“Be very watchful of yourselves, therefore, to love the Lord your God...”
“The Lord gave them rest round about, just as He had sworn to their fathers. Not one of all their enemies withstood them; the Lord delivered all their enemies into their hands. There failed no part of any good things which the Lord had promised to the house of Israel; all came to pass.” (Joshua 22:44-45)
My Bible commentary notes, “All through the time of Joshua's leadership he kept giving as his warrant of faith the fact that the Lord had spoken, the Lord had promised. The word of God is the guaranty of faith. Genuine faith always advances on the authority expressed in Hebrews 13:5,6, 'He [God] Himself has said... So we take comfort and are encouraged and confidently and boldly say...'” [1]
Over and over, Joshua reminded the people that it was the Lord who was fighting for them and establishing them in the land. It was not the strength of man but God. It was according to the promise God had made to them.
Joshua told all of Israel in his farewell address in Joshua 23:3,5,9-10, “And you have seen all that the Lord your God has done to all these nations for your sake; for it is the Lord your God Who has fought for you... The Lord your God will thrust them out from before you and drive them out of your sight, and you shall possess the land, as the Lord your God promised you...
For the Lord has driven out from before you great and strong nations; and as for you, no man has been able to withstand you to this day. One man of you shall put to flight a thousand, for it is the Lord your God Who fights for you, as He promised you.”
In Exodus 14:14 Moses had told the people that when they entered into the Promised Land, “The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace and remain at rest.”
However, there came a time that the Lord would no longer fight for the Israelites. In Judges 2:1-3, the Angel of the Lord spoke to them and said, “I brought you up from Egypt and have brought you to the land which I swore to give to your fathers, and I said, I will never break My covenant with you; And you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; but you shall break down their altars. But you have not obeyed My voice. Why have you done this? So now I say, I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you.”
It was because they forsook God and broke His covenant by serving other gods that the Lord no longer fought for them. Judges 2:11-15 says, “And the people of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals. And they forsook the Lord, the God of their fathers, Who brought them out of the land of Egypt.
They went after other gods of the peoples round about them and bowed down to them, and provoked the Lord to anger. And they forsook the Lord and served Baal [the god worshiped by the Canaanites] and the Ashtaroth [female deities such as Ashtoreth and Asherah].
So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and He gave them into the power of plunderers who robbed them; and He sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could no longer stand before their foes. Whenever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for evil as the Lord had said, and as the Lord had sworn to them; and they were bitterly distressed.”
“Faithfulness, faithfulness is what I long for, faithfulness, faithfulness is what I need, faithfulness faithfulness is what You want from me.”
In Joshua 23:11-13, Joshua had told the people, “Be very watchful of yourselves, therefore, to love the Lord your God, for if you turn back and adhere to the remnant of these nations left among you and make marriages with them, you marrying their women and they yours, know with certainty that the Lord your God will not continue to drive these nations from before you; but they shall be a snare and trap to you, and a scourge in your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from off this good land which the Lord your God has given you.”
My Bible Commentary notes that “Everything depended on whether or not Israel would continue to be faithful to the covenant.” [2] To serve other gods was to transgress the covenant (Joshua 23:16). Forsaking the covenant they had with God, they no longer had the same protection from their enemies.
Rather than overtaking their enemies they are overtaken by them as they served others gods. And as a result of their unfaithfulness, they experienced oppression by the enemy. Then when they cried out to the Lord, He saved them.
Over and over in the book of Judges, when the people of God were unfaithful to God and bowed down to idols, they experienced oppression from their enemies and then when they cried out, God sent a judge to deliver them. Judges 4:8 says about the Israelites, [Formerly] they chose new gods; then war was in the gates.”
They were warned to 'be very watchful' to love the Lord. Watchful is the Hebrew word shamar (Strongs #8104) and it means to be on one’s guard or to tend to well (like you would a garden). [3]
When we neglect and fail to take responsibility to guard and nurture our relationship with Christ, it is easy to begin to be conformed more like the people around us. We have a tendency to naturally desire to fit into roles and expectations of the world without thinking too much about it.
We begin to conform or adhere to the practices of the people around us. To adhere is the Hebrew word dabaq, Strongs #1692. It means to cleave, cling, giving our loyalty and devotion. [4] In the case of the Israelites, instead of honoring God the people where honoring, valuing and giving their devotion to what the people in the land around them valued/honored.
