan to try to save ourselves, but we get it, okay?

We lied, we cheated, we know the agreement probably is null and void.

So whatever seems good and right to you, that is what you should do.

If Joshua was waiting for an opening to have a free shot without feeling bad about it, this was that moment.

They teed it up for him perfectly.

Whatever seems good and right is what you should do.

In other words, if it seems good and right for you to kill us, then go ahead and do it.

We understand.

This was Joshua's opportunity to save face with the people, do damage control to his reputation, and take out the deceitful Gibeonites.

But instead, he arrives at this surprising solution.

And the last two verses of the chapter say that he did this to them.

But Joshua made them that day cutters of wood and drawers of water for the congregation and for the altar of the Lord.

So not only did he spare their lives and protect them from harm, but on top of that, he gave them jobs to do for the altar of the Lord, which means that from that day forward, for generations to come, the Gibeonite people were given the distinct privilege and role of tending to the altar for sin offerings within Israel.

The people who lied to Joshua and deceived their way into a covenant were now going to work alongside the priests by tending to a key component of their entire system of worship in the nation of Israel.

To the everyday Israelite, this would have been surprising and probably infuriating.

In fact, it does kind of leave the reader wondering why.

Why did Joshua ultimately decide on this solution?

Especially with such disapproval from all of the Israelite people.

They were murmuring and complaining.

They clearly thought this whole thing was a joke.

They thought he was just ruining his reputation as a leader, ruining the nation.

Why not just take out the Gibeonites after discovering that they lied and save face?

I think the answer to that question is summarized in verse 19, when Joshua's fellow leaders say, We have sworn to them by the Lord, the God of Israel, and now we may not touch them.

See, yes, it's true that Israel was forbidden from making covenants with Canaanite cities, and yes, it's true that the Gibeonites lied and they deceived their way into this fraudulent covenant, and yes, it's true that on paper, it probably could have been considered null and void due to the fraud that took place.

All of that is true, but from Joshua's perspective, there was far much more at stake than just the agreement itself.

From his perspective, the very reputation of their God was also at stake.

He's thinking to himself, they may have lied to us and deceived us, but we still made a promise to them by the name of the Lord that we would not touch them, and I will not be responsible for tarnishing the integrity of the name of Yahweh by now going back on my word.

I won't be responsible for giving people, for giving God's people a reputation of breaking agreements and being untrustworthy and doing whatever we want.

So even if everybody hates me for it, even if it costs me popularity points with all the people, I'm sticking by my word, and I'm going to show everyone that the Lord can be trusted, that God's people can be trusted, and that a promise is a promise.

You might not want to do it anymore, and it might be painful to follow through on it, and oftentimes there's more at stake than just the thing itself.

Oftentimes what is also at stake is the reputation of the God that you worship.

If Christians become known for being untrustworthy, if we become known for going back on our word and for making promises that we decide not to keep and for saying one thing but then just doing another, we run the risk of tarnishing the reputation of Christ.

We run the risk of giving people a reason to conclude that Jesus himself cannot be trusted, that Jesus will go back on his word, that Jesus made promises that he doesn't intend to keep.

So it's imperative that as Christians, we we stick by our word even when it's costly to do so, because according to Psalm 15, one of the characteristics of faithfully following the Lord is to swear to our own hurt and still refuse to change.

Now, just to be clear, this does not apply to committing yourself to doing something that's sinful.

When we ever make a commitment that requires us to sin against God, we should always repent and change course because faithfulness to Christ is always most important.

And also it doesn't mean that we're never allowed to change our minds about anything.

Of course, it doesn't mean that.

Changing your mind very well might be the wise thing to do sometimes, but it simply means that as a general principle, Christians should be known for being trustworthy and dependable people and being people of our word as opposed to being people who never do what they say they're gonna do.

Because a promise is a promise.

Now, as good of a reminder as that is for us, which it certainly is, and as much as that is a feature of this chapter, which it definitely is, it's a core feature, there's actually far more going on in this story than initially meets the eye.

Yeah, bless you.

Because the truth is, the most important message in this chapter is not driven by the action of Joshua or the action of the Gibeonites, even though their name, their names are mentioned regularly, even though his name is never mentioned as an obvious participant in the events of the chapter, nonetheless, God's hand is sovereignly at work behind everything going on here.

And the most important message within everything that unfolds here is actually that God's mercy is more powerful than our flawed methods and our foolish mistakes.

God's mercy is more powerful than our flawed methods and our foolish mistakes.

See, for starters, the Gibeonites' methods were deeply flawed.

Like there's no getting around it.

They were liars.

They dressed up in disguise, they made up a fake story, they used their limited knowledge, maybe, of Israel's laws to their own advantage, and they fooled Joshua into making a fraudulent covenant.

