And the LORD said unto Joshua, Fear them not: for I have delivered them into thine hand; Joshua 10:8a
They seemed legitimate enough. Their clothes and shoes were worn. The saddlebags on their camels were tattered and bore evidence of a long trip. Even the bread they carried was moldy. They looked like they had been on the road a long time. Truth was however their city was only a short distance away. They were a large city and were afraid that Joshua and the Israelites would see them as a threat and destroy them as they had all the other cities in Canaan. They asked Joshua to make an alliance with them. Since they were from far away Joshua saw no reason not to and agreed to an alliance with them. His error, however, was pointed out for us in verse 14. “And the men took of their victuals, and asked not counsel at the mouth of the LORD.” They forgot to pray about it. The wily people of Gibeon took advantage of them. This was borne out sometime later when the Gibeonites were threatened by other kings of the area. They came to Joshua and demanded that he come to defend them because of their “league’. Joshua must have felt taken advantage of. However, God told him, “Fear them not: for I have delivered them into thine hand.” (Joshua 10:8) It had been God’s plan all along to drive the people of Canaan out of the land and give it to the Israelites. God used the deception of The Gibeonites to accomplish His purpose.
The young man stood in the missionary’s doorway with a smile and said, “Hello, will you be friend?” Of course the missionary was thrilled. He had been praying for contact with the people and here was the first person he had met. The friendship lasted about a week. The young man would come by and visit for about an hour each day. They would speak in English. His English was weak and he asked a lot of questions about correct word usage and common expressions. Then one day, he stopped coming. After a time the missionary ran into him in town and asked why he had stopped coming. The boy smiled and simply said, “I no need to. I passed my English test. Good by.” The missionary felt that he had been taken advantage of. Then he thought, maybe this had been in God’s plan all along. He had spoken to the boy about faith in Jesus at length. He would pray that God would bring that seed to fruition. God communicated to the young man the truth of His love for him through the missionary. It was just that the missionary had to be taken advantage of to accomplish this.
The child of God is moved by divine appointment. Just as God, delivered the five kings of the Amorites into the hands of Joshua, He guides us to whom He wants to communicate His love. Therefore we should . . . .
Fear not, to be taken advantage of.
[podcast]https://lifeabovefear.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Fear-Not-To-Be-Taken-Advantage-Of.mp3[/podcast]
