Now these are the nations which the LORD left, to test Israel by them (that is, all who had not experienced any of the wars of Canaan; {2} only in order that the generations of the sons of Israel might be taught war, those who had not experienced it formerly). {3} These nations are: the five lords of the Philistines and all the Canaanites and the Sidonians and the Hivites who lived in Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal-hermon as far as Lebo-hamath. {4} They were for testing Israel, to find out if they would obey the commandments of the LORD, which He had commanded their fathers through Moses. {5} The sons of Israel lived among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; {6} and they took their daughters for themselves as wives, and gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods. (NNAS)

PIECES FOR THE PUZZLE

The text clearly states that God deliberately left in place enemies, pressures, and temptations. Why? If He knew that the gods of the Canaanites would be "a snare" to Israel, why didn't he allow Joshua and his generation to completely eliminate them from the land? Why hasn't our loving heavenly Father removed adversity from the human experience? He's not lacking in ability and I think I could be a great Christian if I didn't have to contend with temptation, doubts and the powers of darkness. Why leave snares that you know will lead your children into idolatry and immorality?

This past Wednesday, my daughter Ruth, became a teenager. That's the time in life when most of us experienced damaged brain cells. Her birthday was, for me, a time of mixed emotions. I was joyful that we could celebrate the birthday of a healthy wonderful young lady, who just happens to be my daughter. At the same time I was saddened because I wanted to shortcut the process of her having to learn the lessons essential to surviving the teen years. There were some hard lessons about acceptance, limits, and friendships that can be intense and often heartbreaking. The reality of generational change was brought home to me, because what took place thirty-five years ago for me took place four days ago for my daughter. If I could, I would shortcut the process of her having to learn the lessons I learned. I would like to be able to pour them into her mind and life; to save her some of the struggles; to give her the things that God taught me over time with hurt, difficulty, and pressure; to give her the benefits before the struggle. But it isn't possible. We can talk about things, and there is guidance that I can share with her, but I can't do it for her. There are a lot of lessons that you can't learn any other way but to go through experiences and to fight the fight yourself.

Jesus said, "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." (John 16:33 KJV) Paul declared, "Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." (2 Tim 3:12 KJV)

You will never get so mature or so "spiritual" that you do not have to deal with the enemies that God has left in the land. We will never, in this life, come to a place where we do not have to contend with the world, the flesh and the devil. The duration of your life on this planet will involve warfare.

Now, lest you become overcome by the weight of such a thought, please hear this.

One of the questions that occurs to us when we're hurting, frightened, or confused is, why doesn't God do more? Why doesn't he act more quickly? Why doesn't he do away with the problems? This is a question that I hope we'll come to grips with this morning, because He says very clearly, "I'm not going to remove the problems," and there are reasons for it.

Joshua, the Lord's servant, was buried on the land of his inheritance, we're told, part of the Ephraimite territory. He evidently had taken the land that his family was to take, and he was buried with honor in the territory that he was to occupy. He had done what he ought to have done, and the men who led during his generation continued their influence as long as they were alive. Then we come to the question, what about the next generation? What about the people who would follow them? It says they did not know the Lord, nor yet the work which he had done. They didn't know the Lord intimately, personally. They didn't know how to trust him for the details of their life. Now, they knew about him; they knew his name. They had information because they'd been taught about the Lord, but the point is that they didn't yet know him. And the question is, would they? How do people who do not know the Lord come to know Him? Obviously, they aren't going to seek a God they do not love or trust a God they do not know. How then will they come to know the Lord?

The evidence of scripture suggests that instead of seeking God they served the Baals.

Then the sons of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served the Baals, and they forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed themselves down to them; thus they provoked the LORD to anger. So they forsook the LORD and served Baal and the Ashtaroth.

These children of the wilderness had moved into the territory, as it says in Deuteronomy 6:10-11, in which they were to take over vineyards they hadn't planted, fields they hadn't plowed, and homes they hadn't built. But they had wandered in the wilderness for 40 years, and they had no agricultural background. They were attempting to grow crops in a land where they hadn't before. So, they made servants of those who were familiar with the land and its ways. In the process they adopted the ways of their servants.

Judges 2:13

"So they forsook the LORD and served Baal and the Ashtaroth."

Judges 2:14-15

And the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He gave them into the hands of plunderers who plundered them; and He sold them into the hands of their enemies around them, so that they could no longer stand before their enemies. Wherever they went, the hand of the LORD was against them for evil, as the LORD had spoken and as the LORD had sworn to them, so that they were severely distressed.

