How To Deal With Fear (It Starts With A Covenant)

So King Adoni-zedek of Jerusalem sent messengers to several other kings: Hoham of Hebron, Piram of Jarmuth, Japhia of Lachish, and Debir of Eglon. “Come and help me destroy Gibeon,” he urged them, “for they have made peace with Joshua and the people of Israel.” So these five Amorite kings combined their armies for a united attack. They moved all their troops into place and attacked Gibeon. The men of Gibeon quickly sent messengers to Joshua at his camp in Gilgal. “Don’t abandon your servants now!” they pleaded. “Come at once! Save us! Help us! For all the Amorite kings who live in the hill country have joined forces to attack us.” So Joshua and his entire army, including his best warriors, left Gilgal and set out for Gibeon. “Do not be afraid of them,” the LORD said to Joshua, “for I have given you victory over them. Not a single one of them will be able to stand up to you.” [Joshua 10.3-8]

There is an important fact that must not be overlooked in this passage of scripture and the entire story it portrays. The fact is this: the people of Gibeon previously tricked Israel into entering a covenant of peace. As part of their covenant, the Gibeonites submitted to Israel as common laborers. Think of it this way: Gibeon served from that point forward as a reminder that Israel had failed to seek God.

In spite of this fact but in honor of their covenant, Joshua and Israel defended the Gibeonites (the very ones who had tricked them), and, in the momentum of that huge victory, went on a dominating military campaign throughout the entire Promised Land.

In my mind, it sure would have been easy to just let a few days go by before responding to the Gibeonites' request and let King Adoni-zedek of Jerusalem and his allies 'wipe out' Israel's 'mistake' - their impulsive covenant relationship with the deceiving Gibeonites. But no, Joshua and Israel honored their covenant and responded in haste to defend the Gibeonites. Israel did the right thing - even in a wrong situation.

A covenant is a big deal - Israel proved that in this story. Immediacy in acting upon that covenant, in the case of this story, served to preemptively disable momentum that would have eventually come against Israel anyway. Instead of Israel having that momentum work against them, they established their own military momentum to conquer the entire region.

Here is a good place again today to discuss strategy for dealing with fear. Fear is the enemy of love. Attack fear - immediately and entirely! Leave no survivors! Fear is a disease and must be eradicated with no remaining traces.

The bottom line of this story is that God's people are in covenant with Him through Jesus Christ. In exchange for obedience and loyalty to Him and His Kingdom, there are specific and not uncertain promises of power and victory in executing His will on earth (Jesus demonstrated what that looked like and clearly indicated that His example was ours to follow). With this in mind, God's people should never hesitate in the defense and execution of His will on earth, but instead, attack it with expediency.

Father, help us to understand the power of Your covenant with us in Christ. Help us to immediately and fearlessly act upon it regardless how daunting the enemy may appear.