Joshua 11:11
“They struck every person who was in it with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying them; there was no one left who breathed. And he burned Hazor with fire.”
This is a very difficult passage. Some today use this as a reason to defame God. I understand their complaint. I don’t like it either. God has His reasons. He allowed this practice knowing it would be a stumbling block. We have to be ok with God and His ways.
This reminds me of an incident with Jesus. In John 6 He fed the 5,000. After that He said to the crowds that they were following Him because He fed them. He began to speak of Himself as the Bread of Life. Anyone who partook of Him would never hunger. It would appear Jesus sought to thin the crowds as He said something difficult. ‘So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves”‘, (v. 53). A few verses later it says, ‘So then many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, “This statement is very unpleasant; who can listen to it?”’ (v.60). ‘So Jesus said to the twelve, “You do not want to leave also, do you?” Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life”‘, (vv.67,68).
Jesus isn’t afraid of difficult things. We shouldn’t be either. We are to be as Peter, “to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” Yes, it’s difficult to hear of the great slaughter in Joshua. We stay with God.
God had His reasons. The people of the land didn’t worship God. He constantly warned them not to associate with them, as they would be corrupted by idols and be led astray. We see it often in the Old Testament. God wants us to be holy, unstained by the world. We are to be in the world, but not of it.
I wouldn’t go about sharing difficult truths, as they can be a stumbling blocks. But we aren’t to deny them, if asked. Some difficult truths are to be shared. That Jesus is the only way to God. We are His ambassadors, His representatives. God loves the people and wants to draw them to Himself.
I can recall sharing Christ with someone who wasn’t interested. I kept watering down the message to make it more palatable. He still wasn’t interested. That was a learning experience for me. Don’t water down the message. That guy wasn’t ready. There was no conviction of sin. He was happy with his life and wanted nothing else. I was casting pearls before swine. He trampled the message underfoot.
Lord, thank You that You are the Bread of Life. You fill us. Help us not to fear the difficult things. You’ve got us.
