deceit v/s discernment

Joshua 9

"The men of Israel looked them over and accepted the evidence. But they didn't ask God about it." 9:14

My very first week of living at We Will Go (almost 4 years ago), I learned a very valuable lesson. It was an early Monday morning knock on the door. That in itself was so new to me. I opened the door and there stood Big Kenneth. I had not met him yet and was excited to put into practice what I was there to do. I was probably a little zealous and over eager to "fix someone". We sat and talked and he told me a sad story about how he had colon cancer and didn't have money for the bus to get to his chemo treatment for the day. His demeanor, his story and his plea broke my heart and I was overwhelmed with compassion for him. I didn't have any cash to give him for a bus ticket, but I offered to give him a ride to the hospital if he came back in a few hours. I remember giving him something to eat and then crying as I watched him walk down the sidewalk, me trying to figure out how to process this.

Fast forward a few hours later and I learned that everything he told me was a lie. He didn't have cancer, he didn't need a bus ticket, and he really wasn't even hungry for food. Big Kenneth was a regular around WWGO and he had deceived me into believing his story.

Two things I learned from this.
1 - Big Kenneth was hungry, but hungry for spiritual food. All these years he has knocked on a WWGO house door, all the times he keeps coming back, he knows he is loved there, he knows he is going to get prayed for, and he knows he will have life spoken over him.
2 - I acted based on my emotions and did not even consider asking the Lord what I should do. I let the enemy deceive me instead of using the gift of discernment the Father gave me. Had I stopped in the moment, asked the Lord how he wanted me to love Big Kenneth, and acted in obedience rather than emotion, things would have been so different. I don't know that Big Kenneth would have done anything different, but I would have and that is what pleases the Father.

Coming through a defeat, repentance, then a victory - Israel still had so much to learn about obeying God. Even Joshua, the great and mighty leader, was deceived by the enemy and had to learn his lesson. But that he did - he learned then walked in obedience to what he learned. By failing to seek the Lord in everything we are faced with, every decision we have to make - we forsake our trust in Him. But, when we learn the lessons from the past, we can avoid more trouble in the future.

I have carried the things I learned from Big Kenneth over into every facet of my life. Even the little things, I have to stop and ask the Lord "what do I do with this?" and rather than acting based on my emotions, or what seems like the right thing to do - I use those gifts God gave me and trust his judgment over mine.