[Steve Myers] As the Israelites were coming into the Promised Land, an interesting scenario takes place. They were supposed to subdue the people that were there, and generally, God told them to take care of them – to wipe them out, to not take any prisoners. And God had a purpose behind that, and a plan as well. Well, there was a situation that came up with the Gibeonites, and in chapter 9 in the book of Joshua, it describes a situation where the Gibeonites had heard that these people were going to take over this land, and they didn't want to go down like Jericho went down. And so they made it look like they were people from a far off country, and they came and sought out the Israelites for their help. And they end up pulling a fast one on them. And instead of being killed, Israel made a deal with them. And yet, something interesting happened. Because of this deal that they made with them, they went against the will of God. And in chapter 9 verse 14 it says this: "The men of Israel took some of their provisions, but they did not ask counsel of the Lord" (Joshua 9:14). They didn't want God's advice, they didn't think about asking for God's advice, mainly because the situation seemed to be what it appeared to be. But it wasn't. And so because it didn't look evil, because these people didn't look like they were inhabitants of the land, they made a deal with them and accepted appearances for what they were, and didn't seek God's advice.

I think there's a valuable lesson in that for all of us, because appearances can be deceiving. In fact, there's a passage that's over in the Psalms – it's over in Psalm 73. And in fact, throughout this psalm, it makes this very point. It starts out by the psalm talking about the way things look, the appearance of things. And it starts out by saying, "Truly God is good to Israel, but as for me, my feet almost stumble" (Psalm 73:1-2). So the psalmist says, I almost got taken in – almost like the Israelites and the Gibeonites. He says, "I was envious of the boastful when I saw the prosperity of the wicked" (Psalm 73:3). In other words, well, what's going on here, God? Why are those people that are evil people, why are they prospering? And it almost tripped him up. He almost was taken in by appearances. But later on when he realized, wait a second, God has a plan and that plan will be sure and it will come about, and God's word is absolute. So then a little bit later on in Psalm 73, when you get down to verse 23, he says, "I'm with you. I'm not taking things for just the outward appearance," and he says, "I'm with you continually. You hold me by Your right hand. You straighten out my viewpoint, so that when I seek Your advice, when I seek Your counsel, You spell it out for me." And so he says, "You will guide me with Your counsel, and afterward, You'll receive me to glory" (Psalm 73:23-24).

I think that's a great lesson for all of us. When things look a certain way, even if they look good, it's still not a time to take things for granted. Pray to God. Seek His advice.  Look to Him for counsel. And even when things look rough and look difficult, and you have to question, "Why is this looking this particular way?" it's a good reminder that whether things look good or whether things look difficult, when we turn to God, we seek His advice, He'll give us the right perspective.

That's BT Daily. We'll see you next time.