The Israelites failed to drive out the enemy and did not break down the altars to their gods. Instead, they conformed to the people of the area's way and worshiped what they worshiped. And they turned back to the ways of their fathers, following religious tradition rather than having any heart for God.
The Israelites did not consciously intend to transgress the covenant with God and turn to other god's. What happened is that they became complacent and neglectful in tending their relationship with the Lord. Rather than tearing down the altars of the people in the land, they joined in worship of their gods. In Judges 2:1-4 when the Angel of the Lord confronted them for their failure to obey God, the people lifted up their voice and wept.
This is not just a problem of the Old Testament, this happened in the New Testament church as well. Paul confronts the Corinthians for the conforming to the ways of the world and unbelievers. He tells them in 2 Corinthians 6:14-18, “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers [do not make mismated alliances with them or come under a different yoke with them, inconsistent with your faith]. For what partnership have right living and right standing with God with iniquity and lawlessness? Or how can light have fellowship with darkness?
What harmony can there be between Christ and Belial [the devil]? Or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? What agreement [can there be between] a temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God; even as God said, I will dwell in and with and among them and will walk in and with and among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
So, come out from among [unbelievers], and separate (sever) yourselves from them, says the Lord, and touch not [any] unclean thing; then I will receive you kindly and treat you with favor. And I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”
John Mulinde and Mark Daniel note, “God does the work of setting us apart. We do not have to try to become perfect in our own strength; we only need to surrender ourselves to him. As he works to set us apart, he will strip away the layers of sin in our life.” [5]
They go on to note that the world system is the most influential area in our lives and has the strongest pull against our ability to be surrendered and set apart. They write, “The system of our world becomes what everybody around us lives in and the way our mindsets function. We have become completely adapted to it.” We too easily conform and go along with status quo (okay, we in this case is me). [6]
Romans 12:2 says, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
Too often we waiver between the ways of the world and ways of God. Joshua 24:14-15 told the people, “Now therefore, [reverently] fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and in truth; put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the [Euphrates] River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.
And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Saul is an example of someone who wavered between the ways of the world and ways of God. While He followed God's orders to attack the Amalekites, Saul did not destroy everything as commanded. He kept the best for himself. When confronted by Samuel, Saul's concern was in how he was perceived by the people rather than God (1 Samuel 15). He feared the people over God (1 Samuel 15:24). John Mulinde and Mark Daniel note, “Saul's heart was set on pleasing the people and maintaining a good image before them.” [7]
John Mulinde and Mark Daniel challenge, “If we are not living for God in certain areas, then for whom are we living?” And note that Saul loved his reputation and image before the people and made it an idol.[8]
They ask, “How many times do we perform the same kind of acts of disobedience as Saul because we don't want to antagonize people, willfully holding back from obeying if we sense that people may not approve?” The fear of man can cause us to disobey God or try to please and submit to others rather than God. [9]
Sometimes rather than risk 'rocking the boat' by tearing down altars to false gods, we try to accommodate and live with the enemy like some of the Israelites. We put off any confrontation or dealing with issues often telling ourselves we can somehow make things work by our own strength or we need to wait for the right time.
John Mulinde and Mark Daniel note that procrastination of God's will is not because we don't love God, but because we are not wholly yielded. They write, “the more we procrastinate, the harder our hearts become. By postponing obeying the Lord, we are quenching the voice of the Holy Spirit, the only voice who can lead us to repentance.” [10]
Eventually if we allow the world around us to conform us by going along and by procrastinating taking action, we begin to think like the world. John Mulinde and Mark Daniel write, “Eventually, we become so programmed to and by our world system that we no longer even feel concerned or convicted by the sins that beset us. We have the strength and support of our world. We are anchored to that world; we are part of it and it is part of us.” [11]
in 1 Kings 18:21, Elijah confronted the people for their double mindedness. He said to them, “How long will you halt and limp between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him! But if Baal, then follow him.”
James says that the one who wavers “is like the billowing surge out at sea that is blown hither and tither and tossed by the wind (v. 1:6). He goes on to say, “[For being as he is] a man of two minds (hesitating, dubious, irresolute), [he is] unstable and unreliable and uncertain about everything [he thinks, feels, decides]” (James 1:8).
