#62. Joshua 9-12: The LORD Heeded the Voice of a Man

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Welcome to The Dwelling Place for a Trusted Ministries.

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I'm Stephanie Hickox Today, as we

read through Joshua nine through

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12, we are rejoicing with him and

the Israelites as they're finally

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inhabiting the promised land.

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God promised to Abraham hundreds

of years ago that he would give

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this land as a reward to Abraham's

descendants, and God is faithful.

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But now Israel needs to be

faithful to conquer the Canaanites.

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We've seen some victories

and a few failures.

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How about you?

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This podcast started exactly three months

ago and you might be able to relate

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to the Israelites a little bit, having

some seasons of victory and sometimes

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where you fell off a little bit.

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But that's okay.

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It's not about perfection.

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It's about a pursuit of a holy

God that longs to dwell with you.

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I might sound like a broken record

with this theme, but I think it

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helps us to carve out the time to

meet with him when we understand how

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prevalent this idea is in scripture

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so wherever you're at.

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you can have a clean slate.

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And it's a great time to invite your

friends to join you because we're gonna

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get into a lot of lesser known stories

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and continue to develop a chronological

understanding of God's word.

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If you have a moment.

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to give a five star rating and a review.

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That would be the kindest thank

you, you could give us for all we're

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doing to bring God's word to you.

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In chapter nine, we find out that the

kings that lived in the promised Land

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are getting scared and they're joining

together to fight against Israel.

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But the Gibeonites have a different plan.

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And though this is a people group

that the Lord commanded Israeli to

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wipe out, let's see if that actually

happens beginning in nine verse three.

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But when the inhabitants of Gibon heard

what Joshua had done to Jericho and to

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ai, they on their part acted with cunning

and went and made ready provisions and

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took worn out sacks for their donkeys and

wineskins worn out and torn and mended.

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With worn out patched sandals on their

feet and worn out clothes, and all

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their provisions were dry and crumbly,

and they went to Joshua in the camp at

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Gil Gale and said to him and to the men

of Israel, we have come from a distant

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country, so now make a covenant with us.

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But the men of Israel said to the

invites, perhaps you live among us, then

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how can we make a covenant with you?

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They said to Joshua, we are your servants.

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And Joshua said to them, who are

you and where do you come from?

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They said to him, from a very distant

country, your servants have come because

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of the name of the Lord your God.

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For we have heard a report of him

and all that he did in Egypt and all

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that he did to the two kings of the

Amorites who were beyond the Jordan,

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to Sahan the King of Heon and to

og King of Bean who lived in aro.

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So our elders and all the inhabitants

of our country said to us, take

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provisions in your hand for the

journey and go to meet them and

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say to them, we are your servants.

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Come now.

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Make a covenant with us.

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Here is our bread.

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It was still warm when we took it from

our houses as our food for the journey

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on the day we set out to come to you.

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But now behold, it is dry and crumbly.

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These wineskins were

new when we filled them.

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And behold, they have burst, and

these garments and sandals of ours are

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worn out from the very long journey.

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So the men took some of their provisions,

but did not ask council from the Lord.

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And Joshua made peace with them and made

a covenant with them to let them live.

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And the leaders of the congregations

were to them at the end of three days

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after they had made a covenant with them.

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They heard that they were their

neighbors and that they lived among them.

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This is known as the Gibeon deception.

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And now Israel is stuck

because they made a vow.

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Do you recall a Deuteronomy when God said,

you can make peace with those outside the

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promised land, but those inside you have

to wipe out because of their wicked ways?

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Well, Joshua and his people get

tricked, and Joshua confronts them.

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But these people get to

become his servants, and

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guess where they get to serve?

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In the temple?

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They have the honor of cutting

wood for sacrifices and drawing

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water, and they'll live in close

proximity to God's dwelling place.

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And then some surrounding

kings rise up and get angry.

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That givon sided with Israel

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and these five kings and their nations are

ready to make war with Gibeon in Joshua

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10, six, and the men of Gibeon sent to

Joshua at the camp in Gilgal saying, do

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not relax your hand from your servants.

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Come up to us quickly and save us.

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And help us For all the kings of

the Amorites who dwell on the hill

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country are gathered against us.

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So Joshua went up from Yal, he

and all the people of war with him

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and all the mighty men of Valor.

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And the Lord said to Joshua,

do not fear them for I have

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given them into your hands.

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Not a man of them shall stand before you.

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So Joshua came upon them suddenly

having marched up all night from Gilgal.

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Speaker 15: And the Lord threw them into

a panic before Israel who struck them with

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a great blow at Gibeon and chased them by

the wave of the ascent of Beth Horan and

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struck them as far as a Zika and Makita,

and as they fled before Israel, while they

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were going down the ascent of Beth Horan.

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The Lord threw down large

stones from heaven on them as

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far as e Zika, and they died.

