INTEGRITY

And it came to pass, as they fled from before Israel, and were in the going down to Bethhoron, that the LORD cast down great stones from heaven upon them unto Azekah, and they died: they were more which died with hailstones than they whom the children of Israel slew with the sword.

Then spake Joshua to the LORD in the day when the LORD delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon.

And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day.                             Jos 10:11-13

Hailstones from the sky, sun and moon standing still; surely, this is action-packed, Science fiction stuff. But it is not fiction, neither is it a movie. It is the record of a war that Israel was involved in just a little while after the fall of Jericho and its walls. The war was so remarkable that scriptures recorded that “there was no day like that before it or after it, that the LORD hearkened unto the voice of a man: for the LORD fought for Israel.”¹ You imagine that the opponents must have really angered Israel and provoked God to attract such a severe treatment, but no, Israel was not even the target of the war.

Five nations led by the king of Jerusalem had an alliance to destroy Gibeon. Gibeon was a big city within Canaan land that had surreptitiously gotten a peace accord from Joshua and the children of Israel. The Gibeonites pretended to have come from a faraway country and got the Israelite leaders to make a pact with them. The five nations wanted to make an example of them and declared war. By the terms of the peace agreement, Israel was committed to the Gibeonites and thus was required to go to war with them. The risk was enormous and the circumstances unfavourable, it probably would have been reasonable if Israel had excused herself from her promise, it would have been a quick dissolution of a deceitful agreement and the Gibeonites would have been destroyed as originally planned, a just recompense for their deceit. But no, Israel rose with all her arsenal to honour her words and God fully supported them.  God granted special faith to Joshua to believe for the impossible and it was given to him.

God is a God of truth and Justice and he upholds all things by the word of his power, thus whatever he says matters, His words are never void. He is Integrity personified, his actions and words are in alignment. For as he is, so are we in this world. You are his child so your words matter, you say what you mean and mean what you say. This is not just about confessions in church or a Sunday-Sunday speech, it is about aligning your actions with your words. Making your word your bond.

‘Oh, I always keep my promise’ you say, well it is not until you say I promise or swear that your word should matter. Hear what Jesus said in Matthew 5:37 (Amp) “Let your Yes be simply Yes, and your No be simply No; anything more than that comes from the evil one”. So a simple ‘yes, I will come by 5pm’ is a commitment, a promise, to come by 5pm. 5:30pm will not do it. If the only time people believe your word is when you swear or promise, then you need to work on your integrity.

Pastor sir, overshooting the service time by thirty minutes on a weekly basis does not bring glory to God. You say it is limiting the Holy Spirit to keep to time, why not formally increase the service time by thirty minutes and you will suddenly realize that even that is not enough. Of course, the Holy Spirit takes over and breaks away from our program sometimes, but when it becomes weekly then the program was probably done outside his leading or you need to be more disciplined; for the spirit of a prophet is subject to the prophet. What is worse, members follow this example in their personal dealings and they constantly break their word.

It is this same attribute that make companies stand out. Your company or business promised certain deliverables within a specific period, then deliver on time, period. You don’t get credits for overdelivering two days after the agreed time nor for underdelivering within the time frame. Trust is based on competence and character, the more reliable you are, the more customers will trust you given that your product is of a high quality and this will translate at the long run to increased sales.

To be continued …

If you have not made Jesus Christ your Lord and saviour, then life here is anchorless and eternity is bleak. We urge you, don’t wait another moment. Make up your mind and say this prayer:

“Dear God, I ask you to forgive me all my sins and make me anew. I believe that Jesus died for me and you raised him up on the third day, I confess that He is Lord now and forever. I accept your son, Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour.”

Congratulations! Now that you are born again, look for a bible believing church to attend that you might know what he has provided for you. 

1.       Joshua 10:14