God’s sovereignty triumphs again—taking human failure and turning it into blessings for us!
As we began our studies in Judges 1, we noted that some of the enemies they “did not drive out” (v 21) and others “they could not drive out” (v 19). Largely, the ones they didn’t remove resulted from unbelief on their part. But the Lord gives reasons why they couldn’t displace some nations. Here are the ones that were left: “five lords of the Philistines,…the Sidonians, and the Hivites who dwelt in Mount Lebanon,…the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites” (3:3-5). Sounds like most of them, doesn’t it! So is it possible that the Lord knew beforehand that the Israelites would fail to obey completely and be left with this mess? Of course He did. And is it also possible that He then incorporated their failure into His plan for success? Of course He did. Here’s the first reason: “so that through them I may test Israel, whether they will keep the ways of the Lord, to walk in them as their fathers kept them, or not” (2:22). The second reason: “that the generations of the children of Israel might be taught to know war, at least those who had not formerly known it” (3:2). The third reason was given back in Exodus 23:29-30, “I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the beasts of the field become too numerous for you. Little by little I will drive them out from before you.” So three reasons why it was beneficial for Israel (and also for new believers today) to struggle. 1. There must be testing times in God’s school to purify our faith. 2. We must learn warfare in God’s army in the battle for truth. 3. We must learn patience because we would be overwhelmed if all God’s blessings came at once. Another example of all things working together for good to those who love the Lord.