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There were more who died because of

the hailstones than the sons of Israel

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killed with the sword at that time.

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Joshua spoke to the Lord in the day

when the Lord gave the Amorites over

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to the Sons of Israel and he said, in

the sight of Israel, son stands still

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at Gibon and Moon in the valley of I

age Ellan, and the sun stood still,

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and the moon stopped and the nation

took vengeance on their enemies.

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Is this not written in the book of deShar?

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The sun stopped in the midst of heaven.

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It did not hurry to set

for about a whole day.

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There has been no day

like it before or since.

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When the Lord heated the voice of a

man for the Lord, fought for Israel.

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Speaker 16: God heeded the voice of a man,

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and my commentaries admit that there

have always been people who have

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attempted to limit this to a poetic

device, but it's written in the literal

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sense that that's really what happened.

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If we look at everything else that the

Lord has allowed and done, and if he

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really is the creator of the universe,

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he could do this too.

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But I wanted to point to some

other verses that reveal God's

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heart to listen to his people.

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and Psalm one 16.

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One and two.

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I love the Lord because he has heard

my voice and my pleas for mercy

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because he has inclined his ear to me.

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Therefore, I will call

on him as long as I live.

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Psalm 37 17 tells us when the righteous

cry for help, the Lord hears and

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delivers them out of all their troubles.

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The Lord is near to the brokenhearted

and saves the crushed in spirit.

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In Psalm 1 45, 18, the Lord is near to all

who call on him to all who call on him.

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In truth, he fulfills the

desire of those who fear him.

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He also hears their cry and saves them.

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And Isaiah 65 24 Before

they call, I will answer.

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While they are yet speaking, I will hear.

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These are the words of the Lord.

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Jeremiah thirty three,

three encourages us.

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Call to me and I will answer you

and we'll tell you great and hidden

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things that you have not known.

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And one Peter three 12, for the eyes

of the Lord are on the righteous and

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his ears are open to their prayer.

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But the face of the Lord is

against those who do evil.

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And in one John five 14 through 15.

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And this is the confidence that we have

toward him, that if we ask anything

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according to his will, he hears us.

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And if we know that he hears us in

whatever we ask, we know that we have

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the request that we have asked of him.

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It's incredible that we serve

a God that listens to us.

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But as we read, we wanna pray according

to his will and what better way to

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know his will than to read his word.

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We've seen this with Joshua as he's been

told to meditate on God's word day and

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night, and that wasn't an emptying of

his mind, but a filling with God's word

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and the times.

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That he stays and he seeks God's guidance.

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He obeys it fully and thoroughly

every time, but there was the moment

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he was deceived and the moment there

was sin in the camp, and just like

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Joshua, we need to be continually

seeking the Lord in his word.

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In 11 six through nine, the

Lord encourages him again.

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And the Lord said to Joshua, do

not be afraid of them for tomorrow.

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At this time, I will give over

all of them slain to Israel,

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and Joshua did to them

as the Lord said to him

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and to cement just how

faithful Joshua was.

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In 1112,

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we're told just as the Lord had

commanded Moses, his servant.

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So Moses committed

Joshua, and so Joshua did.

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He left nothing undone of all

that the Lord had commanded Moses.

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And the final words of Chapter 11

are, and the land had rest for war.

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I appreciate Gerald

Rein's commentary on this.

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He says, and even within the book of

Joshua, the rest was not comprehensive.

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The New Testament mentions this for

if Joshua had given them rest, he

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would not have spoken of another day.

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After that,

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there is land resting from war, and

there's the believer resting in.

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The Lord Augustine statement is germane.

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Thou has formed us for thyself,

and our hearts are restless until

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they find their rest in Dee.

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We need the rest of the Lord

to really give us peace.

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In the next episode, Joshua will begin.

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his next job of dividing up the land.

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And if you have an opportunity to look

at a physical map, perhaps in your Bible

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to see how these 12 tribes of Judah

divided up, it would be really helpful.

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If you don't have one, we will

link one in our show notes.

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Let's pray.

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Heavenly Father, we praise you for your

faithfulness to bless the Israelites.

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As we see them be deceived

and not consult you.

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We're convicted that often we do

act without checking with you first

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or seeking wisdom from

your word or your people.

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Lord, teach us to balance being

confident to walk forward and move

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in your spirit, but also to know

when to stop and invite your presence.

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We thank you that you never put us on

hold, that you're always available, and

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that your word tells us over and over

that you hear us when we call to you.

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So I pray your name would ever be

on our lips, that we would seek you

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continually, and help us to train our

kids whether we can't find our car keys.

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Or the permission slip got lost, or

the printers not working again,

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May our kids witness us turning to

you in all things and may running

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to you become their most delightful

habit as well in the name of the

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one who will lead us into true rest.

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Jesus Christ, we pray.

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Amen.