One Simple Truth - Day 17: Permission is better than forgiveness.

“He said to them, “You are the leaders of the Levite families. You must purify yourselves and all your fellow Levites, so you can bring the Ark of the Lord, the God of Israel, to the place I have prepared for it. Because you Levites did not carry the Ark the first time, the anger of the Lord our God burst out against us. We failed to ask God how to move it properly.” So the priests and the Levites purified themselves in order to bring the Ark of the Lord, the God of Israel, to Jerusalem. Then the Levites carried the Ark of God on their shoulders with its carrying poles, just as the Lord had instructed Moses.”

‭‭1 Chronicles‬ ‭15‬:‭12‬-‭15‬ ‭NLT‬‬

After the stunning defeat of the local population at Jericho and AI, a group of the local people, the Gibeonites, decided that rather than trying to defend themselves against the children of Israel, they would trick them into making a treaty with them.

You see, they would have to trick them because the Lord had ordered that as they conquered the Promised Land, the children of Israel should make no treaties with the local people.

“When the Lord your God hands these nations over to you and you conquer them, you must completely destroy them. Make no treaties with them and show them no mercy. You must not intermarry with them. Do not let your daughters and sons marry their sons and daughters, for they will lead your children away from me to worship other gods. Then the anger of the Lord will burn against you, and he will quickly destroy you.”

‭‭Deuteronomy‬ ‭7‬:‭2‬-‭4‬ ‭NLT‬‬

So, the Gibeonites made themselves look like they came from a far away place. They did this by doing such thing as wearing worn out clothes and shoes, carrying moldy bread, old wineskins, etc., so that they would be successful in their ruse to make Joshua believe that they were from a distant land.

Well, long story short, the ruse worked.

“They replied, “We are your servants.” “But who are you?” Joshua demanded. “Where do you come from?” They answered, “Your servants have come from a very distant country. We have heard of the might of the Lord your God and of all he did in Egypt. We have also heard what he did to the two Amorite kings east of the Jordan River—King Sihon of Heshbon and King Og of Bashan (who lived in Ashtaroth). So our elders and all our people instructed us, ‘Take supplies for a long journey. Go meet with the people of Israel and tell them, “We are your servants; please make a treaty with us.”’ “This bread was hot from the ovens when we left our homes. But now, as you can see, it is dry and moldy. These wineskins were new when we filled them, but now they are old and split open. And our clothing and sandals are worn out from our very long journey.” So the Israelites examined their food, but they did not consult the Lord. Then Joshua made a peace treaty with them and guaranteed their safety, and the leaders of the community ratified their agreement with a binding oath.”

‭‭Joshua‬ ‭9‬:‭8‬-‭15‬ ‭NLT‬‬

The reason the Gibeonites were able to pull off this ruse is found writ large in this statement: “So the Israelites examined their food, but they did not consult the Lord.”

You see, having examined the supplies of these people, Joshua believed that it was obvious that they were who they said they were. But asking the Lord His opinion of a situation, only when we think we don’t know the way to go, is very dangerous. As we discussed on Day 12 of “One Simple Truth,” our understanding can fail us.

Now, there is a saying that goes, “It’s better to ask for forgiveness, than to ask for permission.” That is, if there’s something you really want or need to do, and you think an authority figure or entity (like governmental agencies) might not give you the permission to do what you want or need to do, then you go ahead and do it, and if caught, you ask forgiveness.

I will say that no matter what you think of that type of approach, it should never be applied to how we deal with the Lord.

In our opening scripture we see the story of David’s returning of the ark to Jerusalem. In his first attempt to bring it back, it was apparently done against what God had ordered, and was done without inquiring of the Lord, with tragic results.

However, after David sought the Lord concerning what went wrong at the first attempt, he was able to bring it successfully into Jerusalem. (Indeed, we have seen that when David did things without consulting the Lord, it always turned out disastrously.)

Child of God, at times we may assume that the way we should go is so clear that we may fail to submit the decision to the Lord for His approval. But, it is critical that no matter what we think we know, or how sure we are that there is something we should or should not do, we must always submit every decision involving the direction of our lives, the operating of our affairs, to the Lord.

Now, I am as grateful as you may be that we have a God Who forgives, that we have a God Who abundantly pardons. However, we should never allow His mercifulness to cause us to err by not asking His permission for our decisions.

Be assured, when it comes to our being and doing, the Lord’s permission is much better than His forgiveness. The Lord sustains what He ordains, and when we move without seeking Him first, we may—although finding forgiveness—have to deal with the longterm consequences of acting outside of His approval.

Peace to you.

Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!

#resolveforhim

#onesimpletruth