God gives us wars to fight - Joshua 11-15

This section of Joshua is about waring. For those who are caregiving and see only positive side of life this must be a hard chapter. However, the message is clear: God does not and will not tolerate sin and apostasy. These nations were nations void of God and void of His understanding. He already demonstrated with Rahab the harlot and with the Gibeonite that He was a compasionate God. But, in this section is going to demonstrate that He is a just God. In 11:1 we see the nations gathering themselves together to do harm to Israel. In 11:20 we see that it was God who gathered them all together in actuallity. He did so to make the war with Joshua that much easier. Joshua could have seen this gathering of the nations as a big problem but God brought them all together to make it easier to destroy them all. In Psalm 144:1 we read by the writings of David that God "teaches our hands to war and our fingers for battle." God is in the process of a spiritual battle. We don't see that in our every day lives as we look for comfort, peace and prosperity. But, in relaity God is looking to destory evil, sin and Satan. These nations were both representatives of these three and alies of them. God brought them together so Joshua could fight them. God often allows evil to come into our lives so that, through His strength, we can defeat it. We should not shrink back away from this fight. But, as Ephesians 6 tells us, we ought to take on the full armour of God and find the wiles of the Devil. God brings wars into our lives so we can fight them by His strength and He can defeat evil "through Him" and "by us." We are His chosen warriors. Don't shrink from this war ... or, worse, don't join the enemy.