[One-Verse Meditation]

Judges 2:22 (NIV) “…in order to test Israel and see whether they will keep the way of the LORD as their ancestors did.”

[Meditation]

In the promised land of Canaan, there remained Canaanite nations that had not been driven out because of Israel’s disobedience. Yet God uses even their failure as a tool to accomplish His good purpose. God declares that He will ‘test’ Israel through those very nations that were left (v. 22). This test is not a cold evaluation to separate pass from fail; rather, it is God’s time to shape those who cannot stand on their own into His true people.

The pattern of Israel serving God while a judge was alive, only to run back to the world as if nothing had happened after the judge died (v. 19), shows why this training is necessary. Through this ‘test,’ God makes them realize how easily they fall and that they are beings who can only live by clinging to His grace.

We, too, are in this time of testing today. God allows ‘Canaanites’ to remain in us—the things we love more than God, the things we try to rely on in our own strength. And through them, He refines us, ultimately shaping us into people who love the LORD God alone. Job confessed this time, saying, “When he has tested me, I will come forth as gold” (Job 23:10).

In the end, at the conclusion of this test, we have no choice but to surrender with both hands up to God. It is the admission that without God, we cannot live a single day in holiness. This ‘joyful surrender,’ which the world deems a ‘failure,’ is a marvelous secret that only a saint can enjoy.

[Prayer]

Lord, thank you for the grace of shaping me through the Canaanites left within me. In this way, you bring us to raise both our hands in surrender—and with thankfulness. Now, I begin that day of surrender. Amen.
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[Daily Reading]

Judges 2:18-3:11