Thought

This story brings to light two kinds of faith: blind faith, which takes the words of others to be true without any knowledge or wisdom, and confident faith, which is built on a solid knowledge and understanding and with good reason to believe. The Israelites unwisely took the word of the people of Gibeon to be true and did not talk to God about it, and then later discovered they had been deceived. But when Joshua and the Israelites faced other enemies, they fought with confidence because they knew that the same God who could order the sun to stop in the sky was fighting for them.

Word

Joshua 10:8 NIV

The Lord said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid of them; I have given them into your hand. Not one of them will be able to withstand you.”

Question

How would you trick people?

The people of Gibeon thought of several ways to trick the people of Israel into believing the Gibeonites had traveled a long way. If you were trying to trick someone into believing you were from a distant land today, what would you do?

Challenge

It was clear that God was the one who won the battle over the Amorites at Gibeon. Look up Joshua 10:11 to see what effective weapon God used in the battle.

Prayer

God over all the earth, God who controls the sun and wind and hail and rain, I put my faith in You. Amen.