LEARNING DAILY

 

Joshua 13:13, But the Israelites did not drive out the people of Geshur and Maacah ….

Joshua 15:63, As for the Jebusites, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the children of Judah could not drive them out ….

Joshua 16:10, And they did not drive out the Canaanites who dwelt in Gezer ….

Joshua 17:12, Yet the children of Manasseh could not drive out the inhabitants of those cities …

 

You need to understand that as I am reading the Chronological Bible for my daily devotions, I am reading the instructions God gave to His people, the Israelites, as they entered the Promised Land. They were to kill all the inhabitants of the land He gave them so there would be no influence that might cause them to compromise their beliefs or might tempt them to be disobedient to Him. While the tribes were together, under the leadership of Joshua, they did just that.  But as the various tribes began to take their allotted land, you can see by the verses above, the people did not drive the inhabitants from the land. It is not always clear by reading Joshua whether the Israelites were just unwilling to drive the people out or could not because their disobedience caused God to withdraw His help.

 

God’s commands to remove the inhabitants from the land seems cruel in many ways; He knew the hearts of the people would be weak and fall into temptation and compromise because of the idolatrous people in the land. Their idolatry, if allowed, would lead His people away from Him and that is what happened. Failure to drive out the inhabitants may indicate not only a lack of Israel’s determination to obey God but an interest or fascination with the way of life of the people living on the land. Whatever the reason for their lack of obedience, continued reading in God’s Word shows us the people fell into a pattern of idolatry, God giving them over to their enemies, the people crying out to God for help, and God raising a judge to deliver them. This is the cycle repeated over and over again in the book of Judges.

 

While reading this I could not help but think how relevant this is to us, the body of Christ, today! If you have been reading and considering the writings in this blog, you know that walking on the narrow way is difficult because the Holy Spirit is pointing us away from our old, self-centered life where we lived only to please ourselves to a life where we “deny self, pick up our cross, and follow Jesus”. Reading the book of Joshua is a spiritual lesson for each of us about being obedient to the Word of God which brings blessings or being disobedient which brings adversity and consequences.  From the beginning, the Israelites were successful in the conquest of the Promised Land – just like each of us were when we first accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior. But over time the attitude of the people changed because of compromise and failure to be obedient to God.

 

There is never a time we let down our guard and begin to compromise God’s principles from His Word with the ungodly evil world we live in. When Israel compromised, both political and spiritual decline began. Look around, people, and understand there is tremendous compromise with an ungodly people and philosophy in the nation and world today. It is not getting better or going away. It leads to what we are experiencing today – political and spiritual decline. You and I must not give in to this! We must continue to diligently walk the narrow way to eternal life in God’s kingdom in obedience to the Lord as He leads us and continues to cleanse us of all unrighteousness. With all the difficulty we might face, we stay strong and diligent to the call to die to self and live the life God demands from each of us. Doing so brings the prosperity that only God gives, eternal life with Him.

 

Be strong and encouraged in the Lord!