James goes on to confront the church for their worldly passions, letting their love for the world drive their behaviors. He tells them, “You burn with envy and anger and are not able to obtain [the gratification, the contentment, and the happiness that you seek], so you fight and war.” (James 4:2)
He goes on to say, “You [are like] unfaithful wives [having illicit love affairs with the world and breaking your marriage vow to God]! Do you not know that being the world's friend is being God's enemy? So whoever chooses to be a friend of the world takes his stand as an enemy of God. Or do you suppose that the Scripture is speaking to no purpose that says, The Spirit Whom He has caused to dwell in us years over us and He yearns for the Spirit [to be welcome] with a jealous love?”
I had a dream a few nights ago about fire. There was an increase in fire and it was burning everywhere I turned. I was trying to run and get away from it but I couldn't because it seemed to be burning everywhere on earth. The fire was not a 'godly fire' but a 'worldly fire'. I felt that God may be speaking through it that we are coming into a season where conflict is more prevalent in peoples lives due to worldly envy and people's dissatisfaction with their own lives.
Rather than being overcome by evil, we are called to overcome evil by the power of God. We are not only to live in the land, but dispossess the enemy and tear down altars to the false gods. Rather than being conformed to the world's standards, we are to possess the land and establish altars to worship God.
“Lord I want it all to be for You Jesus, be my magnificent obsession sings.”
John Mulinde and Mark Daniel note that everyone faces pulls and pressures of the world, “but the ones who thrive and don't fall back -those who overcome -are those who determine to follow the Lord no matter what they face. Even when they are confronted with their worst fears, when everything withing them rises up to say, 'Conform! Go back to the way the system wants,' they press through and submit to what God asks of them.
Those who preserver are those who begin to see God uproot and change the system like he did to the system of Egypt through Moses. But, sadly, the ones who are intimidated by the system or who cower as the system begins to put pressure on them will see the new life and zeal that was in them begin to deteriorate, dry up, and go away. This means that we must begin to follow the Lord and be set free from the dictates of the system.” [12]
The difference between those who preserver and those who conform is a result of where our focus is at. When our focus is on self and our wants or on others as our source of validation, approval, acceptance, etc. we will be led astray. Often this focus leads to us manipulating or controlling others to get what we want.
It is only in Jesus that we find our life. When our eyes are fully on Him and He is supplying all that we need, we are free to serve our brothers in love. Rather than being conformed to the world around us to try to get our needs met from it, we abide in the vine and bear His fruit of righteousness -bringing His kingdom.
Trials and difficulties can actually help us to see where we are trying to get our life from the world so we can be set free. In Judges 3:1-2 it says that the Lord actually left nations in the Promised Land without driving them all out for the good of the people -so that those who had not previously experienced war could be proved by it.
It says, “Now these are the nations which the Lord left to prove Israel by them, that is, all in Israel who had not previously experienced war in Canaan; It was only that the generations of the Israelites might know and be taught war, at least those who previously knew nothing of it.”
Commentary notes that “the presence of the enemy in the land was an opportunity for teaching, testing, and trusting. The younger generation could learn how to fight, and that would keep them from taking their inheritance for granted. God could test His people and encourage them to trust Him for victory.” [13] Another commentary goes on to note that this testing “was by fire, so to speak. The idea of testing implies difficulty and adversity... Here God was testing Israel to refine it.” [14]
James 1:2-4 says, “Consider it wholly joyful, my brethren, whenever you are enveloped in or encounter trials of any sort of fall into various temptations. Be assured and understand that the trial and proving of your faith bring out endurance and steadfastness and patience. But let endurance and steadfastness and patience have full play and do a thorough work, so that you may be [people] perfectly and fully developed [with no defects], lacking in nothing.”
War requires faith to initiate it and believe that God has gone before and make the way. When Barak went out and waged war against Sisera, he did it based upon a word from Deborah. She said to him, “Up! For this is the day when the Lord has given Sisera into your hand. Is not the Lord gone out before you?”
We war not in our own strength but look to the author and finisher of our faith – our great commander – to make the way. Moses had told Joshua and all Israel in Deuteronomy 31:3, “The Lord your God will Himself go over before you, and He will destroy these nations from before you, and you shall dispossess them.”