Their lives became an affliction to them. God didn't kill them, He merely turned them over to themselves. In the great theology of human sin that we meet in the initial chapters of Romans, the point is made early on that God's wrath exists primarily in his taking his hands off, of stopping the protection process. "God gave them over," we are told three times in Romans 1. The primary way in which God's wrath leads to suffering for us is that he lets us have what we insist on having, and he doesn't stop the consequences from descending on us. That's exactly what happened here. The people of Israel gave their allegiance to the gods of Canaan. So the Lord God said, "All right, follow your leader. Trust in the Baal to provide for you." And the Baal led them into the hands of the Canaanite people. They were plundered and beaten by the nations and the people whose gods they had appealed to for help. The same thing is true for us over and over again. We attempt to build our security on that which is insecure; and God loves us, but we don't listen. We try to buy pleasure, hope, or security; we try to gather power or promote ourselves; and the Lord warns, but we don't take heed. Then he finally says, "You can have what you asked for." And the life-shattering consequences descend on us.

Many a man who would not respond to God's loving Spirit and His Word, has come to himself and his need for God in the midst of a hog pen. God's first purpose in leaving the "five lords of the Philistines" in the land was as an instrument by which He would bring His erring people to understand their need for Him.

What the Israelites wanted was what many of us want, and that is a degree of security. They wanted their crops to grow, and they wanted the rain to come when they needed it. They wanted their families to be comfortable. They wanted to have happy children, to live in nice neighborhoods. They wanted to have enough spice in life to be interesting, but not enough to demand too much of them. They wanted the experience of Canaan to produce prosperity, peace, ease, and enjoyment of life. That's all they aimed for, and that's why they were willing to sell out. What the Lord wanted for them was worship of a holy God. He wanted them to be his representatives on earth so that other people might come to know him, and to have an enthusiasm for the great things of their faith, for the Law and the Giver of the Law. And even if it meant more difficulty, more adventure, and more unknowns-because they were aimed at something greater, they would achieve something greater. If he would let us, too many of us would settle for knowing God well enough for him to give us everything we want but not for him to demand too much of us. And yet he wants us to aim for something higher. If God were to remove the obstacles before we had any faith formed in us, we would also fool ourselves about the depth of wickedness of which we're capable. What the Israelites did by adopting Canaanite religion was despicable, and to use God's name in the midst of it was an abomination. And yet they were willing to do it over and over again.

We recoil from the stories of serial killers and sexually perverse societies that exist in the great cities of the world. We recoil from stories like the one you may have heard last month about a man who is the father of his own grand-daughter. But are we really different from them? Given the right circumstances are we capable of crimes that would in this moment make us shudder?

The last section of the book of Judges is perhaps the most terrible in the Bible. It's a story of rape, dismemberment, and genocide. But after that a summary is given at the end of Judges that says, "Everyone did what was right in his own eyes." The near extermination of the tribe of Benjamin would be done because the other tribes believed it was right. The dismemberment of the dead body of the prostitute would be done as an act of "righteous indignation." They didn't plan to do what was evil and wicked; they thought they were doing the right thing. Our capacity to fool ourselves, to act in these ways is extraordinary. So, secondly, God leaves the enemies in the land to teach us of our own inadequacy, our own capacity for evil. Our sin nature can't be fixed---crucifixion and resurrection life in Christ are the only sufficient answers. We will never know how much we need God until we have seen our own capacity for sin.

PROBLEMS COME WITH PROVISIONS

Someone is sure to say, "what will be will be". God hasn't called us to be passive in the face of adversity. He has called to trust Him and to obey Him when problems come. Israel, when faced with adversity, compromised and took the easy way out. When the rains didn't fall, they turned to the Baals and forsook God.

There was a time in Paul's life when he was faced with a circumstance that would not go away.

(2 Cor 12:7-10 NNAS) Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me--to keep me from exalting myself! {8} Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. {9} And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. {10} Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.

Paul was willing to live in the midst of a persistent problem rather than compromise and take the easy way out.

There are times when our problems won't go away, but "God's grace is sufficient." Knowing that where we are serves His purpose should bring joy to our hearts.

Out of this dark period in Israel's history comes some of Israel's greatest heroes.

It's the coarseness of sandpaper that makes the wood smooth. It's the sculptor's chisel that delivers the art from the granite. It's the heat of the furnace that gives durability to the clay. Diamonds are lumps of coal that have been under pressure for years. Pearls are what oysters make out of an irritating piece of sand.

Many of the wonderful tools and convinces of our day were birthed by people seeking to solve problems. Their solutions have become an integral part of our lives. Think of living with electricity. What would life be like without cars, airplanes and telephones.

God's purpose for trouble isn't our destruction, but our development. Trouble should lead us to deeper knowledge of and a greater trust in God, not away from Him. The Corey TenBooms of our world are products of the crucible. They are the refined ones whose lives exhibit the inwrought character and nature of Jesus. This is a work that could not have been accomplished apart from the enemies left in the land.

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