“Unnecessary roughness, offense,” the referee shouted. The ball was moved back 15 yards. Everyone watching the game in our living room was grumbling about the call. What’s amazing is that just the opposite happens when the call is against the opposing team. Most often, the roughness is not intentional, but occasionally it’s a deliberate act.
Did you know that God is the author of “necessary roughness” in our spiritual life? When Israel crossed the Jordan to occupy the promised land, God did not drive out the inhabitants all at once. While the battles described in the Book of Joshua appear to be relatively fast-paced, a closer look shows that it took about five years to complete the task. I only spent three years in Vietnam on two separate tours, so it’s hard to get my head around five years of combat.
That was not the end of it, however. Moving into the Book of Judges, we see that the victory was incomplete. God left enemies in the land. God told the Israelites:
“I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations that Joshua left when he died, in order to test Israel by them, whether they will take care to walk in the way of the Lord as their fathers did, or not. So, the Lord left those nations, not driving them out quickly, and he did not give them into the hand of Joshua. Now these are the nations that the Lord left, to test Israel by them, that is, all in Israel who had not experienced all the wars in Canaan. It was only in order that the generations of the people of Israel might know war, to teach war to those who had not known it before.” (Judges 2:21-3:2, ESV)
Did you catch that last part? God didn’t drive them out because He wanted the following generation to learn about warfare.
Jesus was very intentional in telling people to count the cost of following Him. In Luke 9:57-62, we find three individuals either asking to follow Jesus or Jesus asking one to follow Him. One individual stated he would follow Jesus wherever He went. Jesus told him He did not even have a place to sleep. Another told Jesus he would follow but wanted to go say goodbye to his family. Jesus responded by saying, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God” (vs. 62). Some might call that harsh. Coming from the King of kings, I would say it is realistic and not harsh.
The current generations have not experienced “the wars of Canaan.” They have inherited a Church in conflict with “the world, the flesh, and the devil,” and are at a loss on what to do. Spiritual warfare is an ethereal concept to most Christians and the casualties are mounting. The evil we see around us does not just happen — it is demonically initiated. We have been given “the whole armor of God” (Ephesians 6:13), but it is gathering dust in the closet.
God has allowed the enemies in the land so that we will pick up the sword of the Spirit and begin pushing back against the darkness. If you are not sure how to fight this battle, ask the Lord to teach you. The purpose for the enemies in the land is to test us and determine whether we “will take care to walk in the way of the Lord.”
Driving evil out of the land is our mission as well, and we’ve been given everything we need to complete the task. A little “necessary roughness” is needed to whip the team into shape if they are ever going to be successful out on the field of battle. “Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle.” (Psalm 144:1)
Time to report for duty!
What say ye, Man of Valor?
Semper Fidelis!
