Judges 2:20-23 – Be true to God

Disappointed with the people of Israel, the Lord manifested through an angel in Judges 1-5 and announced to them that He would no longer drive out the Canaanites. Following that announcement, we saw the reason why God did not drive hostile forces out from before them. They did not keep their covenant obligation but instead reneged on the pledge to remain faithful to the Lord. They had provoked the Lord to anger. Judges 2:20 -23 further explain for us the reason for God’s anger toward His people. They had transgressed and disobeyed God by tolerating the Canaanites. Even when God assured them that He would be with them, they failed to do their part to actively exterminate the hostile forces from among them. In their toleration, they had unwittingly assimilated the worship of the gods of the land into their community. Before long, they were found serving Baal.

They had contravened the direct commandment of God. The promise of God through Joshua to them was that every place where the feet of His people shall tread upon shall be their land. But now their unfaithfulness had freed God from keeping His commitment to destroy the Canaanites before them. Instead of totally driving the enemy forces out, God would now use then to test His people. We can see the deep desire of God for His people to walk in His ways faithfully. If they had been faithful, they would have richly inherited all that God had promised them. So whatever land that should have been theirs to possess was put on hold. God was showing His patience. He was still using the enemies to test His people with the hope to get them to return to their covenant faithfulness.

From the experiences of the Israelites here, we can tell that God is faithful. What Paul said in 2 Timothy 2:13 is proven to be true. He said, “If we are faithless, He (God) remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.” God does not renege on His Word. Even in His anger, He still cherished the day His people would return to Him. The intention of God is never to crush us with tough circumstances but instead to use them to draw us back to Himself. Tough circumstances are there in our lives to help us make a decision for Him. Don’t frown on them and waste those moments, seize them instead and draw near to God. He is good all the time!