In Deuteronomy 31:6,8 Moses goes on to say, “Be strong, courageous, and firm; fear not nor be in terror before them, for it is the Lord your God Who goes with you; He will not fail you or forsake you... It is the Lord Who goes before you; He will [march] with you; He will not fail you or let you go or forsake you; [let there be no cowardice or flinching, but] fear not, neither become broken [in spirit] (depressed, dismayed, and unnerved with alarm).”
The weapons we fight with are not of the flesh but spiritual. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 10:4 (NLT) “We use God's mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments.”
This requires surrender to God. In Judges 5:9 Deborah and Barak sang that the commanders of Israel offered themselves willingly among the people. Acts 16:31 says, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ [give yourself up to Him, take yourself out of your own keeping and entrust yourself into His keeping] and you will be saved...”
Coming back to what I noted earlier, sometimes we try to keep the peace by ignoring war. Rather than having the faith to go to battle, we choose convenience and our own comfortability over conflict. True peace only comes about through dispossessing the enemy from the land. An example of this is with Deborah and Barak, after they dispossessed the enemy, the land had peace and rest for forty years (Judges 5:31).
John Mulinde and Mark Daniel write, “Ease and convenience have become our idols... And if we are not living for God in certain areas, then whom are we living?” [15]
Other times we are tempted to fight with worldly weapons and take matters into our own hands. Rather, we are to crucify our sinful natures along with its passions and desires and live by and keep in step with the Spirit (Gal 5:24-25).
John Mulinde and Mark Daniel ask, “How do we know we are living according to the flesh or to the Spirit?” And answer, “Examine our mind and the fruit in our life. Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires and treasures; those who live according to the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires and promotes.” [16]
When we have our minds and hearts set on what the Spirit desires rather than our own or other peoples desires, it promotes true peace. True peace does not mean no conflict. John 15:19 says, “If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.”
God's wisdom is upside down from worldly wisdom (1 Cor. 2:13). James 4:17-18 says, “But the wisdom from above is first of all pure (undefiled); then it is peace-loving, courteous (considerate, gentle). [It is willing to] yield to reason, full of compassion and good fruits; it is wholehearted and straightforward, impartial and unfeigned (free from doubts, wavering, and insincerity).
And the harvest of righteousness (of conformity to God's will in thought and deed) is [the fruit of the seed] sown in peace by those who work for and make peace [in themselves and in others, that peace which means concord, agreement, and harmony between individuals, with undisturbedness, in a peaceful mind free from fears and agitating passions and moral conflicts].”
Lord, too often I realize I try to 'keep the peace' by going along with the world system. I fail to tear down the altars of other gods or confront the world system. I have been sometimes trying to please people (seeking man's approval, validation and acceptance over Yours). In trying to get my needs met from the world, I have served idols. I have allowed the world system to conform me and rather than pushing back, I have went along at the expense of your will. Forgive me!
“I will not forget that you said you'd always bring me through to who I want to be, making every part of me about you.”
We long to be those who genuinely worship you and build altars of worship to you wherever we go. Give us 'watchful' spirits to love You in all that we do. Set us apart. Help us become free from the world system and give us the courage and faith we need to go to war where needed, tearing down altars to false gods rather than bowing down to them. As it sings in the background, “ I [we] give you my life, take it and let it be used to make much of You.”
“I want to make much of You Jesus... I want to live today to give You the praise that You are so worthy of” sings.
1-2. The Amplified Bible. Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI. 1987.
3. Strong, James: The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible : Showing Every Word of the Text of the Common English Version of the Canonical Books, and Every Occurrence of Each Word in Regular Order. electronic ed. Ontario : Woodside Bible Fellowship., 1996, S. H8104
4. Vine, W. E. ; Unger, Merrill F. ; White, William: Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words. Nashville : T. Nelson, 1996, S. 1:37
5-12, 15-16. Mulinde, John with Daniel, Mark. The Wake-Up Call: To Radically Abandon Our Lives To God. World Trumpet Mission. Orlando, Fl. 2011
13. Wiersbe, Warren W.: With the Word Bible Commentary. Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 1997, c1991, S. Jdg 3:1
14. Radmacher, Earl D. ; Allen, Ronald Barclay ; House, H. Wayne: Nelson's New Illustrated Bible Commentary. Nashville : T. Nelson Publishers, 1999, S. Jdg 3:1-2
Most Scripture quotations take from The Amplified Bible. Copyright 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by the Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)
My Bible commentary notes, “All through the time of Joshua's leadership he kept giving as his warrant of faith the fact that the Lord had spoken, the Lord had promised. The word of God is the guaranty of faith. Genuine faith always advances on the authority expressed in Hebrews 13:5,6, 'He [God] Himself has said... So we take comfort and are encouraged and confidently and boldly say...'” [1]
Over and over, Joshua reminded the people that it was the Lord who was fighting for them and establishing them in the land. It was not the strength of man but God. It was according to the promise God had made to them.
Joshua told all of Israel in his farewell address in Joshua 23:3,5,9-10, “And you have seen all that the Lord your God has done to all these nations for your sake; for it is the Lord your God Who has fought for you... The Lord your God will thrust them out from before you and drive them out of your sight, and you shall possess the land, as the Lord your God promised you...
For the Lord has driven out from before you great and strong nations; and as for you, no man has been able to withstand you to this day. One man of you shall put to flight a thousand, for it is the Lord your God Who fights for you, as He promised you.”
In Exodus 14:14 Moses had told the people that when they entered into the Promised Land, “The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace and remain at rest.”
However, there came a time that the Lord would no longer fight for the Israelites. In Judges 2:1-3, the Angel of the Lord spoke to them and said, “I brought you up from Egypt and have brought you to the land which I swore to give to your fathers, and I said, I will never break My covenant with you; And you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; but you shall break down their altars. But you have not obeyed My voice. Why have you done this? So now I say, I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you.”
It was because they forsook God and broke His covenant by serving other gods that the Lord no longer fought for them. Judges 2:11-15 says, “And the people of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals. And they forsook the Lord, the God of their fathers, Who brought them out of the land of Egypt.
They went after other gods of the peoples round about them and bowed down to them, and provoked the Lord to anger. And they forsook the Lord and served Baal [the god worshiped by the Canaanites] and the Ashtaroth [female deities such as Ashtoreth and Asherah].
So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and He gave them into the power of plunderers who robbed them; and He sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could no longer stand before their foes. Whenever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for evil as the Lord had said, and as the Lord had sworn to them; and they were bitterly distressed.”
“Faithfulness, faithfulness is what I long for, faithfulness, faithfulness is what I need, faithfulness faithfulness is what You want from me.”
In Joshua 23:11-13, Joshua had told the people, “Be very watchful of yourselves, therefore, to love the Lord your God, for if you turn back and adhere to the remnant of these nations left among you and make marriages with them, you marrying their women and they yours, know with certainty that the Lord your God will not continue to drive these nations from before you; but they shall be a snare and trap to you, and a scourge in your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from off this good land which the Lord your God has given you.”
My Bible Commentary notes that “Everything depended on whether or not Israel would continue to be faithful to the covenant.” [2] To serve other gods was to transgress the covenant (Joshua 23:16). Forsaking the covenant they had with God, they no longer had the same protection from their enemies.
Rather than overtaking their enemies they are overtaken by them as they served others gods. And as a result of their unfaithfulness, they experienced oppression by the enemy. Then when they cried out to the Lord, He saved them.
Over and over in the book of Judges, when the people of God were unfaithful to God and bowed down to idols, they experienced oppression from their enemies and then when they cried out, God sent a judge to deliver them. Judges 4:8 says about the Israelites, [Formerly] they chose new gods; then war was in the gates.”
They were warned to 'be very watchful' to love the Lord. Watchful is the Hebrew word shamar (Strongs #8104) and it means to be on one’s guard or to tend to well (like you would a garden). [3]
When we neglect and fail to take responsibility to guard and nurture our relationship with Christ, it is easy to begin to be conformed more like the people around us. We have a tendency to naturally desire to fit into roles and expectations of the world without thinking too much about it.
We begin to conform or adhere to the practices of the people around us. To adhere is the Hebrew word dabaq, Strongs #1692. It means to cleave, cling, giving our loyalty and devotion. [4] In the case of the Israelites, instead of honoring God the people where honoring, valuing and giving their devotion to what the people in the land around them valued/honored.
