Take the Forest

Jan. 22

Read: Joshua 17

Take the Forest

“Now when the people of Israel grew strong, they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but did not utterly drive them out.” (v.17:13)

“…but the hill country shall be yours, for though it is a forest, you shall clear it and possess it to its farthest borders. For you shall drive out the Canaanites, though they have chariots of iron, and though they are strong.” (v.17:18)

You cannot seek to simply control what is evil, it must be cast out… driven away… destroyed. Evil is not something to be “leveraged” or kept close by … it is not something to be “managed”. How often do we keep what we know is “evil” around, thinking that we have it under control and serving us? How many addictions or destructive devices live on in the lives of people under the false idea that, “I have this under-control…” or something to that effect?

This is the picture we see with the offspring of Joseph in the land. They are given their allotment, and upon entering into the land they “put the Canaanites to forced labor, but did not UTTERLY drive them out.” (v. 13) You see, as the Israelites grew in strength, they began to think that they could manage these evil giants… these enemies of YHWH. They must have thought to themselves, “Hey… let us keep these Canaanites as slaves and force them to work for us. We are strong enough to keep them in check, right? And why waste a good opportunity?” In the end, this hubris would cost them greatly. They would eventually fall into the trap of worshipping these other gods and eventually, they would become the ones enslaved. (Just read the book of judges to see!) No matter how strong they thought they had become, it was a foolish move to keep in their midst what God had said to cast out. Do not do the same thing today! As the people of God, we think that we are strong enough to keep evil things in check and make them work for us… in the end we too become trapped and enslaved. There is only one answer - we must “utterly drive out of our midst” anything that wars against God Most High. We all know what this means for each and every one of us… but are we brave enough to do it?

What is the alternative? God calls his people to “take the forest” even if it means doing battle with those who seem more powerful than you! Look at the enemy that the people of God face: “they have chariots of iron, and they are strong.” (v.18) Often times the battles God calls us to are ones where we must utterly rely on him… because the odds are stacked against us. By every earthly measure, the Canaanites would defeat the Israelites. But God had strengthened his people and given them this land.. they truly could drive the Canaanites completely out by the hand of the Lord. This is the picture of a victorious Christian life - empowered by God to drive out what is evil despite it’s seeming to be more powerful than us. We have been given victory in Jesus Christ. We are called to enter the dark woods unafraid of what lies ahead because God is with us! When we come face to face with sin, brokenness, and those powers that war against God, the only fit answer is to “utterly drive them out”. We will prevail against the “iron chariots and strength” of the enemy… and we must not think that we can keep them around as “forced labor”… that will come back to haunt us in the end. Love you guys. - JDP