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Saturday Thoughts on Prayer

By Dan | July 26, 2008

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I love reading Old Testament stories that make you think a little. Not long ago I made some comments on the story of Balaam and the donkey, probing what was really going on that caused so much trouble there. Recently, I was reading another Old Testament story, that of the Israelites as they encountered the people of Gibeon (Jos. 8:3-21). It’s a great story where the Gibeonites hear how the Hebrews are beating the pants off of everybody as they come to the Promised Land. They know they’re next in line, so they cook up a scheme. They put on old clothes, gather old food, and present themselves to the Israelites saying that they’ve just gotten done with a long journey from their native land and would like to make peace. They present themselves as servants, if only the Hebrews will spare them.

This sounds good to Joshua and the people, since it avoids future conflict and they assume this is a safe deal to make. After all, God said not to make peace with dwellers in Canaan, but after looking at these people, they assume that they must indeed be from a far away land.

Oops. There’s that word twice in the last paragraph- “assume”. Notice v. 14, “The men of Israel sampled their provisions but did not inquire of the Lord”. That’s a problem.

Sometimes in life, we assume too much. While some decisions are hard to make, some seem so obvious to us, or tempting, that we assume we know what is right and don’t take the time to go to God first. I think this story is a reminder to us that in decisions, especially big ones, we would be served by praying to God and letting him help guide us for a little while, lest we assume too much.