Truth: God’s sovereign grace overcomes man’s sin and foolishness. His sovereign grace in this case overcomes the Gibeonites sin and Joshua’s foolishness. God uses the sin and foolishness of people to accomplish His purposes of making worshipers out of every nation in the world.

Response: Do you seek God in the decisions of your life, or do you simply rely on your own understanding and what makes sense to you? If we don’t know God’s word, we don’t have a chance of making godly decisions. We must also seek God through prayer. Pray now for God’s wisdom in a decision you need to make in your life today.  

Truth: Trust that God’s sovereign grace can overcome the foolish decisions of your past. Joshua and the leaders of Israel acted foolishly when they failed to seek the Lord regarding the Gibeonites. The Gibeonites sinned by deceiving the Israelites. God’s sovereign grace overcame their foolishness and sin and worked it for good.

Response: Do you often feel defeated because of a foolish decision in the past? Ask God for the faith and trust to rest in the fact that He will redeem the foolish choices of your past and work through them to accomplish His good purposes today. Don’t be defeated by your sinful past. 

Truth: Release into God’s sovereign grace whatever remains in your heart from the sin of others. The Gibeonites sinned against Israel. Israel’s first inclination was retaliation. Israel’s leaders stood firm and would not dishonor the name of God. God’s sovereign grace empowers the people of God to make these types of decisions.

Response: What is your first inclination when others sin against you? Don’t hold on to anger, cynicism, lack of trust, or any other kind of residue that is left behind from the sins of others. Release all of it into God’s sovereign grace. Trust that He will vindicate you and use the sins people commit against you according to His good purposes.

Truth: Hope in God’s sovereign grace to save sinners from every nation. God spares a lying, pagan nation called Gibeon, and makes them servants in His house. This shows us that God’s sovereign grace is greater than man’s sin and lostness.

Response: What gives you confidence that God can actually save that lost person if you continue to share Christ with them? Be engaged in international missions and in local evangelism because God’s sovereign grace is able to save sinners from every nation.

Family Response

Truth:  The Israelites’ natural reaction was to act out and hurt the Gibeonites because of the wrong they had done to Israel.  The Israelites felt justified for their harsh response because the Gibeonites were dishonest and tricked them first. Joshua and the other leaders said revenge was wrong for God’s people because their angry vengeance would make God look like a promise breaker.  It was more important to act out of respect for God’s reputation than it was to act out of their perspective of justice.

Response:  This inclination to react harshly when you’ve been wronged is more pronounced in some people than it is others.  If you’re raising one of these, you already know it and probably have since he/she was very young. So what do you do about it?  Teach directly from God’s Word. Repeating something like this will probably become commonplace, “Just because someone does something wrong to you doesn’t mean it’s right to do something wrong back (Luke 6:27-36).”  Pray expectantly for God’s sovereign grace. God’s saving grace by Jesus Christ is our only hope over any sin inclination; a vengeful spirit is just easier to see than some other heart conditions. Trust patiently in God’s grace to unfold in your child’s redemption story.  Even the conniving Gibeonites were transformed by God’s sovereign grace (Nehemiah 3:7; 7:25).

Prepare for Sunday, July 21, 2019