Monday, August 4, 2025
Scripture Readings
- Primary Reading: Joshua 9-10
Key Verse
Joshua 10:9 — “Joshua therefore came unto them suddenly, and went up from Gilgal all night.”
Devotional Thought
The Gibeonites come to Joshua at Gilgal with a lie strapped to their backs: old sacks, rent wineskins, clouted shoes, and bread gone dry and mouldy. They are Hivites, neighbors who should have been destroyed, yet they dress themselves as travelers from a very far country and speak reverently of the name of the LORD. Joshua and the men of Israel examined the evidence but “asked not counsel at the mouth of the LORD” (9:14), and so they made a league with deceivers. Three days later the truth came out, and the congregation murmured against the princes. Yet because the oath had been sworn by the LORD God of Israel, the princes would not break it. The Gibeonites were spared and made hewers of wood and drawers of water for the altar of the LORD.
In August, when the garden is heavy and the days are long, we are often deciding things — about money, about children, about who to trust. Like Joshua, we can hold the evidence in our hands and forget to bring it before God. A decision made in a hurry can bind us for years. But notice the mercy hidden in this failure: the Gibeonites, liars though they were, ended up serving at the altar of the LORD. God’s providence is not undone by our missteps, though our missteps still carry consequences.
Then the five Amorite kings gather against Gibeon, and Joshua must defend the very people he was tricked into protecting. He marches all night from Gilgal, and the LORD discomfits the enemy, casting great hailstones from heaven. Joshua speaks to the sun over Gibeon and the moon over Ajalon, and the sun stands still about a whole day. “There was no day like that before it or after it, that the LORD hearkened unto the voice of a man: for the LORD fought for Israel” (10:14).
The lesson is not that we should be cleverer than the Gibeonites, but that we should be a people who pray before we promise. And when we have failed, we should keep our word anyway, trusting God to work even through our weakness — for He still fights for His people, and He still hears the voice of a man.
Reflection
- Where in your life have you recently “asked not counsel at the mouth of the LORD” — making a decision on evidence alone — and what would it look like to bring that matter before Him today?
- The princes kept a costly oath because it was sworn by the LORD. Are there promises you have made that are inconvenient to keep now, and will you keep them for His name’s sake?
Prayer
LORD God of Israel, who fought for Joshua and made the sun stand still over Gibeon, teach us to seek Your counsel before we speak and before we promise. Forgive us for the leagues we have made in our own wisdom, and give us grace to keep our word even when it costs us, because Your name is upon us. Defend us as You defended Gibeon, and let no enemy stand before us. Help us to be strong and of good courage, for You are the One who fights for Your people, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.