Kyle’s Bible Journal April 2-8

Judges 20:23-25 The Israelites went up and wept before the LORD until evening, and they inquired of the LORD. They said, “Shall we go up again to fight against the Benjamites, our fellow Israelites?”
The LORD answered, “Go up against them.”
Then the Israelites drew near to Benjamin the second day. This time, when the Benjamites came out from Gibeah to oppose them, they cut down another eighteen thousand Israelites, all of them armed with swords.

We like to say that “God always leads us in victory” and while that is true long term there are moments where we may be led into losing situations. The Israelites never seemed to question God’s goodness but returned to God after being obedient and being defeated. They continued to inquire of God and God continued to guide. It must have been difficult to hear from the Lord twice “go into battle” only to be defeated twice. To inquire of the Lord the third time took faith. I think it  would have been hard to trust that you weren’t going to get defeated again.

This can be applied in many ways in our lives, but one that comes to mind is in praying for healing, deliverance, and other signs and wonders. We may be asking the Lord “should I pray for that person?” and hear God say yes. Our expectation would naturally be that God is going to do what we pray for, and we SHOULD have that expectation. Jesus is very clear in Mark 11:23 “Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them.” But in this story we see that even in the face of defeat we are to continue to inquire, to continue to fight, to continue to pray. Our obedience isn’t based on outcomes. We are obedient to seek His will and obey because He is God and we are not. Even when His will leads us to the cross, like Jesus, we may ask “let this cup pass from me” but like Jesus we finish that prayer with “nevertheless not my will but yours be done”

God let us continue in faith even in the face of what looks like failure. Thank You that You are always good and that we can trust You in every situation.