The Danger of Peace

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Did you know there's a danger in having too much peace & quiet?!

In the book of Joshua, the Israelites crossed over Jordan and conquered the Canaanites, taking possession of the land promised to them by God… basically.

In all actuality, though, they allowed some of the enemy to stay in among them. 

First, it started with Judah: the people of the valley had chariots of iron, so they could not drive them out. 

Now, this is the same people that saw water pour out of a rock and quail fall from Heaven, shoes that grew with their feet, clothes that never wore out…. Yet all of those testimonies did not cause them to have faith that God would help them win against chariots.

So, instead, they made that enemy their tributaries. They taxed them and made them do labor. FEAR kept them from conquering that enemy completely.

At first, they probably felt pretty good about that arrangement: no more chopping down their own wood or carrying their own water…  A little extra income each month in the form of taxes…. Not a bad gig!

BUT – it went directly against what God commanded them to do: make no leagues, or covenants, with the inhabitants of this land, whatsoever. 

No compromise, no exceptions.

One by one, other tribes began to leave some enemy in the land. They would conquer the majority of the enemy in their territory, but leave just a remnant and make them taxpayers and laborers. 

“And it came to pass, when Israel was STRONG, that they put the Canaanites to tribute, and did not utterly drive them out…” Judges 1:28

But soon they began to compromise their belief system. Whereas before they had leaders and elders to keep them on the straight and narrow of listening and obeying all God’s commands, after they died off there rose up a generation that “knew not the Lord, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel.”

This new generation that had not seen the works of God, therefore having no first-hand knowledge of where their strength came from, began to worship the gods of the very enemy they had come in to conquer!

The further they got from the days of miracles, signs, and wonders, the less they obeyed the Voice that had initially led them there… and they began to weaken.

Meaning - peace & rest led to forgetfulness, which led to fear, which led to compromise, which led to rebellion against God.

Their strength to fight & win was directly tied to their willingness to listen & obey God’s voice. So, when they lost their strength, God on their side, they lost to the enemy that had been their servants. 

Suddenly, their servants became their masters.  

“And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them, and he sold them into the hands of their enemies round about so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies. “

But He had another purpose in doing so!

"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; only in order that the generations of the sons of Israel might be taught war, those who had not experienced it formerly). Judges 3:1&2 NASB

God knew they needed to know HOW to fight, so He left an enemy among them to test their faith, prove their faith, and teach them to fight.

There is a great danger that arises from long periods of peace and rest:
 
- Solomon’s 40 years of peace preceded Jeroboam & Rehoboam’s dividing of Israel into 2 Kingdoms (North (10 tribes) and South (2 tribes). The biggest division and falling away in Israel came after one of the longest, and most prosperous, times of peace ever for Israel:

- After Joshua led the people to conquer Canaan and released them to go possess what they had conquered, they began to build houses and towns in a time of peace. 

But that next generation had never fought in a war, therefore they did not know the works (power) of the Lord… so they felt no great need to obey His commandments.

And this led to their backsliding, worshipping of false gods, separation from the one true God, and their eventual demise.
 
There is a danger in making life too easy for your kids – they have no compelling reason to seek the Lord for themselves.

There is a danger in not remembering the works of God—even if you didn’t see them with your own eyes, REMEMBER. 

There is a danger in making an enemy a pet.

There’s a danger in allowing a distraction to build a stronghold. 

There is a danger in thinking you will always be strong enough to control that addiction, that it can never control you.

There is a danger in thinking you don’t need God, you can fight this one with your own strength of will. 

There is a danger in not hearkening (listening & obeying) to His voice (written & spoken). 

BUT, approximately 1200 years later, God with skin on came walking the shores of Galilee, telling that generation’s descendants: 

“If you love Me, keep My commandments.” Meaning, the rules of the covenant haven't changed... if you love Me, obey Me!

But He didn't stop there! He wrote those laws on our hearts and in our minds....

But He didn't stop there either! THEN He sent His Holy Spirit to dwell in and empower us to live bold, Godly OBEDIENT lives!

Pick up a Bible and start reading. Get alone and listen for His instruction. Whatever He says to do, DO IT. 

“Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.” Psalm 119:11 

It's not hearers that are justified before God, but the doers!

#AmyParables
#MakingMonuments
#GrowingUpIntoHim

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