They were sneaky, dishonest, deceitful people.

There's no way around it.

But at the same time, their admission to Joshua at the end of the chapter reveals that they were acting out of genuine fear.

The God of Israel was undefeated against these sinful Canaanite cities, so the Gibeonites were truly scared.

And that combination of some very limited knowledge with some very real fear created some very flawed methods to try to save themselves.

But God's mercy was more powerful than their flawed methods.

Because even though the Gibeonites had a complicated and messy start with their inclusion into God's covenant people, it didn't stay that way.

Not only did God allow them very close access to the sanctuary of the Lord as workers who tended to the altar for worship, but eventually they became such devoted servants of God that hundreds of years later in the biblical story, the Gibeonites were some of the most fervent workers who rebuilt the temple during the days of Nehemiah after the return from exile.

So even though things started off a little messy, the Lord graciously brought the Gibeonites in near to himself, as near as you can get in their way of worship, and they served him and they walked with him for generations to come.

And likewise, some people who step foot in the church for the first time have a complicated and messy start.

Maybe there's some limited knowledge and there's some genuine fear that kind of create a combination of flawed methods, and you walk into a place like this with maybe anger or resentment or hurt.

There are people who walk into church with an axe to grind or a secret agenda of some kind or with mixed motives in mind.

But God's mercy is more powerful than our flawed methods.

And just because somebody has a complicated and messy start when they first step into church does not mean that it has to stay that way.

Because just like the Gibeonites, God invites you to come in close, to draw near to him.

But this chapter didn't just contain some flawed methods, it also contained a foolish mistake.

Joshua and the Israelite leaders made a foolish mistake.

Rather than praying to the Lord for wisdom and guidance, they made a rash decision based on the story of some strangers and a brief taste test of some moldy bread.

And who knows why they chose not to pray in this situation?

Maybe their recent successes in battle had started to go to their head.

Maybe they thought they had all of this under control.

They're starting to read their own press clippings and they think we can't be stopped.

Or maybe the whole thing just seemed really believable and obvious to them.

Who knows?

But the truth is, a mistake like that could have actually been far more costly than it wound up being.

If they had allowed a story like this to fool them from a different Canaanite city, who had different motives in mind, who wanted to attack them from within, the consequences could have been terrible.

So to be this rash and careless and prayerless was extremely foolish.

But God's mercy was more powerful than their foolish mistake.

Because even though what even though they made a stupid decision in God's merciful sovereignty, it did not lead to what could have happened.

It did not lead to an attack from within.

Instead, it led to the inclusion of a people who would go on to fervently and faithfully serve the Lord for generations.

And likewise, every single one of us has made foolish mistakes.

Rather than praying to the Lord for wisdom and guidance, we often make rash decisions based on what's right in front of us.

And there's a lot of reasons why we do this.

Maybe success does start to go to our heads.

Maybe we think we've got this whole life under control, nothing can stop us, it's not that big of a deal.

Maybe things just seem obvious in the moment.

Or if we're honest, maybe prayer kind of feels like it slows things down and it's kind of annoying to stop and pray.

I'd rather just make a decision and move.

Or maybe sometimes it feels unnecessary, or we just actually lack the faith that praying actually makes a difference and that God actually answers prayer.

There's all kinds of reasons why we do this, but the reality is for Christians to be rash and careless and prayerless is extremely foolish.

But God's mercy is more powerful than our foolish mistakes.

Because even though we have made some stupid decisions, in God's merciful sovereignty, he does work all things together for his ultimate glory and for the ultimate good of his people.

So, yes, as followers of Jesus, we should be careful and prayerful in all of our decision making, and we should go to the Lord regularly for wisdom and guidance every day of our lives, but at the same time, we are not defined by our foolish mistakes or our stupid decisions that we've made in the past because the sovereign mercy and love of God are bigger and stronger than everything we've ever done.

It's the same sovereign mercy and love that caused Jesus Christ to embody Psalm 15 even better than Joshua did because he swore to his own hurt and refused to change.

With the costliest act of integrity that the world has ever seen, the Son of God took on flesh to lay down his life for your sin and mine.

And even though it cost him everything, he stuck by his word, he kept his promise, so that by grace through faith in him, we know that he can be trusted to forgive us and redeem us and never leave us.

So if you have a complicated and messy start with the church, it's okay and it doesn't have to stay that way.

Because Jesus invites you to come in close.

And if you've made some bad decisions in your past, it's okay and it doesn't have to define you, because Jesus is bigger and stronger than anything you've ever done.

So let's be prayerful people.

Let's be keep people who keep our promises.

And let's be people who remember that God's mercy is more powerful than our flawed methods and our foolish mistakes.