The Consequences of Failing to Ask God's Opinion Before Making a Decision...

This week, we have been looking at a story in the Bible that revealed for us the reality that when we fail to ask God’s opinion before making a decision, we can end up making a decision that goes against the life that He created and called us to live. In Joshua chapter 9, we saw that instead of making a bad situation worse by making another decision that went against God’s word, Joshua followed up his bad decision by making the right decision when it came to following God’s word.

And in the same way today, regardless of the bad decisions that we have made in the past that have failed to follow God’s word, we will never be able to make a bad decision better by making a subsequent decision that also contradicts God’s word. A few verses later, we see a second consequence that can occur when we fail to ask God’s opinion before making a decision revealed for us in Joshua 10:1:

Now it came about when Adoni-zedek king of Jerusalem heard that Joshua had captured Ai, and had utterly destroyed it (just as he had done to Jericho and its king, so he had done to Ai and its king), and that the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel and were within their land, that he feared greatly, because Gibeon was a great city, like one of the royal cities, and because it was greater than Ai, and all its men were mighty. Therefore Adoni-zedek king of Jerusalem sent word to Hoham king of Hebron and to Piram king of Jarmuth and to Japhia king of Lachish and to Debir king of Eglon, saying, "Come up to me and help me, and let us attack Gibeon, for it has made peace with Joshua and with the sons of Israel." So the five kings of the Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon, gathered together and went up, they with all their armies, and camped by Gibeon and fought against it. Then the men of Gibeon sent word to Joshua to the camp at Gilgal, saying, "Do not abandon your servants; come up to us quickly and save us and help us, for all the kings of the Amorites that live in the hill country have assembled against us." So Joshua went up from Gilgal, he and all the people of war with him and all the valiant warriors.

The king of Jerusalem, upon hearing what had happened to Jericho and Ai, along with the peace agreement that had been made between the Jewish people and the residents of Gibeon, responded by entering into an alliance with the kings of the southern region of the Promised Land to attack the Gibeonites. These five kings all lived in this southern portion of the Promised Land. Since these Southern kings did not want to fight a war on two fronts, they decided to quickly attack the Gibeonites in order to defeat them so that they would be able to fully focus on the Jewish army.

In response to being attacked, the residents of Gibeon put into effect the new peace treaty that they had entered into with the Jewish people and called for them to come to their aid. And because of the covenant agreement that they had committed to Joshua was bound to bring the Jewish army to the aid of the Gibeonites. And here we see that as a result failing to ask God’s opinion before making a decision, the Jewish nation’s journey to restart their lives was now much more complex and complicated.

As a result of failing to ask God’s opinion, the Jewish people not only had to look after their own interests, but also the interests of the residents of Gibeon. The Jewish army now would be forced to fight against five nations and their united armies instead of taking the land one nation at a time. Their situation had become much more complicated and complex. And in the same way today, when we fail to ask God’s opinion before making a decision, we can find ourselves making bad decisions that make our life far more complicated and complex. We see God respond to the increasingly complicated and complex situation the Jewish nation was facing in verse 8:

The LORD said to Joshua, "Do not fear them, for I have given them into your hands; not one of them shall stand before you."

The phrase “do not fear them” literally means “do not fear or be filled with terror so as to fall to pieces”. The Jewish people’s failure to ask God’s opinion before making a decision resulted in a return of some familiar fears. And in the same way, when we make bad decisions as a result of failing to ask God’s opinion, the consequences of those decisions can reignite the same fears that keep us from restarting our life. And as we have seen throughout this series, God responds to Joshua’s fear by reiterating His promise and by giving Joshua a battle plan. We see that plan unfold in verse 9:

So Joshua came upon them suddenly by marching all night from Gilgal. And the LORD confounded them before Israel, and He slew them with a great slaughter at Gibeon, and pursued them by the way of the ascent of Beth-horon and struck them as far as Azekah and Makkedah. As they fled from before Israel, while they were at the descent of Beth-horon, the LORD threw large stones from heaven on them as far as Azekah, and they died; there were more who died from the hailstones than those whom the sons of Israel killed with the sword.

Joshua leads the Jewish army as they marched throughout the night the approximately 40 miles uphill from Gilgal to Gibeon in order to make a surprise attack on the armies of the five kings. And as the surprise attack began, God supported the Jewish army by confounding the armies of the five kings. The Lord did not allow the armies of the five kings to unite in battle, but instead confused them.

And as the Jewish armies began to achieve the upper hand in battle, the forces of the five kings began to flee in defeat. God then entered into the battle and pursued the fleeing forces of the five kings as the fled from Gibeon down the mountainous terrain west toward the flatlands by the sea. And as they fled down from Gibeon toward the sea, God hurled huge hailstones from the sky to kill the armies of the five kings. Can you imagine what that must have looked like? Can you imagine what it must have looked like as huge hailstones crushed the enemies of the Jewish army, while not striking a single Jewish soldier that was engaged in the pursuit? But that was not the only evidence of God’s supernatural activity. We see a second miraculous act of God in verse 12-14:

Then Joshua spoke to the LORD in the day when the LORD delivered up the Amorites before the sons of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, "O sun, stand still at Gibeon, And O moon in the valley of Aijalon." So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, Until the nation avenged themselves of their enemies. Is it not written in the book of Jashar? And the sun stopped in the middle of the sky and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day. There was no day like that before it or after it, when the LORD listened to the voice of a man; for the LORD fought for Israel.

Joshua, in the midst of the battle, asks for God’s intervention. Joshua prayed to God aloud in the presence of the Jewish people and asked for more daylight so that they could fulfill God’s plan and command to destroy the armies of the five kings, who could easily escape once darkness descended upon the battlefield. As we occasionally see here in the desert during the middle of a day, the sun was positioned overhead at Gibeon, while the moon was visible in the westward sky towards the sea, where the armies were attempting to escape.

Joshua’s prayer simply mirrors the language we use when we talk about the sun and the moon; instead of the sun continuing to move so that it would set; instead of the moon moving across the sky; Joshua asks for the sun to stand still. And God responded to Joshua’s prayer by doing what only He could do. God responded to Joshua’s prayer with a day like no other; a day that the rotation of the earth slowed so that daylight was extended and total victory could be achieved over the armies of the 5 kings. And in the rest of chapter 10, we see Joshua respond to God’s command, which I summarized for us as the chapter concludes:

Thus Joshua struck all the land, the hill country and the Negev and the lowland and the slopes and all their kings. He left no survivor, but he utterly destroyed all who breathed, just as the LORD, the God of Israel, had commanded. Joshua struck them from Kadesh-barnea even as far as Gaza, and all the country of Goshen even as far as Gibeon. Joshua captured all these kings and their lands at one time, because the LORD, the God of Israel, fought for Israel. So Joshua and all Israel with him returned to the camp at Gilgal.

As a result of God’s supernatural activity and the Jewish people following God’s command and plan, the entire southern half of the Promised Land was brought under the Jewish nation’s rule. But the Jewish nation’s attempt almost failed to live in the relationship with God and one another that we were created and called to live because they failed to ask God’s opinion before making a decision. And in the same way today, the timeless reality is that to restart requires asking God’s opinion before making a decision.

When we fail to ask God’s opinion, is that we can make decisions that fail to follow God’s word and result in division and dissension. When we fail to ask God’s opinion before making a decision, we can find ourselves making bad decisions that make our life far more complicated and complex.

So what decision are you facing? And as you face that decision, whose opinion are you seeking? Where do you go; who do you ask for counsel when it comes to making a decision?