Recently, while reading through Judges, I saw where God recorded the accounts of the different tribes of Israel conquering Canaan repeatedly in chapter 1. However, God’s people did not do all that God wanted them to do. They did not drive out the Canaanites completely from the land; in fact, the Israelites put some of the inhabitants under tribute, or made them forced laborers. Some tribes lived alongside the godless Canaanites. Chapter 2 begins with God telling His people that they not only did not drive these people out but also did not destroy the false gods. One of the saddest statements in the Bible is found in Judges 2:10, which says, …and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel.
The book of Judges is filled with stories of the rising and falling of judges. Additionally, it is filled with God’s people serving idols, being overtaken, winning battles, serving God, turning back to idols, and then the story repeating itself. I wonder how much of that the Israelites could have avoided just by driving out the Canaanites in the first place like God had told them.
I am reminded of Ephesians 4:27: Neither give place to the devil. How many battles do we fight because we are not willing to get rid of something that we think is not that big of a deal? Then, we repeatedly fight the same battles that we could have avoided if we had not allowed that thing into our lives or if we had just obeyed God in the beginning.
What one generation allowed to stay became the complete downfall of the next generation. We see this today in our own country. What one generation tolerated, the next generation accepts, and the following generation embraces.
The original battles with the Canaanites would not have been easy had they followed God’s instructions. However, that hard work in the beginning would have paved a path toward the ease of peace and God’s blessings for future generations. Instead, the Israelites’ lack of doing things God’s way had devastating repercussions for many generations. They set themselves up for a future of unnecessary battles by not fighting the necessary ones in the beginning.
Let us remember that when we fight the necessary battles with God’s help, we will not have to fight the unnecessary battles without Him in the future.
by Vicki Voorhis
