Joshua 15-17; Finish Strong

This is not exactly the most exciting section to read. If I were a personal descendant of one of these tribes, maybe it would be different. Honestly the only thing that stood out to me was the almost obedience, which is an oxymoran. Jerusalem was taken but the Jebusites continued to live. The same occurred in two other sections (16:10 & 17:12-13) where the Canaanites were not dislodged but eventually became slaves, or at best subjects. Israel did not complete the conquest with the same total obedience that it demonstrated earlier. Later, problems from the influence of intermarriages with the locals became a thorn in their flesh.

I wonder why they did not finish strong? Why did the Jews back off in the fulfillment of what God asked of them? Whether we feel comfortable with the concept of taking no prisoners or not, it is clear that Israel did not fully obey. That phrase -- fully obeyed-- that shows up over and over in the book is missing from these chapters.

Perhaps the deeper question is do I finish strong? I see a pattern in life of crisis leading to conviction leading to response that runs out of steam over time. After being embarrassed by a sin, my conviction leads me to seek change with all my heart; yet three months later the focus is lost and I fall back into old ways. I think the same can be said for the majority of us; yet it is not what we think when we speak of Moses, David and Jesus. These finished strong spiritually and stand out to us. They seem to have done it not by will-power or effort but out of a relationship with their Creator. They did not let that aspect of life lag and it fueled everything they did. Like an electronic device running out of battery, we slowly cease to function well; they, on the other hand, never unplugged.

I wish the conclusion was more complicated. I wish I could say that Moses, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah and countless others were supermen or something. The sad and convicting truth is that they were not and I have no excuse. I become unplugged from God via negligence but they did not. The difference comes down to one choice, i.e., they obeyed the words of Jesus to "remain in me." One choice. One simple conviction. Everything else flows from that.