Leaving Some Canaanites

While we celebrate the leadership of Joshua in his conquests of the promised land, the truth is that he left a great deal undone. There were still a number of Canaanite tribes living in the land that God had given them. In the second half of the book of Joshua (the part that most people skip because it is about land allotment to the tribes of Israel) we learn that there is still a strong Canaanite presence in and around the land that has been assigned to the tribes. It won't take long for this to become a problem.

In Joshua 24 we read of the renewing of the covenant between Israel and the Lord. Shortly thereafter, we read that the Lord is unhappy with their efforts to remove the Canaanites (Judges 2). For the rest of the book of Judges we see why this was such a problem. By not removing the existing inhabitants, the Israelites created a situation in which they were susceptible to the practice of worshiping other gods. The temptation became too great, and the people began to forsake God and worship the gods of the peoples around them. This leads to the ruin of the people and their relationship with the Lord who brought them to the land in the first place. The book of Judges is written in such a way that things go from back to worse. By the time of the last Judge, things have become almost irreparable.

So where are the Canaanites in our lives? What are the things that we have failed to remove as we seek to live the life God wants for us? Maybe it is a particular sin, but maybe it is something else less threatening. Maybe it is a tendency to become materialistic or an inablility to accept forgiveness for an action long ago. Maybe it is a behavior that puts us in a situation where we face temptation. Maybe it is the false belief that we are fixed simply because we became a Christian. Regardless of what you still need to remove, the reality is this: if it is not removed, your faith will never be what it is meant to be.