Scripture
The tribe of Benjamin, however, failed to drive out the Jebusites, who were living in Jerusalem. So to this day the Jebusites live in Jerusalem among the people of Benjamin. Judges 1:21
Observation
Moses was dead. Joshua was dead. The day of “one man with the plan” was over and God was calling each tribe to lead their people in His ways. “1These are the nations that the Lord left in the land to test those Israelites who had not experienced the wars of Canaan. 2He did this to teach warfare to generations of Israelites who had no experience in battle. (Judges 3:1-2).” God Himself would train up the next generation of leaders if they would follow Him. They didn’t want to fight. They quite enjoyed the ways of those around them. Rather than conquering their enemies and taking the land they befriended their enemies and shared the land. “So the people of Israel lived among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, 6and they intermarried with them. Israelite sons married their daughters, and Israelite daughters were given in marriage to their sons. And the Israelites served their gods.” (Judges 3:5) When we befriend our enemies we end up making an enemy of our friends. When we won’t fight for the Lord we end up fighting against the Lord. When we give the enemy an inch he will take a mile. When we give sin a closet it will take the castle. When the enemy of our souls is more determined to stay then we are determined to fight we will end up in the corner of what we were meant to conquer. “34As for the tribe of Dan, the Amorites forced them back into the hill country and would not let them come down into the plains. 35The Amorites were determined to stay in Mount Heres, Aijalon, and Shaalbim…” (Judges 1:34-35)
Application
When we lived in the Seattle area a few years back we had a home in a new housing development. We noticed that our neighbors a few houses down had not been around for a long time and their lawn and yard had become quite overgrown. Apparently, they no longer lived there. Then, my wife began to notice people she didn’t recognize going in and out of that house. She asked our other neighbors if they recognized them as the homeowners and they did not. Something didn’t feel right about it so Cyndi called the police and asked them to investigate. It turns out Cyndi was spot on. The police came to our door and said they were squatters. These people noticed the homeowners were no longer around and decided to take advantage of the situation. We asked the police officer if he told them to leave and we were shocked at his answer. He said, “I don’t have the authority to ask them to leave because they are on private property. Though the owners have not been paying the bank the deed is still in their name and therefore they are the only ones that can tell these squatters to leave.” We couldn’t believe what we were hearing. These people didn’t own that place, were trespassing on private property, taking advantage of the financial misfortunes of our neighbor and the law was on their side? Unless they were caught performing an illegal activity the police could not violate “squatters rights”. When we looked into this we couldn’t believe it. If a homeowner doesn’t take action and evict a squatter over a certain length of time the squatter can actually convert the title deed to themselves and steal it right out from under the original homeowner. This is exactly what happened with Israel. God had given them the title deeds to the Promised Land but they didn’t want to fight to keep their new homes clean so they gave their enemies squatters rights. Right now all around the world people are realizing that they have given squatters rights to their enemies. Prior to the “shelter at home”, “lockdown”, “self-quarantine” reality of Covid-19 most of us were so busy we didn’t spend that much time at home, with our family, or our spouses. Now, that we are all in the same home over a prolonged and indeterminate amount of time we are facing down enemies we were too busy to notice. Addiction, lust, gluttony, pride, laziness, deep resentments, unresolved guilt, fear of the future are all staring us down and saying, “Yeah, what are you going to do about it. Go back to your corner.” The squatter I’ve been dealing with is anger. Anger at our current situation. