Judges 1:1–2: “Now after the death of Joshua it came to pass that the children of Israel asked the LORD, saying, ‘Who shall be first to go up for us against the Canaanites to fight against them?’ And the LORD said, ‘Judah shall go up. Indeed I have delivered the land into his hand.’”

April 15th, 2023 by Pastor Ed in devotional

We read almost the same opening line in Judges as we read in Joshua, “After the death of Moses.” Judges opens with, “after the death of Joshua.” At first the children of God started off well. Even after Joshua’s death, they sought the Lord, asking Him what they were supposed to do next. However, it wasn’t long before they began to fall into unbelief. God told Judah to go against the Canaanites, and in the very next verse Judah asked another tribe to help them because they lacked faith in what God had told them to do. God commanded, “Judah is to go,” and Judah immediately responded with, “Simeon, how’d you like to go too?”

We read in verse 19 that Judah failed to take all that God had given them, and by the end of the chapter we find that they not only didn’t dislodge the Amorites but allowed them to live among them. This was more an issue of obedience to God than of military superiority. They were satisfied with far less than what God wanted them to have, and far less than what God had provided for them. These Israelites didn’t say anything like, “let’s forsake God.” They simply decided they would rather be satisfied with less, than fully obey.

Ten tribes went against their enemies, and each had to make a choice whether they would obey God or obey their own will. And although they obeyed far enough to go out to fight the Canaanites, once they saw the strength of their enemy they, like Judah, decided to invite them in to live, rather than trust the Lord to completely defeat them. This is like inviting sin into our own lives, saying, “It’s just too hard to overcome this sin; a little bit can’t hurt that much, can it?” Each tribe was disobedient to God’s command, which resulted in their living with their enemies. They paid the price by not walking in all God had for them and making themselves vulnerable. As believers, if we satisfy ourselves with less than God’s best for us, we will never become all that God wants us to be.

“LORD, help us to see clearly the danger in our own lives of allowing the enemy to have any part of us by accepting sin, no matter how small. Forgive us and cleanse us this day to serve You with an undivided heart.”