Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thine ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
Proverbs 3:5-6
In the Bible, it describes how the people of Gibeon deceived Joshua and the Israelites. They heard what Joshua did to the towns of Jericho and Ai and was afraid of what he might do to them. To assure their safety, they sent ambassadors to Joshua. To deceive him, the Gibeonites told the ambassadors to wear ragged clothes, and to carry with them old wineskins and moldy bread.
When they met Joshua, they told him they came from a distant land and wanted a peace treaty with him, even though they lived nearby. The “proof” they showed to Joshua to make him believe they were telling the truth was their ragged clothes, the old wineskins, and the moldy bread they carried on the “long” trip. In Joshua 9:14 NLT, it said “the Israelites examined their food, but they did not consult the Lord.” This caused Joshua to make a peace treaty with the people of Gibeon, not knowing that he was deceived and lied to. He could have been obligated to a group of people that secretly wanted to kill him. Luckily, that was not the case for him and the Israelites.
If Joshua have consulted the Lord about the ambassadors from Gibeon, the Lord would have revealed their deception. How many times have we been deceived by other people because we did not consult the Lord? Just because we may think we’re intelligent does not mean we’re going to be right about everything. Sometimes, we have to rely on intuition. Sometimes, we have to listen to the Holy Spirit within us to properly analyze what’s in front of us. Sometimes, actually all of the time, we have to rely on the Word and counsel of God.
A Better Tomorrow 