Forever Home in the Eternal Family of God

A Daily Devotional by Kenton Cheek

24 March 2024

Reading From Joshua 9-11

“So Joshua took the entire land, just as the Lord had directed Moses, and he gave it as an inheritance to Israel according to their tribal divisions. Then the land had rest from war.”

—Joshua 11:23

From God’s command to invade Canaan we learn that there are times when war is necessary. War is a terrible thing that brings devastation to human life and to the planet, but it is sometimes unavoidable and justified. Those who oppose the God of the Bible because of His directive to annihilate the people groups living in the land promised to Israel do not understand the horrific atrocities committed by these cultures nor are they aware of the more than four hundred years of warnings God had given them before their destruction.

The conquest of Canaan was not an exercise in entitled imperialism or unrestrained theocratic nationalism. It was a case of God using the people of Israel as a tool to implement His justice in a specific situation where four hundred years of unrepentant wickedness had gone unchecked. Not all cultural traditions are healthy and God could not allow the vile depravity to continue. Murdering babies on the idols of Molech and the wholesale conscription of people into sexual slavery for the worship of Asherah and Baal must stop. Sooner or later you will have to choose whose side you are on. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

“Lord, there are times when I don’t fully understand Your ways, but help me to trust that You are thoroughly good and holy and that You only do what is best for me and the rest of humanity. Bring me to a place of total trust in You. All Your thoughts toward us are holy. Thank You for Your love and justice and mercy. Amen.”

For the word of the Lord is right and true;
    he is faithful in all he does.
The Lord loves righteousness and justice;
    the earth is full of his unfailing love.

–Psalm 33:4-5