By the first chapter of Judges, Israel is on the cusp of plummeting into a very dark age of her history. The book of Judges is the record of this period. The first two chapters give us a clear explanation for why things went so badly from here. The explanation given in chapter 1 comes in the form of a list of Israel’s compromises with the Canaanites: “But Manasseh did not drive out the people of . . . Nor did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites living in . . . Neither did Zebulun drive out the Canaanites living in . . . Nor did Asher drive out those living in . . .” and so on and so on. As I said last week, they could have driven out the Canaanites, but they didn’t. They adopted, it seems, a more relaxed interpretation of God’s command to drive out the nations and this became the beginning of their demise. It is something we are all prone to do. We let our guard down, we think that this and that activity is not that bad, we allow ourselves to indulge a bit more in things that undermine us, and bit by bit we slip away. We need to realise that there is a fierce covert spiritual battle being waged for our souls. This is not a time to let your guard down and compromise. We must be vigilant about protecting our hearts and engaging in the mission that God has called us to. Either you are engaged in the fight or you are a victim of it.
Think about where you may have let down your guard and relaxed your standards. Make a commitment to be vigilant.
Read Judges 1:22-36
