Key Verses:

“So the men took some of their provisions, but did not ask counsel from the Lord.” – Joshua 9:4

Central Theme:

A decision made in isolation is not a good decision.

In Chapter 9, we get the better view of the story. As the reader, we know ahead of time that the whole “We are your humble servants” act is a sham so it is easy for us to look at the Isrealites and say, “Are you stupid?!”. But more often than not, we find ourselves making decisions on our own without seeking wise counsel. Heck, I know sometimes I don’t even pray about a decision and just trust my own judgement. Living in a culture which praises independence and self-reliance, we have been trained at a young age to not ask for help. In our minds, we are stronger if we can do things by ourselves but in reality we are exposing our weaknesses. We may not be seeing some very clear and dangerous red flags. God calls us to take our decisions to our community who are able to see and call out our blind spots as well as point us to Scripture when making a decision. He also tells us to go to Him in pray when making a decision, asking for wisdom and discernment. Sometimes, it is a lot easier to just go ahead and make a decision; but as we see in this chapter, it doesn’t always lead to good results. It takes practice.