The Israelites failed to drive out the enemy and did not break down the altars to their gods. Instead, they conformed to the people of the area's way and worshiped what they worshiped. And they turned back to the ways of their fathers, following religious tradition rather than having any heart for God.
The Israelites did not consciously intend to transgress the covenant with God and turn to other god's. What happened is that they became complacent and neglectful in tending their relationship with the Lord. Rather than tearing down the altars of the people in the land, they joined in worship of their gods. In Judges 2:1-4 when the Angel of the Lord confronted them for their failure to obey God, the people lifted up their voice and wept.
This is not just a problem of the Old Testament, this happened in the New Testament church as well. Paul confronts the Corinthians for the conforming to the ways of the world and unbelievers. He tells them in 2 Corinthians 6:14-18, “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers [do not make mismated alliances with them or come under a different yoke with them, inconsistent with your faith]. For what partnership have right living and right standing with God with iniquity and lawlessness? Or how can light have fellowship with darkness?
What harmony can there be between Christ and Belial [the devil]? Or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? What agreement [can there be between] a temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God; even as God said, I will dwell in and with and among them and will walk in and with and among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
So, come out from among [unbelievers], and separate (sever) yourselves from them, says the Lord, and touch not [any] unclean thing; then I will receive you kindly and treat you with favor. And I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”
John Mulinde and Mark Daniel note, “God does the work of setting us apart. We do not have to try to become perfect in our own strength; we only need to surrender ourselves to him. As he works to set us apart, he will strip away the layers of sin in our life.” [5]
They go on to note that the world system is the most influential area in our lives and has the strongest pull against our ability to be surrendered and set apart. They write, “The system of our world becomes what everybody around us lives in and the way our mindsets function. We have become completely adapted to it.” We too easily conform and go along with status quo (okay, we in this case is me). [6]
Romans 12:2 says, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
Too often we waiver between the ways of the world and ways of God. Joshua 24:14-15 told the people, “Now therefore, [reverently] fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and in truth; put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the [Euphrates] River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.
And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Saul is an example of someone who wavered between the ways of the world and ways of God. While He followed God's orders to attack the Amalekites, Saul did not destroy everything as commanded. He kept the best for himself. When confronted by Samuel, Saul's concern was in how he was perceived by the people rather than God (1 Samuel 15). He feared the people over God (1 Samuel 15:24). John Mulinde and Mark Daniel note, “Saul's heart was set on pleasing the people and maintaining a good image before them.” [7]
John Mulinde and Mark Daniel challenge, “If we are not living for God in certain areas, then for whom are we living?” And note that Saul loved his reputation and image before the people and made it an idol.[8]
They ask, “How many times do we perform the same kind of acts of disobedience as Saul because we don't want to antagonize people, willfully holding back from obeying if we sense that people may not approve?” The fear of man can cause us to disobey God or try to please and submit to others rather than God. [9]
Sometimes rather than risk 'rocking the boat' by tearing down altars to false gods, we try to accommodate and live with the enemy like some of the Israelites. We put off any confrontation or dealing with issues often telling ourselves we can somehow make things work by our own strength or we need to wait for the right time.
John Mulinde and Mark Daniel note that procrastination of God's will is not because we don't love God, but because we are not wholly yielded. They write, “the more we procrastinate, the harder our hearts become. By postponing obeying the Lord, we are quenching the voice of the Holy Spirit, the only voice who can lead us to repentance.” [10]
Eventually if we allow the world around us to conform us by going along and by procrastinating taking action, we begin to think like the world. John Mulinde and Mark Daniel write, “Eventually, we become so programmed to and by our world system that we no longer even feel concerned or convicted by the sins that beset us. We have the strength and support of our world. We are anchored to that world; we are part of it and it is part of us.” [11]
in 1 Kings 18:21, Elijah confronted the people for their double mindedness. He said to them, “How long will you halt and limp between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him! But if Baal, then follow him.”
James says that the one who wavers “is like the billowing surge out at sea that is blown hither and tither and tossed by the wind (v. 1:6). He goes on to say, “[For being as he is] a man of two minds (hesitating, dubious, irresolute), [he is] unstable and unreliable and uncertain about everything [he thinks, feels, decides]” (James 1:8).
