Spiritual Complacency Breeds Useless, Powerless Religion

But the tribe of Dan had trouble taking possession of their land, so they attacked the town of Laish. They captured it, slaughtered its people, and settled there. They renamed the town Dan after their ancestor. [Joshua 19.47]

I cannot help but think there is something significant in the recorded fact of yet another tribe of Israel that failed to conquer part of their assigned territory.

God promised the land of Canaan to Israel. God was clear that they were to eradicate the occupants of the land and displace them entirely. God gave every direct indication that He would assist them and make them victorious in their conquest of the Promised Land.

And yet we have repeated accounts of various tribes failing to take full possession of their land. Why? Why was it that several of the tribes of Israel failed to conquer all the land they were promised?

I can only conclude that Israel's failures to conquer certain towns and regions were directly resultant to a spiritual problem. Generally speaking, Israel was overall victorious in their conquest of the Promised Land, but, specifically that had several failures.

I think many times in life we do just as Israel did. We become complacent in our general victory in Christ and fail to be victorious in every area. We are generally satisfied that we are secure in our salvation but fail to fully "conquer the Promised Land" - to see fulfillment of all that God has promised to those who believe.

Sometimes, it is just easier to "let it slide" - to be content with "enough" instead of "all" that God promised. What's worse is that we ignore the obvious spiritual problem when we fail and instead fabricate some kind of spiritual exception to God's history and character of promises by making our failure out to be the "will of God."

Nowhere in the Bible does it indicate that Israel's failure in conquering the entire Promised Land was the will of God. In fact, as has been pointed out here in the scripture reference above (and elsewhere), Israel's failures were noteworthy of being recorded as such. The Bible does indicate that Israel's victory would be gradual, but take careful note of the wording below about "erasing their names from the face of the earth..."

“No, do not be afraid of those nations, for the Lord your God is among you, and he is a great and awesome God. The Lord your God will drive those nations out ahead of you little by little. You will not clear them away all at once, otherwise the wild animals would multiply too quickly for you. But the Lord your God will hand them over to you. He will throw them into complete confusion until they are destroyed. He will put their kings in your power, and you will erase their names from the face of the earth. No one will be able to stand against you, and you will destroy them all. [Deuteronomy 7.21-24]

There is nothing in the passage above that would indicate that Israel should ever be satisfied that they did not totally eradicate those they were displacing in the Promised Land!

Spiritual complacency breeds useless, powerless religion.

Father, help me to be satisfied only with what You have promised! I realize there will be difficulties and I realize there will be timing issues that require a bit of patience on my part. However, help me to avoid complacency at any and all cost!