Inquire & Obey

I'm currently teaching on the book of Judges for the youth group Sunday school class. We normally spend half our time playing a game and the other half studying the Bible. The next few weeks, I will be posting my lessons and possibly a game or some funny tidbits that happen during the course of the morning.
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Before we take a look at the book of Judges, we need to get some background info so we know what's happening when we start reading chapter 1. In Numbers, the Israelites, God' chosen people, are wandering around in the wilderness waiting to enter the Promised Land. In Joshua, Moses dies and now Joshua leads the people into the Promised Land (Canaan). They fight many battles to acquire the land, yet there are many towns that are not completely taken over.

In Joshua 23-24, on his deathbed, Joshua challenges the people to remember all that God has done for them and their forefathers and to choose to serve the Lord. He reminds them that they cannot serve the Lord and foreign gods. Then he dies.

Now in Sunday School, we read a verse or two and then recap/discuss what's going on in those verses. So the rest of this won't make sense unless you open up your Bible to Judges 1 and read along with me.



Read verses 1-3: so Joshua's dead, now what? Their leader is dead and so they are unsure what to do. So they ask the Lord. He replies and Judah responds in obedience, and gets help to do so. When we come to a point in our lives that we are unsure what to do, like the Israelites, our response should be turning to the Lord and asking for direction. And once He gives us instruction, we need to obey. Another thing to note is it's ok to ask for help.

Read verses 4-7: This is the first of many intriguing stories in the book of Judges. The men of Judah are fighting the men of Adoni-bezek, he tries to flee, the Israelites catch him and cut off his thumbs and big toes.
As New Testament believers, we have a hard time imaging the loving God that we know ordering the destruction of so many people. We love verses like Exodus 34:6-7, "The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin..." However, we forget about the rest of the verse, "...yet by no means leave the guilty unpunished..." It would behoove us to keep in mind that people sin and sin has consequences. As we see in Judges 1: 7, Adoni-bezek had previously cut off the thumbs and big toes of 70 foes. It seems to me that God is using the Israelites in this case to punish Adoni-bezek for this.

Read verses 8-36: More fighting/capturing, but we start to see that they don't completely destroy the foreigners in the land, especially in the latter half. Why does this matter?

If you have a moment, read through Deuteronomy 7. If you don't, I'll give you the highlights. The Israelites are being given instructions on what to do when they enter the land. In regard to the Canaanites, He says "...you shall utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them ... you shall not intermarry with them... you shall tear down their altars... you shall not be afraid of them..." (Deut. 7:2,3,5,18). When Joshua is on his deathbed, this is what he is reminding the people of.
These statements aren't just made arbitrarily. As with everything God says, He has reasons for it, even if we don't understand. Some of the commands He gives come with explanation. God knew the power these foreigners would have to turn the Israelites away from Him. "Do not be deceived : 'Bad company corrupts good morals'" (1 Corinthians 15:33).

Chapter 1 is painting a picture for us of the state that the land is in once Joshua dies. We see lots of partial obedience. God has a plan far greater than any of us can imagine. We don't need to understand why He says what He says, we just need to obey what He says.
When you're unsure of what to your next step in life is, it's probably time to inquire of the Lord, then obey Him completely, and seek assistance, if needed.

**All Scripture is quotes from the New American Standard.
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About today's game... We played a modified version of Family Feud.
One of the questions was "Name something a man might do for a woman to prove that chivalry is still alive." There were some humorous (incorrect) answers to that question, but not the funniest response of the morning.
The final round we played was called the "Bullseye Round." There were five questions and the first team to shout out the top answer got the points. It was a tie game going into the last question which I drew out to add to the suspense. "Name a place... people don't enjoy going... by themselves." There were two answers shouted out simultaneously, "the bathroom" and "the movies." One was correct and one gave us all a good laugh. I'll let you decide which answer is which. :)