James goes on to confront the church for their worldly passions, letting their love for the world drive their behaviors. He tells them, “You burn with envy and anger and are not able to obtain [the gratification, the contentment, and the happiness that you seek], so you fight and war.” (James 4:2)
He goes on to say, “You [are like] unfaithful wives [having illicit love affairs with the world and breaking your marriage vow to God]! Do you not know that being the world's friend is being God's enemy? So whoever chooses to be a friend of the world takes his stand as an enemy of God. Or do you suppose that the Scripture is speaking to no purpose that says, The Spirit Whom He has caused to dwell in us years over us and He yearns for the Spirit [to be welcome] with a jealous love?”
I had a dream a few nights ago about fire. There was an increase in fire and it was burning everywhere I turned. I was trying to run and get away from it but I couldn't because it seemed to be burning everywhere on earth. The fire was not a 'godly fire' but a 'worldly fire'. I felt that God may be speaking through it that we are coming into a season where conflict is more prevalent in peoples lives due to worldly envy and people's dissatisfaction with their own lives.
Rather than being overcome by evil, we are called to overcome evil by the power of God. We are not only to live in the land, but dispossess the enemy and tear down altars to the false gods. Rather than being conformed to the world's standards, we are to possess the land and establish altars to worship God.
“Lord I want it all to be for You Jesus, be my magnificent obsession sings.”
John Mulinde and Mark Daniel note that everyone faces pulls and pressures of the world, “but the ones who thrive and don't fall back -those who overcome -are those who determine to follow the Lord no matter what they face. Even when they are confronted with their worst fears, when everything withing them rises up to say, 'Conform! Go back to the way the system wants,' they press through and submit to what God asks of them.
Those who preserver are those who begin to see God uproot and change the system like he did to the system of Egypt through Moses. But, sadly, the ones who are intimidated by the system or who cower as the system begins to put pressure on them will see the new life and zeal that was in them begin to deteriorate, dry up, and go away. This means that we must begin to follow the Lord and be set free from the dictates of the system.” [12]
The difference between those who preserver and those who conform is a result of where our focus is at. When our focus is on self and our wants or on others as our source of validation, approval, acceptance, etc. we will be led astray. Often this focus leads to us manipulating or controlling others to get what we want.
It is only in Jesus that we find our life. When our eyes are fully on Him and He is supplying all that we need, we are free to serve our brothers in love. Rather than being conformed to the world around us to try to get our needs met from it, we abide in the vine and bear His fruit of righteousness -bringing His kingdom.
Trials and difficulties can actually help us to see where we are trying to get our life from the world so we can be set free. In Judges 3:1-2 it says that the Lord actually left nations in the Promised Land without driving them all out for the good of the people -so that those who had not previously experienced war could be proved by it.
It says, “Now these are the nations which the Lord left to prove Israel by them, that is, all in Israel who had not previously experienced war in Canaan; It was only that the generations of the Israelites might know and be taught war, at least those who previously knew nothing of it.”
Commentary notes that “the presence of the enemy in the land was an opportunity for teaching, testing, and trusting. The younger generation could learn how to fight, and that would keep them from taking their inheritance for granted. God could test His people and encourage them to trust Him for victory.” [13] Another commentary goes on to note that this testing “was by fire, so to speak. The idea of testing implies difficulty and adversity... Here God was testing Israel to refine it.” [14]
James 1:2-4 says, “Consider it wholly joyful, my brethren, whenever you are enveloped in or encounter trials of any sort of fall into various temptations. Be assured and understand that the trial and proving of your faith bring out endurance and steadfastness and patience. But let endurance and steadfastness and patience have full play and do a thorough work, so that you may be [people] perfectly and fully developed [with no defects], lacking in nothing.”
War requires faith to initiate it and believe that God has gone before and make the way. When Barak went out and waged war against Sisera, he did it based upon a word from Deborah. She said to him, “Up! For this is the day when the Lord has given Sisera into your hand. Is not the Lord gone out before you?”
We war not in our own strength but look to the author and finisher of our faith – our great commander – to make the way. Moses had told Joshua and all Israel in Deuteronomy 31:3, “The Lord your God will Himself go over before you, and He will destroy these nations from before you, and you shall dispossess them.”
