Joshua 9:1–8

And it came to pass when all the kings who were on this side of the Jordan, in the hills and in the lowland and in all the coasts of the Great Sea toward Lebanon—the Hittite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite—heard about it, that they gathered together to fight with Joshua and Israel with one accord.

But when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai, they worked craftily, and went and pretended to be ambassadors. And they took old sacks on their donkeys, old wineskins torn and mended, old and patched sandals on their feet, and old garments on themselves; and all the bread of their provision was dry and moldy. And they went to Joshua, to the camp at Gilgal, and said to him and to the men of Israel, “We have come from a far country; now therefore, make a covenant with us.”

Then the men of Israel said to the Hivites, “Perhaps you dwell among us; so how can we make a covenant with you?”

But they said to Joshua, “We are your servants.”

And Joshua said to them, “Who are you, and where do you come from?”

The men of Israel are suspicious of their claims. The whole thing doesn’t make sense.

The Gibeonites say that they come from a far country. If they’re from a far country, why are they here? If they’re here to do business, why are they interested in a covenant? The whole thing just doesn’t add up.

Joshua picks up the scent and cross-examines them. “So you’re from a far country. What country?”

But he’ll fail to press the issue. Joshua and the men of Israel are skeptical but not skeptical enough.

This will turn into a study of failure.

There is wisdom in obsessing over failures (both yours and those of others). While this can look like you’re depressed, or overly-critical of someone else, learning from mistakes is the best kind of learning.

Emotionally, we like to suppress learning from mistakes because we like to suppress pain. It’s not unlike what happens when you stub your toe or hit your funny bone. All you want to do is get past the pain—to get to where you can just forget about it. That’s the right thing to do with that kind of pain, because there’s no lesson to be learned.

But when something happens where a lesson presents itself—where you might figure out how to avoid that kind of mistake—then suppressing it is the wrong response. You need to fight the desire to end the pain, and pay attention.

And, yes, that means more pain (in the short run). Thinking about what went wrong isn’t fun.

But the best coaches do this all the time.

These Monday—Friday DEEPs are written by Mike Slay. The Weekend DEEPs are written by Matt Richardson. To subscribe to all the DEEPs click here:

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The weekly study guides, which include the Monday–Friday devotionals plus related questions for discussion or meditation, are available for download here:

https://www.ailbe.org/resources/itemlist/category/91-deep-studies

Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV stands for the English Standard Version. © Copyright 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved. NIV stands for The Holy Bible, New International Version®. © Copyright 1973 by International Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved. KJV stands for the King James Version.