Would Not, Could Not, Did Not

I think elections in the United States of America are a wonderful thing. I also think that they are very serious.

And in this 21st century, I believe that they are spiritual.

I remember interviewing Janet Parshal who was then with Concerned Women for America about some hearings that were going on in Washington at the time (about 15 years ago). I still remember her talking about a sense of "evil" that prevailed in the hearing room.

The battle for good and evil takes place every day in the high offices of this nation.

That is the reason that I have heard people express extreme "fear" over what might happen to this country after our upcoming election.

I have been fairly vocal about my belief in a return to conservative values for our nation so I won't belabor the point.

As far as the election is concerned - WE MUST PRAY. Pray for leaders that fear God. .. and then we must vote... and vote from the standpoint of principles.

But what of this idea of defeating evil? Why haven't we been able to see a putting away of the excesses that come out of Washington - no matter which party is in office?

I happened on a verse this week that speaks to that.

It caught my eye because it seemed to contradict earlier passages.

Joshua 15:63 NIV Judah could not dislodge the Jebusites, who were living in Jerusalem; to this day the Jebusites live there with the people of Judah.

Joshua was leading the Israelites on a campaign to defeat the evil of all the inhabitants of the land God had promised to them. And things were going pretty good, miraculous battle stories seemed to be rampant as God intervened with falling walls, hailstorms and the like.

But when it came to the city that would one day be the very heart of the nation of Israel - Jerusalem, they could not quite "close the deal" and put away evil for good.

So one enemy - the Jebusites - remained to be a boil on the neck of Israel.

Then I remembered another enemy that was not soundly defeated - the folks from Gibeon. Remember, in Joshua 9 they came up with a ploy to trick Joshua and the elders into signing a peace treaty with them. They wore old rags and packed dry, moldy bread in their provisions - all so that it would appear that they were ambassadors from a very distant land.

Joshua took the bait and signed the treaty without consulting God - three days later he learned that these folks were their neighbors. But now the dye had been cast so he had to stick with his agreement and protect these former enemies.

As I looked into this more deeply - I found in Judges 1, a sort of "State of the Nation" statement. In that chapter you can read how that not only was Jerusalem still partly occupied by the evil Jebusites, but a number of cities and kingdoms in the valley had still not been defeated even after Joshua's death.

Why? - because they had iron chariots (this would be a good spot for a trill of ominous sounding dramatic music)! Now enemies with chariots had not been a problem before, but now for some reason, Israel just could bring themselves to fight against chariots.

So Israel would not defeat the people from Gibeon because they did not talk to God about the situation and therefore they were easily deceived.

They could not defeat the folks in Jerusalem completely - and I wasn't sure why. But I did pick up a clue from a verse in Joshua 10.
Joshua had just led his troops in the defeat of a number of kings that had attacked Gibeon - one of them being the king of Jerusalem. Before he took the lives of those defeated kings, he had each of his commanders place their foot upon their necks. This was designed to give them confidence and he told them this:

... “Do not be afraid, nor be dismayed; be strong and of good courage, for thus the LORD will do to all your enemies against whom you fight.” Joshua 10:25 NKJV

Now look back at the last 4 words: "against whom you fight."

In other words, the Lord will not defeat your enemies if you don't show up for the fight.

I think Israel could not defeat Jerusalem because they did not take on the enemy - and when they did fight, they did not finish them off.

A good example of the correct attitude is David who ran toward his opponent Goliath.

Finally, Israel did not defeat the cities in the lowlands because they were afraid.

Perhaps this has a national application for us when it comes to defeating evils like a culture of death and a sharp reduction in God given rights and freedom. But it may also have a personal application when it comes to defeating evil in our own lives.

If we view all the evidence but never ask God's opinion, it is likely that we will be making some damaging decisions (as with the people of Gibeon)

If we treat sinful tendencies in our own lives with kid gloves instead of putting those tendencies "to death" as the Bible recommends - we will likely have to battle the same enemy over and over and he will keep a foothold in our life.

If we cower in fear at the prospect of facing a daunting challenge (like battling an enemy with horses and iron chariots when you only have a few donkeys) and do not consider the fact that God - Who can and often does do the impossible - is on our side; we might just never even take on those enemies out of fear.

King David had the right idea. When he was established as king over the entire nation of Israel in 2 Samuel 5 - he immediately began to defeat these enemies that Israel had allowed to linger all those years. Beginning with Jerusalem.

Of David it was said - "he is a man after God's own heart"