Scripture:

Judges 2:20-23  ..."Because these people have violated my covenant , which I made with their ancestors, and have ignored my commands, I will no longer drive out the nations that Joshua left unconquered when he died. I did this to test Israel-to see whether or not they would follow the ways of the Lord as their ancestors did." That is why the Lord left those nations in place. He did not quickly drive them out or allow Joshua to conquer them all.

Observation:

When the people of Israel began to take the promised land, the Lord handed many nations over to them right away. Victory after victory Joshua led the people in occupying the land. There was a condition for all of this, the people had to follow the ways of the Lord. In this scripture God is saying that he did not drive out all of the nations for the first generation of Israelites. He left some of the unconquered land for the future generations of Israelites to see if they would remain faithful to the Lord.

Application:

This principle has been true in my own life. When I first became saved, God conquered many big things in my life, addictions, bad habits, I mean he totally made me a new creation. But I'm now noticing that there are many other areas that need to be conquered in my life, attitude, motivation, job performance.... I could go on and on. God is testing my faithfulness now, like the Israelites, He has already brought me into the promised land when he made me a citizen of heaven(Philippians 3:20), but he wants to see how much of this promised land I really want to occupy by me coming into the fulness of Christ(Ephesians 3:19).

Prayer:

Dear Lord, thank you for bringing me out of slavery, thank you for breaking the chains of bondage I was in. Thank you for my salvation and for opening my eyes to the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ. Forgive me for doubting you and becoming complacent. I pray that you would use me to reach people, that I would have the opportunity to share your gospel. In Jesus name, Amen!