In Deuteronomy 31:6,8 Moses goes on to say, “Be strong, courageous, and firm; fear not nor be in terror before them, for it is the Lord your God Who goes with you; He will not fail you or forsake you... It is the Lord Who goes before you; He will [march] with you; He will not fail you or let you go or forsake you; [let there be no cowardice or flinching, but] fear not, neither become broken [in spirit] (depressed, dismayed, and unnerved with alarm).”
The weapons we fight with are not of the flesh but spiritual. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 10:4 (NLT) “We use God's mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments.”
This requires surrender to God. In Judges 5:9 Deborah and Barak sang that the commanders of Israel offered themselves willingly among the people. Acts 16:31 says, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ [give yourself up to Him, take yourself out of your own keeping and entrust yourself into His keeping] and you will be saved...”
Coming back to what I noted earlier, sometimes we try to keep the peace by ignoring war. Rather than having the faith to go to battle, we choose convenience and our own comfortability over conflict. True peace only comes about through dispossessing the enemy from the land. An example of this is with Deborah and Barak, after they dispossessed the enemy, the land had peace and rest for forty years (Judges 5:31).
John Mulinde and Mark Daniel write, “Ease and convenience have become our idols... And if we are not living for God in certain areas, then whom are we living?” [15]
Other times we are tempted to fight with worldly weapons and take matters into our own hands. Rather, we are to crucify our sinful natures along with its passions and desires and live by and keep in step with the Spirit (Gal 5:24-25).
John Mulinde and Mark Daniel ask, “How do we know we are living according to the flesh or to the Spirit?” And answer, “Examine our mind and the fruit in our life. Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires and treasures; those who live according to the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires and promotes.” [16]
When we have our minds and hearts set on what the Spirit desires rather than our own or other peoples desires, it promotes true peace. True peace does not mean no conflict. John 15:19 says, “If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.”
God's wisdom is upside down from worldly wisdom (1 Cor. 2:13). James 4:17-18 says, “But the wisdom from above is first of all pure (undefiled); then it is peace-loving, courteous (considerate, gentle). [It is willing to] yield to reason, full of compassion and good fruits; it is wholehearted and straightforward, impartial and unfeigned (free from doubts, wavering, and insincerity).
And the harvest of righteousness (of conformity to God's will in thought and deed) is [the fruit of the seed] sown in peace by those who work for and make peace [in themselves and in others, that peace which means concord, agreement, and harmony between individuals, with undisturbedness, in a peaceful mind free from fears and agitating passions and moral conflicts].”
Lord, too often I realize I try to 'keep the peace' by going along with the world system. I fail to tear down the altars of other gods or confront the world system. I have been sometimes trying to please people (seeking man's approval, validation and acceptance over Yours). In trying to get my needs met from the world, I have served idols. I have allowed the world system to conform me and rather than pushing back, I have went along at the expense of your will. Forgive me!
“I will not forget that you said you'd always bring me through to who I want to be, making every part of me about you.”
We long to be those who genuinely worship you and build altars of worship to you wherever we go. Give us 'watchful' spirits to love You in all that we do. Set us apart. Help us become free from the world system and give us the courage and faith we need to go to war where needed, tearing down altars to false gods rather than bowing down to them. As it sings in the background, “ I [we] give you my life, take it and let it be used to make much of You.”
“I want to make much of You Jesus... I want to live today to give You the praise that You are so worthy of” sings.
1-2. The Amplified Bible. Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI. 1987.
3. Strong, James: The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible : Showing Every Word of the Text of the Common English Version of the Canonical Books, and Every Occurrence of Each Word in Regular Order. electronic ed. Ontario : Woodside Bible Fellowship., 1996, S. H8104
4. Vine, W. E. ; Unger, Merrill F. ; White, William: Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words. Nashville : T. Nelson, 1996, S. 1:37
5-12, 15-16. Mulinde, John with Daniel, Mark. The Wake-Up Call: To Radically Abandon Our Lives To God. World Trumpet Mission. Orlando, Fl. 2011
13. Wiersbe, Warren W.: With the Word Bible Commentary. Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 1997, c1991, S. Jdg 3:1
14. Radmacher, Earl D. ; Allen, Ronald Barclay ; House, H. Wayne: Nelson's New Illustrated Bible Commentary. Nashville : T. Nelson Publishers, 1999, S. Jdg 3:1-2
Most Scripture quotations take from The Amplified Bible. Copyright 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by the Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)
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