Joel M Bradshaw

19There was not a city that made peace with the people of Israel except the Hivites, the inhabitants of Gibeon. They took them all in battle. 20For it was the LORD’s doing to harden their hearts that they should come against Israel in battle, in order that they should be devoted to destruction and should receive no mercy but be destroyed, just as the LORD commanded Moses.–Joshua 11

With God at the head of the army, Israel did not lose. We as readers are left to wonder why diplomacy never happened. The enemies lined up like a cheesy movie, all seemingly taking their turns to attack in order. Why would they do this? Our text today told us the reason. God worked within the enemy to draw them to the path he had chosen.

You might be uncomfortable with that previous sentence if you place “free will” higher up in your theological rankings. After all, God didn’t create us to be robots, right? Isn’t the free will of man the greatest thing about us? I present to you to sides to this issue today. 

1. GOD HARDENED THEIR HEARTS. We read of the positive side of God working in our hearts and are usually just fine with it. Ephesians 1 speaks of God choosing us and predestining us so that when we hear the Gospel preached, we therefore respond and are sealed by God. That requires God working in hearts to draw them to a chosen path. Jesus once said in John 6 that all who the Father gives Him will come to Jesus and they will never be driven away or lost. For the Father to give means that He had already been at work in their hearts. So for our text today, we see the other side of this. God therefore also works in the hearts of those he has not chosen for salvation. They therefore follow a path that God has chosen. Pharaoh is the most famous example of this as his heart was hardened by God to reject Moses during the 10 Plagues.
2. GOD GAVE THEM A DESTINATION. Let’s say you read the previous paragraph and can’t wrap your mind around it. Predestination might be one of those scary words you wish wasn’t in your Bible. So let’s give you an option. It really is the only other one. I journey with people that face a key choice: they are either going to follow their hearts or follow God. They are either on the self-path or the Jesus-path. And on their own, they will never leave the self-path. They have to be drawn by God to the Jesus-path. Because following their hearts is natural to them. It is for all of us. This is why we should never do it. Jeremiah 17 reminds us that the heart is deceitful and without cure. It lies to us and leads us astray. So this argument is that God allowed the enemies of Israel to follow their hearts. They naturally wanted to oppose God and God simply allowed that to take place. When they followed their hearts, God simply gave them a destination to which they arrived. 

The simple reading of the text describes God as active and not passive. To hold to option 2 you would have to allow that they could have chosen otherwise. For those who hold to free will, being able to reject God is key. And the text here doesn’t describe that. When God acted in their hearts, their destiny was irreversible and certain. You can take issue with the God who works this way in people’s hearts, but you can’t deny what the text says. Romans 9 theologically works through Pharaoh’s hardened heart. I personally am more Biblically-comfortable with the God who acts vs the God who simply allows.

I invite you to ponder the work of God in your heart during this period of your life. Option 2 would invite you to ask what God is trying to teach you during this season. Option 1 directs you to seriously ponder what God is expecting you to learn. Thank you for journeying with me this morning. And welcome all to our new subscribers.–JMB