Read: Judges 1,2
Joshua died and it was time for each tribe to take their land. The Lord told Judah to go first because praise should always precede a battle and insure victory. Judah asked Simeon to go with him since they were all part of the same land. Judah did valiantly till they came to the valley and couldn’t drive out the inhabitants because they had chariots of iron. What part of “I will drive out the inhabitants for you” did they forget? It is amazing how we can get a promise from the Lord and when fear hits us in the face, we quit. Every tribe stopped short of victory because the going got too tough. They either let the enemy stay or they made them their slaves. They were suppose to kill all of them and drive them completely out. Because they didn’t, God said they would be thorns to their sides and keep them from entering into God’s blessings.
After the leaders died, Israel fell into apostasy. They started worshipping the gods of Baal and Ashterah. How quickly they fell because they didn’t drive out the enemy hastily.
This is such a lesson to us. When we take our time to obey and get rid of the sins that so easily beset us, then we become used to them and they don’t seem so bad. After a while they even become our friends and we don’t see anything wrong with them. We have slowly been bewitched into believing a lie. That is what happened to Israel and that is what happens to us when we allow sinful habits to stay with us. We have to quickly get rid of them when God convicts us of them. If not then we will rationale the conviction away.
Lord, help us to see clearly what is holy and what is not. Make us a holy people, set apart to serve you. Help us not to stop short of our victories.
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