Judges 1:18-21 (KJV)
18 Also Judah took Gaza with the coast thereof, and Askelon with the coast thereof, and Ekron with the coast thereof. 19 And the Lord was with Judah; and he drave out the inhabitants of the mountain; but could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron. 20 And they gave Hebron unto Caleb, as Moses said: and he expelled thence the three sons of Anak. 21 And the children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites that inhabited Jerusalem; but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem unto this day.
Reflections:
When I first read this verse I was taken aback, saddened and disappointed. I just couldn’t believe that after all God had done in defeating so many of their enemies that they just stopped short of ultimately overcoming all their foes. It’s not that they couldn’t take the land … they just didn’t!
God had set the whole of the Promised Land before the children of Israel with explicit instruction to utterly destroy all the wicked nations that dwelt therein:
“Ye shall utterly destroy all the places, wherein the nations which ye shall possess served their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green tree: And ye shall overthrow their altars, and break their pillars, and burn their groves with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods, and destroy the names of them out of that place (Deut 12:2-5).”
Whether it was because they were just tired of fighting, or they were satisfied with what they already had, they fell far short of God’s perfect plan for them as a nation. I can’t help but wonder about the disappointment God must have felt having had such a wonderful plan for his children fall short.
The result was disastrous:
“And they left all the commandments of the Lord their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal. And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger (2 Kings 17:16-18).”
What are the reasons that we, the blood-bought children of God, fall short of God’s full provision for us? Have we, like the Israelites grown weary of the fight, willing to settle for just a portion of our full inheritance in Christ?
Have we too become complacent towards God, digressing to a place where we are drawn away by our lusts to the things of this world; more than to the things of God?
If so, perhaps it’s time to stop - and to reconsider our ways …
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