‘These are the nations that the Lord left in the land to test those Israelites who had not experienced the wars of Canaan. He did this to teach warfare to generations of Israelites who had no experience in battle. ‘ Judges 3:1-2
‘These people (nations) were left to test the Israelites—to see whether they would obey the commands the Lord had given to their ancestors through Moses.’ Judges 3:4
It doesn’t make sense to me that the Lord left nations in the land to test the Israelites. They are in the promised land right? Things are supposed to be easy now, right?!?! I mean they followed the Lord, went in conquered the land that he gave to them, and then He leaves nations in the land just to fight them? This is absolutely counter to how we think today. Once I got saved, I thought I would get delivered from sin, and God would just magically clear my path of any hindrances or blockages. This wasn’t the way that it worked out for me or in this passage. It wasn’t God’s plan for the Israelites either. The passage specifically says that God left the nations in the land to test those who had not experienced war. If He left nations for the people of Israel to fight why wouldn’t He follow a similar pattern for us? It looks like the answer is twofold. First, and the point that I’ll be writing about today is “to teach warfare to generations that had no experience in battle”. One question I had, when I saw this point is what would happen if a nation not skilled in warfare were to suddenly get attacked? A nation without knowledge of warfare would be unprepared, untrained, and ill equipt to stop or even slow down an invading army. They wouldn’t have a defense.
Teach Warfare
If you have made Jesus Lord of your life you are on a promised land journey as well. You made an amazing choice you followed the leading of the Holy Spirit and made the decision to go to the “promised land”. This is the land that God foresaw giving us when he sent Jesus to die for us. Jesus went in and defeated death and the grave, just as the Lord went before the Israelites to help defeat the nations that were currently occupying the land. So you are in the promised land, but there is a catch. You will be tested. Why?
‘Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.’ James 1:2-4
Trouble will come to you. In this translation, it uses the word troubles, but it would be better-translated trial or test. Trials are called trials because they are an opportunity to prove the truth about something. If you find yourself in a courtroom (on trial), you have an opportunity to prove or defend the strength of your case. There is evidence shown and witnesses brought forth to find out the truth. There are witnesses called from both sides one to defend your position and one to test your position. “But, I’m innocent,” you say, and you would be right, Jesus paid the price for your sin. Here’s the thing, innocent people get accused of things every day, however they still could end up going to trial. Trials that come to you, are an opportunity for the truth to come out to prove your position. If you win in the natural you go free, no fines, no bond, freedom. In the spiritual, we gain endurance and we learn warfare or skills for the next fight. Whether you are taking a stand for God by living out your new identity or by starting to serve in the purpose God has for you, you will be tested. The enemy will say, “you aren’t supposed to be here”, “this isn’t who you really are”. He will say “you will fall again just like before”. He will bring up the past to try and defeat your future. This is when Jesus steps in and says “it is finished!” We need to remember that our lawyer and judge are on the same team. When satan brings his case against us, Jesus looks at God and says “I already paid for that” and the judge says “case dismissed!” But you can’t give up partway through the trial. You must stand firm and learn how to fight and how to endure. A key to being in the trial is to observe but not dwell on the evidence and witnesses the enemy brings against you. By observing you learn the enemy’s schemes and plans for you. Now you can prepare for the next fight, you learn warfare. Testing comes to those the Lord loves, James 1:2 says that it is an opportunity for great joy.
Partway through writing, I had to stop and go to work. You wouldn’t believe the number of things that went wrong that day. I run a small business out of my home. To start the day, I had machines breaking and parts coming out wrong and if that wasn’t enough I went to leave and had a flat tire on my truck! I went to get the spare and the spare was the wrong size, I had to take the tire off go somewhere and get it fixed. I know these aren’t huge things in the grand scheme of things but they start to feel like trials. Later that day, I went to start the van that we use to pick up kids for our community night, and guess what? It wouldn’t start! For some reason, at that moment I remembered what I had been reading and writing about earlier, “Consider it great joy”. Ha! Someone was bringing a case against me. The case said “you aren’t supposed to be doing this work”, “It never works out the way it is supposed to”, “things are always breaking, they are always going to break”. Instead, I resolved to work on the problem, pray, and remind myself of the truth! God is for me, I’m doing the right things, this is just a test and I will not let this trial determine my attitude or the way the rest of the night will go. The van started, the night went great and the series of broken things stopped! I passed the test this time. I definitely don’t always pass the test. Sometimes it gets the best of me and anger or rage comes out. Sometimes it manifests as fear and anxiety and ends in depression. Your future is not determined by what happens when you fail but by how you get back up and keep going.
Remember how in the beginning. God allowed enemy nations to stay in the land so that those who didn’t know warfare would learn warfare but also to test Israel to see if they would obey. Trials will come our way, one key that I’ve found helpful is that if you can step out of a situation for just a second to recognize the trial, you can see that now is your time to shine and it will give you a totally different perspective on your situation. Now is our time to shine. Shine bright!
