It is on account of Saul and his bloody house… – 2 Samuel 21:1, Amplified Bible

In Joshua 9, Joshua made perhaps the biggest mistake of his life. Before entering the Promised Land, God commanded the Israelites to utterly destroy the inhabitants of the land. Joshua, however, after being deceived, broke God’s commandment by vowing peace with the Gibeonites.

Despite the fact that God did not condone Joshua’s promise to spare Gibeon, God did expect the Israelites to keep that promise. According to 2 Samuel 21, King Saul murdered the Gibeonites some 400+ years after Joshua vowed to spare them, and his promise-breaking actions caused Israel to suffer a three-year famine during King David’s rule.

Although keeping promises isn’t important to a lot of people these days, it is extremely important to God. God expects His children to keep their promises – even when He doesn’t condone the promises that they make. He also expects His children to keep their promises for as long as they are supposed to be kept, and He expects His children to keep their promises whether it is convenient to do so or not.

Integrity is a virtue that most people cherish but fewer and fewer exhibit these days. God, however, both cherishes integrity and exhibits it Himself, and He expects nothing less from His children. Should we take integrity lightly, both we and those around us will suffer the rebuke of integrity’s Creator.