No Misunderstandings!

Joshua 22: 9-12 -  So the men of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh left the rest of Israel at Shiloh in the land of Canaan. They started the journey back to their own land of Gilead, the territory that belonged to them according to the LORD's command through Moses.  But while they were still in Canaan, before they crossed the Jordan River, Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh built a very large altar near the Jordan River at a place called Geliloth.  When the rest of Israel heard they had built the altar at Geliloth west of the Jordan River, in the land of Canaan,  the whole assembly gathered at Shiloh and prepared to go to war against their brother tribes.

 

Joshua had just told them how proud God was that they had never deserted their brothers…they had done a wonderful job…for probably 7 years….and now they could travel back to the land Moses had given them on the other side of the river. Joshua was careful to tell them in verse 5… “Only be very careful to observe the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, to love the LORD your God, and to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments and to cling to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.” It must have been one giant traveling party as they celebrated...and anticipated the reunion with their children and wives who had not seen them since they left.

 

As they approached the river….it dawned on them that the physical separation of this mighty river…might eventually cause a permanent separation from their relatives.  As they began to ponder the mighty river between them…they were afraid that the tribes on the western side would discount them as God’s people…and tell them they had no claim to the mighty God that brought them so far.  So they built an altar… as a memorial…to remind the children and grandchildren to come that they too were a people who served the mighty Yahweh.

 

That would have been fine …if someone from the western tribes had heard the eloquent speech that birthed the monument.  But as Satan sometimes manipulates our thoughts…and where we are at any one time….the western tribes misunderstood…and were so scared that these eastern tribes had sinned…they prepared for a civil war that would destroy the sin….they gathered to plan the attack that would remove the sinners that threatened to separate them from God’s protection …peace…and rest.

 

It’s the thing that happened next that stuck in my spirit ...last night as I read the story…for I too am so quick to pass judgment sometimes on what I see or hear.  These brothers did not race over the river and destroy them without talking first.  They went to them…and asked them….and listened to the explanation of why they had built such a structure.  AND…they believed them…they accepted the words of their brothers and they were relieved to hear that they still believed in God.

 

Just like these Israelites…I am involved in a misunderstanding every day.  Sometimes what I say or do is interpreted by someone else to be thoughtless…or perhaps they have listened to a lie told to them about something I might have done to hurt them….or worse yet…they see me do something that they perceive as wrong. They do not take the time to come to me…and ask…as these brothers in Joshua did…so the truth can be known.  I am also guilty of seeing something I think is wrong…and not taking the time to go ask about it.  I even make it worse by going to someone to another …and venting…and spreading the misunderstood action in a gossip mode. No wonder so many misunderstandings go unresolved…and many are escalated to even end very close friendships. Maybe more misunderstandings would be resolved…if we took the time to pray for wisdom and discernment…and asked God for the courage to go talk it out like these brothers.

 

 

Father…thank you for the reminder that sometimes what I see and hear….is not the reality of what has happened.  Help me to remember that Satan is always lying in wait to use my misconceptions to drive wedges between the Christian love you have established with my friends and family.  Help me to realize that communication to them in love…and communication to you in prayer…will chase away the lies of Satan…and bind together those that truly search for God with all their heart…and all their soul…and all their mind.  Help me to cling to you…and not the words that hurt my feelings...or the visual image that has be questioning the friendship of another. Amen.