CONQUERING
"Now after the death of Joshua it came to pass, that the children of Israel asked the LORD, saying, Who shall go up for us against the Canaanites first, to fight against them? And the LORD said, Judah shall go up behold, I have delivered the land into his hand." Judges 1:1-2
Joshua has died, but the LORD has commanded Israel to continue driving out the Canaanites from the Promised Land. So they ask the LORD, "who's gonna go fight against the Canaanites FIRST?" It's like they understand that the individual tribes need to move forward in faith to conquer their own portion of the Promised Land, but they just want to see someone else go first... God selects Judah to go first. Judah partners with Simeon and they proceed to drive out most of the Canaanites from both their lands.
SUCCUMBING
"And the LORD was with Judah; and he drave out the inhabitants of the mountain; but could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron." Judges 1:19
Why did Judah succumb to the inhabitants of the valley? Yes, they had chariots of iron, but Judah had the LORD. It seems like Judah came up against something that seemed mightier to him than his God. Why should an iron chariot defeat the child of God?
What about in my life? What's the iron chariot in my life? What one thing keeps me from moving forward in faith as God leads?
I wonder if Judah's inability to defeat those iron chariots weakened the faith of the other tribes? Beginning just two verses later in verse 21, we read a litany of failure by other tribes...
v 21 "And the children of Benjamin did not drive out..."
v 27 "Neither did Manasseh drive out..."
v 29 "Neither did Ephraim drive out..."
v 30 "Neither did Zebulun drive out..."
v 31 "Neither did Asher drive out..."
v 33 "Neither did Naphtali drive out..."
v 34 "And the Amorites forced the children of Dan into the mountain..." Not just a lack of forward movement here, but full blown RETREAT
RETREATING
Wow... now it's become worse than just a lack of forward movement - we see full blown retreat. What's going on? Why is this happening? God provides the answer in Chapter 2.
"And an angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I sware unto your fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you. And ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land; ye shall throw down their altars: but ye have not obeyed my voice: why have ye done this? Wherefore I also said, I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare unto you." Judges 2:1-3
God charges Israel with disobeying him in these two things:
(1) Make no league with the inhabitants of this land
(2) Ye shall throw down their altars
God sees Israel's failure to drive the inhabitants and their idols out as disobedience. God is saying that He has done His part; He has performed His promises; He has kept His covenant. But Israel has not done their part in that they allowed the idolators and their idols to remain in the land.
Pastor Sexton frequently says, "God is always advancing." So it follows that when we're walking with God, we are always advancing. A lack of forward movement in the life of a believer or a church indicates fundamental problems.
FORSAKING
"And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel. And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim. And they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked the LORD to anger." Judges 2:10-12
The next generation "knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel." How has it come to this? How could God and His mighty works on Israel's behalf be forgotten so soon?
I think this is the answer. The generation that decided to stop conquering didn't want to tell their children about the mighty works of God. After all, if I tell my children about the mighty works of God, they may ask "then why do we live next door to Canaanites?" Ouch... stings the conscience too much. Let's just not have those kinds of conversations, ok? Let's just let our children assume that God's power is a thing of the past. We live like this because we have to live like this, right?
God's people stopped conquering; they stopped moving forward in faith; and to ease their conscience, they stopped talking or thinking about the mighty power of God. As a result, neither their words or their deeds were a true testimony to the next generation.
Does this sound eerily familiar? If you're an American, it should... What needs to happen? Roll the process backwards. Stop forsaking God. Stop retreating. Stop succumbing. Start conquering.
How? Stop forsaking God by repenting of our unbelief and idolatry. Refuse to retreat any farther by standing and strengthening the things that remain: be determined not to give any more ground. Stop succumbing: refuse to settle for partial victories. Start conquering: go forward with God to conquer our world in our time for Jesus Christ.
"Now after the death of Joshua it came to pass, that the children of Israel asked the LORD, saying, Who shall go up for us against the Canaanites first, to fight against them? And the LORD said, Judah shall go up behold, I have delivered the land into his hand." Judges 1:1-2
Joshua has died, but the LORD has commanded Israel to continue driving out the Canaanites from the Promised Land. So they ask the LORD, "who's gonna go fight against the Canaanites FIRST?" It's like they understand that the individual tribes need to move forward in faith to conquer their own portion of the Promised Land, but they just want to see someone else go first... God selects Judah to go first. Judah partners with Simeon and they proceed to drive out most of the Canaanites from both their lands.
SUCCUMBING
"And the LORD was with Judah; and he drave out the inhabitants of the mountain; but could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron." Judges 1:19
Why did Judah succumb to the inhabitants of the valley? Yes, they had chariots of iron, but Judah had the LORD. It seems like Judah came up against something that seemed mightier to him than his God. Why should an iron chariot defeat the child of God?
What about in my life? What's the iron chariot in my life? What one thing keeps me from moving forward in faith as God leads?
I wonder if Judah's inability to defeat those iron chariots weakened the faith of the other tribes? Beginning just two verses later in verse 21, we read a litany of failure by other tribes...
v 21 "And the children of Benjamin did not drive out..."
v 27 "Neither did Manasseh drive out..."
v 29 "Neither did Ephraim drive out..."
v 30 "Neither did Zebulun drive out..."
v 31 "Neither did Asher drive out..."
v 33 "Neither did Naphtali drive out..."
v 34 "And the Amorites forced the children of Dan into the mountain..." Not just a lack of forward movement here, but full blown RETREAT
RETREATING
Wow... now it's become worse than just a lack of forward movement - we see full blown retreat. What's going on? Why is this happening? God provides the answer in Chapter 2.
"And an angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I sware unto your fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you. And ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land; ye shall throw down their altars: but ye have not obeyed my voice: why have ye done this? Wherefore I also said, I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare unto you." Judges 2:1-3
God charges Israel with disobeying him in these two things:
(1) Make no league with the inhabitants of this land
(2) Ye shall throw down their altars
God sees Israel's failure to drive the inhabitants and their idols out as disobedience. God is saying that He has done His part; He has performed His promises; He has kept His covenant. But Israel has not done their part in that they allowed the idolators and their idols to remain in the land.
Pastor Sexton frequently says, "God is always advancing." So it follows that when we're walking with God, we are always advancing. A lack of forward movement in the life of a believer or a church indicates fundamental problems.
FORSAKING
"And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel. And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim. And they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked the LORD to anger." Judges 2:10-12
The next generation "knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel." How has it come to this? How could God and His mighty works on Israel's behalf be forgotten so soon?
I think this is the answer. The generation that decided to stop conquering didn't want to tell their children about the mighty works of God. After all, if I tell my children about the mighty works of God, they may ask "then why do we live next door to Canaanites?" Ouch... stings the conscience too much. Let's just not have those kinds of conversations, ok? Let's just let our children assume that God's power is a thing of the past. We live like this because we have to live like this, right?
God's people stopped conquering; they stopped moving forward in faith; and to ease their conscience, they stopped talking or thinking about the mighty power of God. As a result, neither their words or their deeds were a true testimony to the next generation.
Does this sound eerily familiar? If you're an American, it should... What needs to happen? Roll the process backwards. Stop forsaking God. Stop retreating. Stop succumbing. Start conquering.
How? Stop forsaking God by repenting of our unbelief and idolatry. Refuse to retreat any farther by standing and strengthening the things that remain: be determined not to give any more ground. Stop succumbing: refuse to settle for partial victories. Start conquering: go forward with God to conquer our world in our time for Jesus Christ.
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