Joshua 17:18 But the mountain shall be thine; for it is a wood, and thou shalt cut it down: and the outgoings of it shall be thine: for thou shalt drive out the Canaanites, though they have iron chariots, and though they be strong.
Do you have any problems today? Well, you probably do. Everyone does on a pretty regular basis. The question is, “How do you handle problems?” Some people look for problems. They find a problem with every solution instead of the other way around. They don’t want an answer; they want sympathy. We have all been there, perhaps, but they look for problems.
Some people avoid problems. They just never confront anything or anyone. Similarly some people just hope problems will go away, that perhaps if they just ignore them, the problems will end. Yet, there are some classes of problems that actually grow, not with cultivation, but with being ignored.
Other people profit from problems, and that happened with the children of Israel when they took over Canaan. They were to drive out the inhabitants of Canaan, but sometimes they let them stay and put them under tribute. They accepted tribute instead of triumph. In every case, what you find is that the decision that was easy to make in the short run became harder to live with in the long run. The children of Israel reasoned, “We will just let these Canaanites remain and tax them.” But sometimes the easier a decision is to make, the harder it is to live with. Let me give you some examples in Joshua.
Joshua 15:63 says, “As for the Jebusites the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the children of Judah could not drive them out: but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Israel at Jerusalem unto this day.” There was a continuing ramification for what they refused to do, what they could not do. The Bible says, “They could not.” Later it says, “They did not.” Joshua 16:10 says, “And they drave not out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer: but the Canaanites dwell among the Ephraimites unto this day, and serve under tribute.”
When the children of Israel received their allotments in Canaan, and as things began to settle down, they left some very important things undone. These things soon became the status quo. It was just the generally accepted way of things. Even though God had said, “Drive the Canaanites out,” Israel had not done that.
Joshua 17:12-13 says, “Yet the children of Manassah could not drive out the inhabitants of those cities; but the Canaanites would dwell in that land…but did not utterly drive them out.” Here is a problem. The Canaanites they refused to drive out would later conquer them and put them under tribute. You see, the enemies we refuse to address today will grow to menace our children in the future.
These people who refused to drive out the Canaanites later complained to Joshua, “We are a great and large people. God has blessed us. Why are you only giving us this lot in life? Why are you not giving us more?” Joshua said, “Look, if you are a great people, great is as great does. Go up to the wood country and cut down some trees if you don’t like what you have.” Later he said, “Drive out some Canaanites.” But, they didn’t want an answer; they wanted to complain. The tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh whose lots were on high ground did not want to go through the effort of cutting the trees down in order to improve their lot in life, to improve their stewardship.
Sometimes we don’t ask for problems, but we have to handle them as they come. We cannot put them off. We cannot wish they would go away. We cannot simply profit from them. Certainly it wouldn’t be wise to go looking for them, but the enemies we refuse to address today will grow to face and menace our children tomorrow. May God give us courage and wisdom in equal measure to do the right thing at the right time!