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? Judges 1:1
The book of Judges covers more than 300 years of Israel’s history, from the death of Joshua and his fellow elders to the rise of Samuel and his anointing of Saul as Israel’s first king. According to Dr. Scofield, this book records seven apostasies, seven servitudes to seven heathen nations, and seven deliveries. It is an amazing testament to man’s folly that this nation would make the same mistakes so many times, and just as an amazing testament to the grace of God that He would rescue them just as many times. It is surprising, too, because they got off to such a good start.
Our text tells us of the Israelites seeking direction from the Lord on an important issue. That’s always a good thing, not only for them but also for us today in matters great and small. Our lives would be so much better if only we sought the Lord’s guidance more than we do. The Israelites also were determined to get rid of their enemies who were threatening their safety and robbing their resources. We do well today, too, to seek victory over the greatest enemies of our spiritual life. Those enemies – the world, the flesh, and the devil – will dog our track all our days and we need to be aware of them and of the Lord’s provision for victory over them.
The Israelites simply failed to go on in faithfulness to their God. When things started to look up in terms of safety and prosperity, they simply stopped trusting the Lord and started trusting themselves. That is the recipe for failure and loss for us today, too. The further away we get from depending on the Lord, the closer we get to spiritual shipwreck. And, as the Israelites proved seven times over in the book of Judges, disaster does not take long to arrive.
It’s good to start off well in our spiritual life. It’s even better to stay on track and finish well by trusting the Lord every day. -Jim MacIntosh
Here is the link to the video of this message: https://youtu.be/79gLmDjNxIU