These are the nations which the Lord left....

Now these are the nations which the LORD left, to prove Israel by them......... And they were to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would hearken unto the commandments of the LORD, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.

I've been reading in Judges in my daily Bible reading. In the third chapter, I noticed these verses. And this is what I thought:

God allows some "enemies" to remain in our lives in order for us to have opportunity to prove that we are willing to "hearken unto the commandments of the Lord".

If we had our "druthers", we'd be rid of all the things that challenge our salvation. It would be much easier to keep it that way.

I guess this popped out at me because every now and again, I get somewhat fearful that I'm going to face something that's going to "steal" my treasure. I guess I kinda feel like I'm going to be blindsided and, before I grasp what is happening, my greatest treasure is going to be gone.

I know the Bible teaches that there is no temptation that we face that will be greater than what we can handle-- with God's help-- but what makes me fearful is how strong temptations can become sometimes before we even grasp how we got into it.

For example, just recently I've really had to do some strong praying about my attitude toward my boss's bosses. (I've ALWAYS had a greater problem with how other people get treated than I have about how I'm being treated.) It has seemed to be like they are just playing a game of cat-and-mouse with him, tormenting him. And it has really bothered me. It began to bother me enough that I knew the time had come for me to make it a matter of earnest prayer so that I would not get a "bad attitude" toward those people.

None of that is my point.

My point is that sometimes things in life shape up and you don't think so much how what is happening could affect your salvation.

It just happens.

And then something else happens.

And as these things happen, you are affected by them.

Your feelings get engaged. Your thoughts start developing.

And then somewhere down this pathway, you realize, "I'M BEING TEMPTED with something that is wrong."

You weren't even connecting the situation with your salvation at first. It was just stuff. But stuff kept happening and somewhere along the way it began to affect you in a bad way... with bad feelings ... and feelings generate attitudes.

STOP!! Whoa. Huh-uh. I can't go down this road.

And that's why I sometimes gets scared. Because of the way these things try to sneak up on me. Before I know it, I'm right in the middle of something I would have run from way back there if I'd seen it coming. Not that you can even run away from everything that affects your feelings negatively. You can't. What you have to do is fight for the right within.

A long time ago I realized that the only protection I have against these ongoing temptations is to continually examine my heart and be sure that I want to be saved MORE THAN ANYTHING-- "all day every day. " And I will have to make sure that is the attitude of my heart EVERY DAY for the rest of my life. That is the only way I'll not be caught by one of these sneak-up-on-me approaches of the enemy.

So when I read that passage that said, "Now these are the nations which the LORD left, to prove Israel by them......... And they were to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would hearken unto the commandments of the LORD, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses," I thought: God just allows life situations to develop from time to time to prove saved people, to know whether we will do things the way He has told us to or if we will choose to do them the way we choose to.

We'll never get past the point that we are not 'pulled' to do wrong but must choose to do right instead. We will have to continually prove that we want salvation more than anything life offers us in desires, ambitions, pleasures, possessions, relationships, attitudes, thoughts, or any other thing that would sneak up on us and steal away our first love for God and His righteousness.