Day: June 22, 2019

Compromises Result In Failure

By faithfully obeying the Lord,
Joshua led the Israelites to military
victory. After his death, the tribes
failed to clear the inhabitants from
the land, so the Lord withdrew his
promise to help drive people out
and bless the Israelites in battle.
The new generation abandoned
God and worshiped idols.

Lord, we learnt from the early part
of Judges that the Israelites had
compromised Your command to
drive out the inhabitants of the land
And incomplete removal of evil
often means disaster in the end.
We learnt that we must beware
compromising with wickedness.
Help us Lord even as we purpose
Not Compromise in Trusting You;
Not Compromise in Knowing You &
Not Compromise in Obeying You.
In Jesus’ precious name, Amen.

Lord, we will Trust & Obey You:
The Lord was with Judah and they
took possession of the hill country.
But they failed to drive out the
people living in the plains because
the people there had iron chariots.
Hebron was given to Caleb and he
drove out the people living there,
who were descendants of Anak.
But the tribe of Benjamin failed
to drive out the Jebusites living
in Jerusalem. The tribe of Ephraim
also failed to drive out Canaanites
living in Gezer (Jdgs 1:19-29).
Lord, we note Judah failed to drive
out the people in the plain because
their courage and faith failed when
they saw the iron chariots. Help
us fully trust and obey you; not
to compromise but instead follow
thro to complete the job. Amen.

Lord, we will Get to Know You:
Now Joshua, the servant of the
Lord died. Another generation
arise who did not know the Lord
nor the work which He had done
for Israel. Then the children of
Israel did evil & served the Baals.
And the Lord delivered them to
plunderers…Nevertheless the Lord
raised up judges who delivered
them. But when the judge is
dead, they reverted and behaved
more corruptly (Jdgs 2:8-19).
Lord, we don’t want to fall away
in laziness, temptation and sin.
Help us not to neglect spending
regular time with You each day.
Help us to Know You better and
become more & more like You.
And let us experience You. Amen.

Lord, we’ll Obey Your Commands:
These people were left to test the
Israelites – to see whether they
would obey the commands the
Lord had given… So Israel lived
among the Canaanites, Hittites,
Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and
Jebusites, and they intermarried
with them…. And the Israelites
worshiped their gods (Jdgs3:4-6)
Lord, You allowed pagans in the
land to test your people whether
they will obey your commands.
We will not bond with heathens
and we will advise our children to
heed Your warning that marriage
between believers & unbelievers
create countless problems. Amen.

Preview on Judges (June 22)

Whilst the Bible is arranged by
types of writings, we meditate it
chronologically to get better flow.
We start with Genesis on God’s
Plan for creation, then meditated
Job on the Sovereignty of God;
Exodus, Leviticus, Num-Deut on
Deliverance, Holiness & Obedience
before Mark on Jesus the Servant
who serve and gave His life for us.
And for the last two weekends,
we meditated on Joshua with the
theme of enjoying God’s blessing
thro obedient faith in His Promises.

In Joshua, an obedient people
conquered the land thro trust in
God’s power. By contrast in Judges
a disobedient and idolatrous people
are often defeated because of their
rebellion against God. In seven
cycles of sin, Judges show how the
nation sets aside God’s laws and
replaces them with “that which
was right in their own eyes”(21:25).
Time after time God disciplines
the nation with foreign oppression.
But national repentance leads
to deliverance as God raises up
Deborah, Gideon, Samson & others
to overthrow their oppressors.

We’ll cover the book of Judges over
3 weekends in following 6 divisions:
J1-2: Military & Spiritual Failure
J3-5: Rescue by 5 Early Judges
J6-8: Gideon and Midianites
J9-12: Seven Judges & Civil War
J13-16: Samson & the Philistines
J17-21: Idolatry and Immorality
Let’s meditate thro Judges and
be warned against compromise,
have a heart open to repentance
and be obedient to the Lord. Amen.