This 5-day devotional draws directly from Clanton First Baptist's sermon “07.12.2026: Following The Lord - Joshua 9 - 2026-07-13” so you can keep engaging with the message all week. Read, reflect, and share it with your small group or friends.
Who's Really in Charge?
Monday — Understanding the Truth
Have you ever made a decision that seemed completely reasonable — only to realize later it was the wrong call entirely?
Today's Scripture "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will direct your paths." — Proverbs 3:5–6
Reflection There's a story in the book of Joshua about a group of people called the Gibeonites. They wanted to make a peace treaty with Israel, so they dressed in worn-out clothes, packed stale bread, and pretended to be travelers from a distant land. The disguise was convincing. The evidence checked out. And Israel's leaders made a treaty — with neighbors they were never supposed to partner with.
The detail that changes everything is tucked into one small verse: "The men took some of their provisions, but they did not ask counsel from the Lord."
They trusted their own eyes. Their own judgment. And it made perfect sense to them in the moment.
Here's the truth this story is pointing us toward: following God isn't just about knowing the right rules. It's about recognizing that our own judgment — however confident it feels — is limited. We see what's in front of us. God sees everything.
That's not a reason for self-doubt. It's an invitation to something better — a life where you're not navigating alone, where the One who sees the full picture is actually guiding your steps.
Today's Step Sit with this question today: In the decisions you're currently facing, are you consulting God — or mostly consulting yourself?
A Closing Thought The good news is that God isn't waiting for you to figure it all out. He's waiting to be asked.
The Enemy Knows Your Playbook
Tuesday — When It's Hard
You want to follow God. You're trying to do the right thing. So why does it still feel so easy to end up in the wrong place?
Today's Scripture "The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick; who can understand it?" — Jeremiah 17:9
Reflection Here's something worth sitting with: the Gibeonites weren't random strangers. They knew exactly what Israel was commanded to do. They knew the law. They knew that Israel could make a treaty with a distant nation but not with a neighbor. So they crafted their deception specifically around what God had said.
The enemy doesn't fight fair. He studies the playbook.
And that's part of why following God faithfully is genuinely hard. It's not just that we're tempted toward obviously wrong things. It's that we can be misled even when we're trying to do right — when the evidence looks solid, when the logic is sound, when everything in us says this makes sense.
Jesus said in John 8:44 that Satan is the father of lies. In Genesis, the serpent's first move was to ask, "Did God really say?" Deception has always been the strategy — not brute force, but confusion. Muddying the waters around things God has made clear.
This isn't meant to make you paranoid. But it is meant to make you humble. The fact that something feels right doesn't automatically mean it is right. Our hearts, as Jeremiah reminds us, can mislead us — even with the best intentions.
Today's Step Think of an area in your life where you've been relying mostly on how things feel or look. Ask God today to give you clarity beyond what you can see on the surface.
A Closing Thought You don't have to be afraid of being deceived — but you do need a guide who can't be fooled. That's exactly who God is.
The Straightest Line to the Right Answer
Wednesday — Putting It Into Practice
What do you do when you're facing a decision that the Bible doesn't seem to address directly?
Today's Scripture "Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?" — Matthew 6:26
Reflection Not every decision in life has a clear chapter-and-verse answer. Should you take that job? Say something to that person today, or wait? Go on that trip? These are real questions, and they deserve real guidance.
Here's a practical way to think about it: find the straightest line from your specific question back to what God has already made clear in his Word.
For example — you don't need a verse that says "brush your teeth." But God's Word does say your body is worth caring for. That's your line. The specific decision flows from the clear principle.
The same works for bigger things. Wondering whether to share your faith with someone? You may not know exactly when or how. But God's Word is clear that he cares deeply about people who don't yet know him. Start there, and let that truth guide the specifics.
And here's the key: this only works if you're actually spending time in God's Word. You can't draw a line back to something you've never read. The more familiar you are with what God has said, the better equipped you are to navigate what he hasn't spelled out word for word.
God cares about the details of your life — your work, your relationships, your everyday choices. He's not distant from any of it.
Today's Step Take one decision you're currently wrestling with and ask: What has God already made clear that applies here? Start there before looking anywhere else.
A Closing Thought God's Word is never the wrong starting point — no matter how specific or complicated your situation feels.
When You Realize You Made the Treaty
Thursday — What This Looks Like in Real Life
What happens when you look back and realize you made a decision without God — and now you're living with the consequences?
Today's Scripture "If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that." — James 4:15
Reflection Imagine someone who spent years building a business the way they thought was right — smart decisions, good instincts, solid results. But somewhere along the way, without fully realizing it, they stopped praying about the big calls. They just started making them.
Then things unraveled. A partnership went sideways. A deal that looked airtight turned into a liability. And sitting in the wreckage, they found themselves asking, How did I end up here?
The honest answer, eventually, was this: I was the one making all the decisions.
That's the Gibeonite moment. Israel looked at the evidence, made the call, and signed the treaty — without asking God. And the mess that followed wasn't because God abandoned them. It was because they'd quietly moved him out of the driver's seat.
Here's what's remarkable though: even in that story, God's grace shows up. The Gibeonites — the very people Israel wrongly partnered with — end up woven into the life of Israel. God didn't undo the mistake, but he worked within it.
That's who he is. He doesn't abandon you in the consequences of your own choices. He meets you there.
Today's Step Is there a "treaty" in your life — a situation you got into without consulting God? Bring it to him today, honestly. He already knows, and he's not done working.
A Closing Thought God's grace is big enough to meet you in the middle of your mess — and wise enough to lead you through it.
Surrender Is the Starting Point
Friday — Carrying It Forward
At the end of the day, there's really only one question underneath all the others: Who's actually in charge of your life?
Today's Scripture "My brothers who went with me made the heart of the people melt; yet I wholly followed the Lord my God." — Joshua 14:8
Reflection All week we've been sitting with a story about a moment when Israel trusted their own eyes instead of God's voice — and the long, tangled consequences that followed. But the bigger story of Joshua is about a man named Caleb, who is remembered for one thing above all else: he wholly followed the Lord.
Not perfectly. Not without difficulty. But wholly — with nothing held back.
That's the invitation at the end of this week. Not a checklist of better decisions. Not a system for making fewer mistakes. But surrender — the daily, ongoing choice to say, You're in charge here, not me.
Surrender isn't weakness. It's actually the wisest thing you can do, because it puts the One with perfect knowledge and perfect love in the position of leading your life. When you surrender to Jesus as Lord, you're not giving up control of your life — you're giving it to the only one who actually knows what to do with it.
This weekend, as you step away from the week, carry this with you: the goal isn't to be someone who never makes wrong turns. It's to be someone who walks closely enough with God that he can redirect you when you do.
Today's Step Before the weekend pulls you in a dozen directions, take five quiet minutes and simply say: Lord, you're in charge. Lead me.
A Closing Thought A life surrendered to God isn't a smaller life — it's the fullest one you'll ever live.