So the Israelites examined their food, but they did not consult the LORD. Then Joshua made a peace treaty with them and guaranteed their safety, and the leaders of the community ratified their agreement with a binding oath. Joshua 9:14-15
We’ve all had the question, “What should we pray about?” The answer and opinions range widely. Some exclude from prayer the normal activities of life, or perhaps the details of a job or profession. The rationale is generally that these are things we are responsible for and trained or equipped to do, so why bother God? Basically it is equal to relying on the same evidence that Israel did when assessing the Gibeonites in today’s passage. The Gibeonites represented themselves as coming from a distant land. The Israelites listened and reasoned; saw the evidence with their eyes. They believed their story. What could it hurt to make a treaty with them? They were so convincing. Maybe the Israelites had forgotten that it was clearly God who had just led them through battles to defeat other nations, directing every single detail. Did those victories give them undue confidence in their own abilities?
This time they decided to act on their own, using their own judgment. They did not pray to God or consult Him on what to do. They made a peace treaty with the Gibeonites and sealed it with a binding oath in the name of the Lord. How could they do this without ever consulting Him? This made their treaty unbreakable despite the fact that they found out that they had been lied to. This put them in direct violation of God’s command to destroy all the local nations. The consequences of choosing not to pray lasted for a lifetime.
Personal reflection: Have you excluded an area of your life from prayer? There are no circumstances in which is it better to rely on yourself rather than consult with God through prayer.