I’ve told you before that some of my closest friends are
atheists. Over the years, we’ve had several deep conversations that challenge
my own beliefs in God (in the end this strengthens my own faith).
One such (repeated) conversation is how can God be loving
and gracious and yet command armies in the Bible to kill entire villages?
How’s that loving?
How is this God any different from other gods?
To be honest, this is a tough conversation to have with
non-believers because some things just take faith to accept…but it’s also hard
because to even begin to understand, one must have a deep understanding of the
HISTORY of the Bible and the context of what was transpiring around certain
events (and I have a mediocre grasp at best).
In the 6th Chapter of “The
Grace of God” by Andy Stanley, we begin to understand WHY God told Joshua
to kill all living things after the walls fell around Jericho.
Jericho had become
increasingly corrupt. Destroying them wasn’t some quick decision made by an
angry God. While the Bible doesn’t tell us God sent prophets to warn the
people of Jericho to repent, it’s likely He did. After all, the harlot Rahab
had heard stories about God and was willing to risk death to help Joshua’s spies.
Her knowledge had to come from somewhere.
Also, you need to remember there were other instances in the
Bible where God sent messengers to nations besides Israel-calling them to
repentance- Nineveh is one such example. So it’s not hard to draw the
conclusion that God HAD warned the inhabitants of Jericho BEFORE sending Joshua
in to destroy them (plus they had 6 days of the Israelites walking around the
walls to have a change of heart and repent…and they didn’t).
Even taking all that into consideration, why destroy them…why
not just enslave them…wouldn’t that be kinder?
Maybe.
Here’s what a Christian needs to understand about God…He
loves us too much to NOT protect us from evil- that’s why we have laws. And
because we can never live up to those laws, we have grace. But even the laws
are about grace- Grace goes out of its
way for others in ALL ways imaginable. (click to tweet)
God had called His people OUT of bondage from Egypt and He
didn’t want them to go back. They were still “new” in their walk with God, with
trusting Him. It was still much easier for them to turn back to the idols their
flesh could understand and manipulate. Grace
didn’t want to take any chances with these fledgling Israelites. Grace wanted to offer God’s people the best
shot at success/happiness as possible.
And since God
wanted what was best for His children…a clean slate was in order. A chance
to take possession of the Promise Land without any defilement getting in the
way of the relationship between God and His chosen people.
As we know, it didn’t really matter that they had a fresh
start. Over time, if we don’t guard our hearts, our flesh will win out. It did
with Israel. Even though God had given
them His laws to help safeguard their relationship from idolatry, even though
He had purged the land of defiling acts against His holiness, the Israelites slowly
hardened their hearts against God.
We’re all guilty of doing this.
That’s why God’s
grace trumps the law.
It’s why we all need to seek His grace daily.
It’s why we can’t
begin to understand the lengths God will go in order to help His children live
the abundant life (John
10:10).
God doesn’t make sense.
His grace doesn’t make sense.
Sending His Son to die for us doesn’t make sense (John
3:16-17).
Some things simply take faith.
Faith can be strengthened with a solid foundation of
Biblical truths …but still some things simply take faith to accept.
God having Joshua kill innocent lives is hard for anyone to
swallow…even harder for an unbeliever to understand how Grace toward God’s people
meant others had to die.
But grace can’t
always be explained…it’s better experienced firsthand. (click to tweet)
To read more thoughts on this chapter, check out Jason, Sarah, and Dusty’s blogs (and links to others
who are participating in this book club).
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