Judges 2:16-19 – The need to stay faithful

Judges 2:16-19 is a great display of God’s marvellous grace towards Israel. Yes, He was angry with them and in His anger had to deal with them for their waywardness. Yet in His dealing, He had shown much grace. He did not come and immediately wipe them off for their apostasy. Instead, He raised up judges as deliverers to rescue them. He not only raised up one but many of them at different times to deliver them. These commissioned deliverers came to the scene equipped with the necessary means and successfully carried out their mission.  

Even when grace was shown, Israel did not fully respond to God’s kind overtures. Instead, they spurned His love and did not listen to the judges. They went about and “…played the harlot after other gods and bowed themselves down to them. They turned aside quickly from the way in which their fathers had walked in obeying the commandments of the Lord; they did not do as their fathers.” In breaking their covenant obligation, they had forgotten their commitment. They showed total disregard for God whom they were espoused to. What they did was total infidelity. They committed spiritual adultery. Even with the intervention of the judges, they remained unfaithful to God.

Verse 18 shows us how deeply the Lord had shown compassion towards His people despite their arrogance and disobedience. He not only gave them judges but also stayed close to those deliverers to ensure that their enemies could not prevail over them. Why? This same verse tells us that “…the Lord was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who oppressed and afflicted them.” As undeserving as they were, each time they cried to God in their afflictions, He would listen to their groanings and come to their rescue.  

The propensity of the Israelites was a sign of mankind’s ingrained sinfulness. Their respond to God did not last. Every time a judge whom God had raised to deliver them died, they would return to their waywardness again. What’s worse was that they would become even more corrupt and acted deplorably. Each subsequent generation became worse than the precious. The people and their descendants never really abandoned their unruliness. Their tendency to rebel was never corrected with each and every punitive measure.

What can we do to build a life that will help us stay faithful?  Four practical things we can do. Firstly, be regular and consistent in your devotion in the study and meditation of God’s Word. Secondly, be consistent in talking and praying to God. Thirdly, evaluate each day of our life and make the necessary adjustment to be in line with Godly principles. Fourthly, surround ourselves with godly people. It takes discipline to stay on course with God.