We are now in your hands. Do to us whatever seems good and right to you. – Joshua 9:25

Today’s Scripture Reading (October 13, 2012): Joshua 9

I am a Canadian. That means that I belong to a nation that is not the big kid on the block. That title belongs to our southern neighbor. It is not that we are the weakest either. We are a nation that exists with both things that we are good at – and things that we need to improve on – and some things that we know we will never be the best at. There are a lot of things that I like about being a Canadian. We are innovative, and I think very intelligent. But we are also used to not being in total control. Someone recognized that this is revealed maybe most in our literature. While an American audience likes all of the loose ends neatly tied up and resolved, Canadian literature tends to leave things a little unfinished. And we are okay with that. It is the way that we really live our lives.

Canadians live in the shadow of the only superpower left in the world. And because we live in their shadow, we have a very strange relationship with them. I have to admit, that we seem to spend a lot of time trying to prove how different we are when compared to them. And we are different. Yet, there is also a level of trust between us. We recognize the influence that our Southern neighbors have on us - and, to a lesser extent, the way that we have the privilege of influencing them.

The city-states in Canaan had to make some decisions with regard to how they would interact with the new power in the area. Most would fight, but the Gibeonites chose a different way. They chose a position where they could exist, and be an influence, from inside the military power. It was a position where they placed their trust in the more powerful nation. They would do what they would do with the weaker nation.    

Most of us are not the best and the brightest. We all exist in the orbit of stars that shine brighter than we do. In that, we share something with the Gibeonites. But survival is in learning to live – and influence upward – from the place that we inhabit.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Joshua 10