In Joshua 9, Joshua and the Israelites are deceived by the Gibeonites, a Canaanite people. The Gibeonites tremble at the news of what the Lord has done to Jericho and Ai. So the Gibeonites go to Joshua and put on an elaborate show and story trying to convince Israel to make peace. It works! Joshua covenants with the Gibeonites… only to find out a few days later that they were Canaanites, they had been duped, and they had disobeyed the Lord. The Bible condemns Joshua for this, saying he “did not ask counsel from the Lord.”

Every sphere of life is chock full of difficult, murky, and consequential decisions. Satan is at work to distract and dissuade us from God’s wisdom (1 Tim 4:1), which is the faithful following of God and His ways (Eccl 12:13-14). But Psalms 33:10-11 tells us who is in control of all wisdom:

The Lord falters godless wisdom and provides sure-fast discretion. Both Joshua and Psalms brings up an important question – how quickly and how regularly do you turn to the Lord for counsel? With all the resources available to us today we may actually believe we don’t need counsel! We are built to seek the Lord’s counsel first and foremost. Two indicators of our wisdom-dependency are the feeling of frustration and the conviction of self-serving. Both show our wisdom’s shallowness and our sinful bent.

Whether you feel these or not, the call is the same: do not be slow to the Lord’s decision. Faithfulness seeks God first and seeks Him often. Faithfulness knows that every decision, whether big or small, is a wisdom-dependency opportunity. Bible study and prayer are your main avenues for seeking the Lord’s decision and shaping a quick for counsel heart (the brothers and sisters of your church body aide in this endeavor). Lastly, keeping a keen eye on God’s faithfulness as you live according to His wisdom aide in this endeavor.