The Gibeonite Policy

If you have lived anywhere in a developing or a recovering country as a westerner, you no doubt have experienced a plethora of requests whether it be from Roma at the street lights asking for money, a person with a sick child asking for assistance to "send their child out of country for medical care", a person needing a new roof for their home, or money to start a new business. The requests are numerous and can become quite stressful. In the culture where I reside at the moment, there is always this sense of urgency, "I need the money NOW, so and so is waiting for it" or "my child is getting sicker" or "my roof is leaking" or "this supplier will not wait any longer for me to begin the business". All requests needed to be fulfilled yesterday. The people have an art of putting pressure on you to act now, or to manipulate your thoughts and actions. I'm one of those weaklings that tend to trust people quicker than mistrust them, especially if they are crying and show me photos of their situation. So I give in to their requests much faster than I should. This has gotten me into a lot of trouble in the past and has resulted in a loss of much money, let alone the damage that was done to the requester by helping cause a dependency on others instead of helping them take responsibility for meeting their own needs.

These situations are unlike what Joshua experienced by the Gibeonites. In Joshua 9, the Gibeonites deceived Joshua and the elders out of a fear for their lives. Even though they were a neighbouring and powerful city, a group of them dressed up in worn out clothes and sandals, grabbed some old wine skins and stale bread and dragged themselves into Joshua's camp seeking a covenant with the Israelites. They claimed that they had come from a far away land, and had heard of the mighty God of the Israelites and so wanted to partner with them by serving them. The Gibeonites were manipulative and expressed that sense of urgency, vs. 11 "We are your servants; NOW then, make a covenant with us." Joshua and the men fell into their trap, vss. 14-15, "So the men of Israel took some of their provisions and did not ask for the counsel of the Lord. Joshua made peace with them and made a covenant with them, to let them live; and the leaders of the congregation swore an oath to them." Three days later, the Israelites learned that the city of Gibeon was just around the corner from them. But they were stuck, they couldn't go back on their promises to them, because they made an oath in the presence of the Lord.

Every time Joshua had waited on the Lord, the Lord gave them instruction and blessed them. But this time, he didn't take that time to do that. He had learned a great lesson, one which is applicable for us today. So as a CAMA team, we discussed this and decided to adopt what we will call "The Gibeonite policy". Whenever a request comes in, we will tell the requester that we need at least 24 hours to seek the will of our God on the matter.  They can return tomorrow then for the answer. If they are a person who will not respect our desire to pray about it first and continue to pressure us, then they are not worthy of the assistance they are seeking.  As we seek the Lord for wisdom, we will be bringing Him into the decision, taking the pressure off of us, it will help us to see the real heart of the requester and most of all it will give God glory. It will most like save us a few bucks as well!