JOSHUA 22

I have recently written on this blog about God’s penchant for evidence. He doesn’t arbitrarily make judgments, nor does He jump to conclusions. He always examines the evidence. So, it seemed fitting to bring out this point about God in contrast to how the Israelites were behaving in this chapter of Joshua.

Granted, the Israelites were now anxious to see obedience to God. They had seen the ugly consequences of disobedience, and they didn’t want to be returning back to those scenarios anytime soon! So when they heard that their fellow Israelites east of the Jordan River had built an altar, they went marching down there, ready to go to war. They were determined that all of Israel would be faithful to God—even if they had to have a civil war to ensure it!

When they arrived and began demanding an explanation about the altar from the Reubenites and Gadites, however, they must have felt a little sheepish. For they replied, "If we have built our own altar to turn away from the Lord and to offer burnt offerings and grain offerings, or to sacrifice fellowship offerings on it, may the Lord himself call us to account. No! We did it for fear that some day your descendants might say to ours, 'What do you have to do with the Lord, the God of Israel? The Lord has made the Jordan a boundary between us and you—you Reubenites and Gadites! You have no share in the Lord.' So your descendants might cause ours to stop fearing the LORD." (vs 23-25)

Do you know what this made me think? How many times do I look at someone else and just assume that they are heading down a path away from God because of something they’ve said or done? Sometimes, I am so quick to jump to conclusions without even bothering to find out more about what’s going on. I suppose if the Israelites had witnessed these tribes sacrificing something foreign on this altar, the conversation would have been different. But they had simply made an assumption, jumped to a conclusion. Fortunately, the Israelites at least thought to inquire about the altar before they started lobbing bombs.

I’m glad God doesn’t jump to conclusions. He knows the condition of our hearts, and He examines the evidence. He doesn’t make assumptions. He never has to say, "Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t know the full story. Now I understand." I want to be more like that—more eager to give people the benefit of the doubt instead of being so quick to make up my mind without all the facts. Otherwise, I might misjudge what someone intended to be a beautiful tribute to the Lord!