In over your head?

Joshua 9:14

When the people of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai, they resorted to a ruse. To save their own lives, they pretended to live in a distant country and wanted to make a treaty with Israel.

At first the leaders in Israel were skeptical, but the Gibeonites said, “This bread of ours was warm when we packed it at home on the day we left to come to you. But now see how dry and moldy it is. And these wineskins that we filled were new, but see how cracked they are. And our clothes and sandals are worn out by the very long journey.”

The ruse worked. “The men of Israel sampled their provisions but did not inquire of the LORD. Then Joshua made a treaty of peace with them to let them live, and the leaders of the assembly ratified it by oath.”

Later they found out they had been tricked, but as men of God they were bound to their oath. They made the Gibeonites their servants and spared their lives.

Watchman Nee says there are two kinds of sin. One is disobeying God’s orders; the other is going ahead when God didn’t give any. How many times have I fallen for the ruse? Some of them look like this:

No one else will do it. A need arises and a plea goes out. Everyone ignores it. I feel bad, so instead of asking if God wants me to get involved, I jump in.

This would showcase my gifts. Certain things appeal to me. Because I love to teach and organize, I am quick to respond to situations that call for that, whether God nudges me in that direction or not.

The burden is getting to me. I pray for days, months, even years. Nothing happens, so I get antsy and try to answer my own prayers, without God telling me to do so.

Circumstances point to me. I see the situation, I have the ability to take care of it, the timing is right, it feels good, but I never asked God about it.

I want to. For whatever reasons, this is the thing I want to do. I like the idea of it, or the challenge, or it just feels good. I’m assuming that God would be in it because it seems so good.

Guilt. My heart says no, but someone or some part of the situation makes me feel guilty. I missed out on this kind of opportunity once before and want to make it right, or I did do it already, but messed it up so now want to do it right. Or maybe I caused the problem and now am eager to fix it.

Not every reason is a wrong reason in itself, but pair it with “not inquiring of the Lord” and I get in over my head. How much time have I wasted spinning my wheels in something when I should have been doing something else somewhere else?

Some people quip, “It’s easier to ask forgiveness than permission.” After too many years of doing just that, I say “nonsense.”