Today's Passage - Joshua 9:16-21

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Joshua 9:16-21    ...But the Israelites did not attack them, because the leaders of the assembly had sworn an oath to them by the Lord, the God of Israel. The whole assembly grumbled against the leaders, 19 but all the leaders answered, "We have given them our oath by the Lord, the God of Israel, and we cannot touch them now.  This is what we will do to them: We will let them live, so that God's wrath will not fall on us for breaking the oath we swore to them." They continued, "Let them live, but let them be woodcutters and water carriers in the service of the whole assembly." So the leaders' promise to them was kept.     The Israelites didn't seek God and they were deceived by the Gibeonites. Three days later, they found out that they were tricked. It turned out that the Gibeonites stayed near the camp of the Israelites, and immediately there were disputes among the Israelites about what to do next. If they had asked God earlier, what would have been the outcome? Were they going to find out that the Gibeonites deceived them, and thus would have killed them all? Wouldn't that have defeated the intention of the Gibeonites to humbly seek peace? Had the Israelites asked God about this, God would have told them about the deceptive ployt of the Gibeonites, and God would have commanded Israelites to deal with the Gibeonites but to spare their lives to demonstrate that God is merciful.   Why would God have mercy have the Gibeonites? After the Israelites discovered their deception, by human nature they would have attacked the Gibeonites in rage and slaughtered them all. Instead, they sought God's will, and God said "We have given them our oath by the Lord, the God of Israel, and we cannot touch them now," and therefore they allowed he Gibeonites to live. If they had asked God earlier, they would have avoided the complaints and disgruntles by the assembly, thus brought much humiliation to the leaders. If they still wouldn't repent and didn't want to repent before God, they would have made the greater mistake of slaughtering the Gibeonites. Asking God and not asking God indeed made a huge difference!   On the other hand, Israelites showed great respect for God. They had sworn an oath before God, and even though the outcome was different from what they had thought they were willing to take on the responsibility from the oath. That shows their respect for God. This is an important lesson for the believers - We must respect our oath with God! When you respect God and willing to follow God's commands, God will have to respect you, bless you and reward you. In the process go God's guidance, even though we may not know what happens next, His promises are true. We must believe and depend on Him so that we will be blessed and others will be blessed because of you!   Pray with Pastor Tong       Lord Jesus, we thank you, and the more I think about your grace and mercy I want to thank you more. May the Lord grant us merciful heart and spirit of wisdom right now, so that we may live out your will in any circumstance. I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!