Thought from today’s Bible reading from Judges 3-5.
“Now these are the nations which the Lord left, to test Israel by them (that is, all who had not experienced any of the wars of Canaan; only in order that the generations of the sons of Israel might be taught war, those who had not experienced it formerly)” (Judges 3:1-2).
Though the Israelites were now inhabiting the land of Canaan, there were still going to be wars and conflicts. It was important for the new generation to be willing and able to carry on the fight for the promised land.
Why was it important for them to be prepared to fight? For at least a couple of reasons:
- Conflict was inevitable. Even during times of peace, there would eventually come an adversary that would need to be met in battle and defeated.
- They were responsible to defend what God had given them. They could not rest upon the accomplishments of prior generations. They had to stand up and fight on their own, or else they would lose what previous generations had gained.
The same is true for us today. We are involved in a spiritual conflict (2 Corinthians 10:3-5). Each generation needs to learn to fight, to stand “for the defense of the gospel” (Philippians 1:16), to “contend earnestly for the faith” (Jude 3). If we fail to do this, the gains of previous generations in the cause of Christ will be lost until a new generation arises that is willing to fight against Satan and his forces and once again advance the kingdom of God.
Each generation will have their battles and wars to fight. Our generation is no exception. We must be ready and willing to stand up for and defend the truth.
Tomorrow’s reading: Judges 6-7
[I’m using the Chronological reading plan on the Bible Gateway website if you’d like to follow along, too.]
Daily Notes & Observations contains all 365 articles from this series and is available in paperback from Gospel Armory.
