Judges 2:11 And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lordand served the Baals. 12 And they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They went after other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed down to them. And they provoked the Lord to anger. 13 They abandoned the Lord and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth. 14 So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he gave them over to plunderers, who plundered them. And he sold them into the hand of their surrounding enemies, so that they could no longer withstand their enemies. 15 Whenever they marched out, the hand of the Lord was against them for harm, as the Lord had warned, and as the Lord had sworn to them. And they were in terrible distress.
The people of Israel had entered the promised land under Joshua, and taken over section after section. Before his death, God had him divide the land into parts for each tribe. They continued to make progress, but never completed the call God had given them. They stopped trying. Keep in mind that God never promised them it would happen overnight. In fact, He said it would not. But they were to keep moving forward. But they stopped. When that happens, the people of God begin to divide. The tribes became more separate rather than united to stand with each other. This led to further failure, frustration and division. The worst part is: when this happened the Glory of God was tarnished before the watching world. What happened? They gave their hearts to other gods - to non-gods, to idols. That's one of the greatest causes of division yet today in the people of God. We stop moving forward in faith, and fall to other, false gods and distractions. Thankfully, Judges is far from the end of the story. The cure is the same: let us return to faithfully love and serve God and one another.
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