Daily Devotional
"So Joshua took all that land, the hill country and all the Negeb and all the land of Goshen and the lowland and the Arabah and the hill country of Israel and its lowland 17 from Mount Halak, which rises toward Seir, as far as Baal-gad in the Valley of Lebanon below Mount Hermon. And he captured all their kings and struck them and put them to death. 18 Joshua made war a long time with all those kings. 19 There was not a city that made peace with the people of Israel except the Hivites, the inhabitants of Gibeon. They took them all in battle. 20 For it was the Lord's doing to harden their hearts that they should come against Israel in battle, in order that they should be devoted to destruction and should receive no mercy but be destroyed, just as the Lord commanded Moses."
Joshua 11:16-20
We live in a culture that simultaneously demands God act against evil while recoiling when Scripture shows Him actually doing so. This contradiction reveals something deep about human nature—we want justice according to our terms, not God’s. The conquest of Canaan forces us to wrestle with uncomfortable truths about divine judgment and perfect justice.
The phrase “the Lord hardened their hearts” in verse 20 stops us in our tracks. But notice the context: this hardening served a purpose, “that they should be devoted to destruction and should receive no mercy, but be destroyed, just as the Lord commanded Moses.” This wasn’t arbitrary cruelty; it was the fulfillment of divine justice promised centuries earlier.
God’s hardening doesn’t create evil in neutral hearts; it works with existing rebellion. Like the sun that hardens clay but softens wax, God’s sovereign action reveals what’s already there. The Canaanites had chosen rebellion for generations. God simply used their hardened hearts to accomplish His covenant purposes.
Today's Challenge
Where do you find yourself wanting God to judge evil in the world? Are there areas where you struggle with God's methods of justice in Scripture? How might your discomfort reveal areas where you're trying to be God's counselor rather than trusting His perfect wisdom?
Prayer
Lord, I confess that sometimes I want You to act according to my understanding rather than Your perfect justice. Help me trust Your sovereignty even when it makes me uncomfortable. Give me the humility to recognize that Your ways are higher than my ways, and Your thoughts higher than my thoughts. Help me wrestle with difficult passages in a way that strengthens rather than weakens my faith. Amen.
