When Joshua led the Israelites to take Jericho, they won the war simply by praising God. However, a little strategy was used when the Israelites took Ai. We can see that sometimes God allows us to use our means as well. Sometimes God cures people only with His words, but God also cures people through actions. For example, Jesus made mud with his saliva and put it on the blind man’s eyes, and Jesus asked the man to wash in the Pool of Siloam. Our God is not like the other idols, and Christianity is not the same as other traditional religions in Taiwan. Our God doesn’t have to work through certain rituals; He is very flexible. God can work in many different ways. God allowed people of Gibeon to use trick to protect their lives, because He is full of love and mercy.
Why was God so cruel to the people in Canaan? In Deuteronomy 21, God commanded Joshua not to leave alive anything that breathes, including the Girgashites mentioned in Deuteronomy 7. God asked Joshua to do this because He wanted to protect the Israelites from the idols and sins of the Gentiles. If the people of Canaan were left alive, they would led the Israelites away from God. In fact, God had been very patient with the Canaanites; from the time Abraham left Ur at the age of 75 to the time when Joshua came, God has given the Canaanites at least 685 years to repent, but they did not seize the chance.
Pride is the most difficult thing to deal with. It is common for people to be unwilling to believe in God’s righteousness, or to think that they do not need God because they consider themselves gods. Righteousness for man is to see themselves as above everything, but righteousness for God is to believe in His plan with pure faith. So as to let us understand Him and to let us know His will and purpose for us, God allows us to know His heart, which is why we have the Bible. Man like to rationalize everything, but there are so many things in the Bible that cannot be rationalized. All we can do is to obey God’s words. When there are things we don’t understand, we just need to trust God. Pure faith will lead us to God’s blessings.
Christians believe that God has a plan for everything, because God controls all things. Therefore, no matter if we encounter good or bad things, they are all in God’s hand, and nothing happens coincidentally. All things God works for the good of those who love him, so we should give thanks to and praise God for everything at all times. By doing so, you surely will witness a changed life, because you will know for certain that God has control of all things. The ruse of the Gibeon succeeded, but it wasn’t an accident; it was permitted by God. Throughout all Canaan, only the Gibeon and Rahab’s family were spared because they believed in God after hearing about Him. Christians are also sinners who were once damned, but now they will receive a hundred times as much as what give to Christ in this present age, and they will receive eternal life in the age to come; all these just because of their faith in God.
God’s predestination for you will create a different life for you because of your conscientiousness.
