Jayamsih! Welcome to today’s devotion.
Deceit the Greatest Deceiver
Joshua 8
- How can we turn our last defeat into victory? How can we bring back the lost land? We spend more energy living in defeat than believing in God’s pure word. Instead of punishing our unbelief, we offer a rational explanation for our unbelief. Instead, we should redeem time and turn it into a wonderful blessing.
In Joshua 7, the Israelites are completely defeated, but in Joshua 8 they gain victory (success) through obedience. The Israelites capture ‘Jericho’, but are defeated in ‘Ai’. why Because they did not go to war as one. The only way to enter the land of Canaan victoriously is by marching in unity according to the administration of God’s body. After the defeat at Ai, obedience to the man of God led the Israelites to retreat. The enemy thought that they had retreated because of defeat. However, for God’s people it was a resting place where they saw a promise. Defeat does not frighten saved people into panic but leads them to receive the promise in a valley, which reveals the defeat of Satan (the enemy). In that valley, the Israelites got a plan on how to conquer the city of Ai by deceiving the enemy.
We must learn from God how to deceive Satan. A ‘truce’ (agreement) with Satan should not be tied to defeat. Many people are so inclined towards the devil that they never bow down and lay the yambus. We obey the promise in the valley, so that the final defeat in today’s victory will be the fall of Satan.
Today’s reading passage: Deuteronomy 26-28