Yesterday morning I was listening to Calvary Chapel Radio New Zealand, a broadcast streamed online to the world. Packed with great scriptural content and music, I highly recommend! During yesterday's broadcast, Jon Courson provided a practical example.
He talked about how Joshua made a mistake by unwittingly making a treaty with the Gibeonites, a neighbouring group who pretended to be from a distant land. Seeing their mouldy crusts of bread and ragged clothes, Joshua believed them to be truthful. Because Joshua didn't seek the LORD, he struck a deal with enemies God had commanded Israel to drive out of the land. Not long after the rulers of Israel became aware of the plot, Joshua 9:19-21 tells us their response: "Then all the rulers said to all the congregation, "We have sworn to them by the LORD God of Israel; now therefore, we may not touch them.20 This we will do to them: We will let them live, lest wrath be upon us because of the oath which we swore to them."21 And the rulers said to them, "Let them live, but let them be woodcutters and water carriers for all the congregation, as the rulers had promised them."
This was the point Jon made in his sermon: when you make a mistake, choose to make that mistake work for you. That is what the Israelites literally did with this people who deceived them. They made them water carriers and wood cutters, people who supplied necessities for the worship of God. Joshua 9:27 says, "And that day Joshua made them woodcutters and water carriers for the congregation and for the altar of the LORD, in the place which He would choose, even to this day." What an amazing concept, that our mistakes can work for us to aid us and others in the worship of God. God is able to redeem even our foolish mistakes for His glory. Let's seek God how to make our mistakes work for us so He might be glorified and the congregation strengthened and encouraged.
He talked about how Joshua made a mistake by unwittingly making a treaty with the Gibeonites, a neighbouring group who pretended to be from a distant land. Seeing their mouldy crusts of bread and ragged clothes, Joshua believed them to be truthful. Because Joshua didn't seek the LORD, he struck a deal with enemies God had commanded Israel to drive out of the land. Not long after the rulers of Israel became aware of the plot, Joshua 9:19-21 tells us their response: "Then all the rulers said to all the congregation, "We have sworn to them by the LORD God of Israel; now therefore, we may not touch them.20 This we will do to them: We will let them live, lest wrath be upon us because of the oath which we swore to them."21 And the rulers said to them, "Let them live, but let them be woodcutters and water carriers for all the congregation, as the rulers had promised them."
This was the point Jon made in his sermon: when you make a mistake, choose to make that mistake work for you. That is what the Israelites literally did with this people who deceived them. They made them water carriers and wood cutters, people who supplied necessities for the worship of God. Joshua 9:27 says, "And that day Joshua made them woodcutters and water carriers for the congregation and for the altar of the LORD, in the place which He would choose, even to this day." What an amazing concept, that our mistakes can work for us to aid us and others in the worship of God. God is able to redeem even our foolish mistakes for His glory. Let's seek God how to make our mistakes work for us so He might be glorified and the congregation strengthened and encouraged.
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