Day 13

Deuteronomy 8-9

COVENANT WITHOUT COUNSEL

They did not ask counsel of the Lord – Josh. 9:14

            Yesterday we saw that God releases His power through holiness.  Today we see that the Devil counters God’s power with deceit.  We are warned to stand against the wiles (subtle devices) of the Devil.  Satan himself has no real power over a Christian. Therefore he uses deception to rob us of our power.  Israel’s loss to an inferior army was due to sin.  Their setback with Gibeon was due to trickery.

            God told Israel to avoid treaties with the heathen tribes in Canaan.  While these enemies gathered to fight Israel, people from one of those tribes (the Gibeonites) showed up pretending to be ambassadors from a far country.  They negotiated a peace treaty that subjected Israel to a lifetime of obligation and inconvenience.  From this day forward Israel would be hindered and drawn into battles that otherwise could have been avoided.

            If our enemy cannot neutralize us any other way he will attempt it through unholy alliances.  They decrease our effectiveness, create distractions, and become a source of continual grief.  Ask a person who has married an unbeliever without considering God’s counsel.

            We never consider how costly our concessions will be.  In Israel’s case they failed to consult with God. That failure created an occasion for compromise. God has given His counsel through the Word.  When we go to church we study God’s counsel.  When we read the Scriptures we seek God’s counsel.  Every time we open a Bible we invite God’s counsel.  The only way we can avoid God’s counsel is to evade His Word.  In other words we have to refuse God’s counsel to make wrong alliances. If we discover God’s counsel and ignore it, then we create greater problems for ourselves.  “He who knows to godd and does it not, to him it is sin.”

            Paul said that he did not fail to declare the “whole counsel of God.”  The 66 books of the Bible give us God’s counsel on all of life.  It takes effort to find it, but so does everything of value.  In the meantime we get to know the Counselor.  We realize that Jesus does not throw out an answer and send us off.  He goes with  us to instruct us on the way.  That may be the reason He is called “Wonderful Counsellor.”

Counsel is better than correction.