Making Your Mistakes Work For You

Joshua 9:16–27
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Within a few days Israel learned that they had been tricked and the Gibeonites lived only about 20 miles from Gilgal and not in a far country as they had said (v. 16). The Israelites left the place where they had camped and arrived at the four towns two days later (v. 17). The Israelites wanted to disregard the covenant they had made with the Gibeonites and destroy them, but the agreement had been ratified in the name of the Lord and could not be broken. To break it would bring down the wrath of God on Israel (vv. 18-20). 

Even though Israel could not back out on their promise, the deceivers had to be punished. Joshua rebuked these Gibeonites for their dishonesty and declared they would be in slavery as woodcutters and watercarriers for the Israelites (vv. 21-27). Thus, the very thing the Gibeonites hoped to retain, they lost. They desperately wanted to remain free, but now they became slaves. 

However, what started out as a curse turned out in the end to be a blessing for the Gibeonites. As they performed their work, they were exposed to the ministry of God. The fact that they were blessed by such an arrangement is confirmed in the years to come by their usefulness to God’s service! The Tabernacle was pitched at Gibeon (II Chronicles 1:3) and still later the Gibeonites replaced the Levites in temple service (Ezra 2:43; 8:20). The novelist Joseph Conrad wrote, “It’s only those who do nothing that make no mistakes.” In this passage it tells us how Joshua turned his mistake into a victory.

Application

It is good to know that God will not only forgive my mistakes in life, but in His grace, he can overrule and bring blessing out of these things.