Have you ever noticed the strange feeling that encompasses you as you openly and intentionally tell a lie? You know the feeling, for some reason you feel that you cannot tell the truth, so you resort back to the oldest sin in God’s Book, lying. For whatever reason you feel that the truth just isn’t good enough for the moment, so your mind starts working on the best alternative to the truth it can concoct. The mind bends, spins and alters the facts into what seems to be better. I vividly recall those moments in my life, standing in front of someone, looking them in the eyes and lying to their face. Not moments I’m proud of, but if we’re all honest, we’ve all had those bitter moments. You know, even with our inherited sin nature, lying is just not natural for us. We know we’re fixing to do it and we get pushback from somewhere within. We know when we’re doing it and we feel the resistance to stop. And when that lie is found out, we feel awful for the bad thing we have done. So, what happens when you get just a little too comfortable with the lies you tell? What happens when living a lie becomes just a little too easy?
I’ve read fascinating studies about being able to physically spot signs that people are actively lying. Certain hand gestures, eye contact, fidgeting, color of complexion and even certain words being used can all give you valuable clues that lies are being distributed in your direction. It’s rather an odd thought to think that telling the truth is so natural to the body God gave us. When we speak the truth, our body is at rest, natural and at ease. Yet when we lie, our body moves into a state of discomfort. As we force our body to defy the truth, our body seems to be at unease with the choice. It seems that God built into us a mechanism that can alert others to our untruthful ways. Interesting.
Today in Joshua chapter 9 we will see one epic example of fraud and misrepresentation due to people’s innate ability to lie and do it well. Joshua and the Israelites have just conquered Jericho and Ai which were in central Canaan and they are now looking to continue through the central region, effectively splitting the Promised Land in two, divide and conquer. After they complete this “splitting” they will engage in two different battle campaigns, one to conquer the north and then one to control the south. But after their first two resounding victories, all the surrounding peoples are more than a little terrified. You see, God had commanded that no man, woman or child be left alive, so the enemies of God quickly learned that they were as good as dead. So instead of fighting with honor, one city, Gibeon, starts the gears turning and they cook up a plan. A plan entirely based around a lie.
The Gibeonites distress their clothes, beat up their sandals, tear up and patch their wine skins and let some fresh bread sit out in the sun to become dry and brittle. They approach the Israelite camp and pretend to be nomads from a faraway land, carefully pointing out how old and worn their clothes and provisions are. They ask for a peace treaty with the Israelites and offer to be their servants. Now normally this would not have been that unusual of a request, but God had given Joshua very clear directions on conduct while conquering the Promised Land. All opposing people were to die, and no treaties or covenants were to be made…period. You see, God’s plan was simple, to completely clear the Promised Land of all the evil people that had rejected Him for over 400 years. In doing this, His judgement upon them would be complete and it would also eliminate all of the evil and vile practices that these people embraced. As a result, God’s people would have no temptations to worship false god’s, practice idolatry and perform the vile "worship acts" of these pagans. Signing a pact with one of these people groups would be a big no-no, but guess exactly what happens?
The Gibeonites are excellent liars and excellent actors (sometimes they go hand in hand don’t they?) and they convince Joshua and the leaders that they are exactly who they say they are. In the process we are told this valuable piece of information:
“So the men took some of their provisions, but did not ask counsel from the Lord. And Joshua made peace with them and made a covenant with them, to let them live, and the leaders of the congregation swore to them.” Joshua 9:14-15
Oops. They forgot God. How about a quick side lesson? How many times in our life do we make this same egregious mistake? Maybe we think the situation is too small to bother God with or maybe we just think that some smaller decisions we can figure out on our own. It brings up a great question…should we really pray to God about every single decision in our lives? Just last week I had a friend that was having health problems with his dog. He is a single guy and loves his dog and cares for it greatly, it’s his kid. As it was sick, he told me he prayed for his dog. Later he told, me, you probably think I’m silly for praying for my dog, huh? The answer to his question firmly lies in what you think of God. You see, I think many people greatly limit God and therefore do not include Him in many of their life decisions. They limit the power and inclusion of God by putting limits on what they think God cares about in their life. But folks, if you know God like I hope you do, you will experience a God that cares about every single thing in your life from your dog to your marriage, to your soul to your income, to your joy to your salvation. There is nothing that is important to you that is not important to God. Marge and I are in constant prayer to God about anything and everything in our lives that is our of our control…and folks, that is everything. In fact, most people would be shocked if they heard the prayers that rise up out of the Potter house. We pray about everything. Pray to God about all that concerns you, He wants to hear your heart…all of it.
“ Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” 1 Thess 5:16-18
So, Joshua and the elders got snookered. They got tricked, lied to, defrauded, the wool pulled over their eyes, duped, fooled, hoodwinked, deceived, bamboozled. They thought they were hearing the truth but they were hearing nothing but lies. As I mentioned in yesterday’s study, the first three cities the Israelites conquer get a lot of page time in the Bible and for good reason. They all represent and symbolize things we continue to struggle with today. Jericho represented the world, Ai represented the flesh and today, the Gibeonites, represent satan. Satan is the master liar, the ultimate deceiver, the perfect trickster. His deception can find us in the moments of our life where, like Joshua, we are ready to trust and hear the truth from others.
You see, Joshua had trust in His heart but the Gibeonites had deception within theirs. A clash of good and evil that happens everyday within our world today. As we witness deception in our world today, notice that it takes two to tango, one to deceive and one to be deceived. One to lie and one to be lied to. One to believe and one to betray. Folks, if you are comfortable in lying and deceiving, living within a world of fraud, satan can greatly use that to his advantage. You see, there are a great many trusting people out there today that simply want to believe in the good in people. We see these people being taken advantage of by modern day Gibeonites every day. I just saw that one deceptive organization got shut down recently for selling fake Corona vaccines. And before they were closed, business was booming from those that chose to believe them.
Today, refuse to live in a lie. Walk in the truth, live in the truth and represent the truth. Respect and speak with people just as you want to be respected and spoken to. Refuse to speak nothing but the absolute truth to all you encounter, knowing that the evil one can and will use every lie to his advantage. Don’t give him a foothold of allowing a lie into your life and the lives of those around you. Like a man once told me, “the great thing about the truth is that no matter how many times you tell it, it never changes.”
Love God and love others by speaking the truth.
“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. Matt 22:36-39
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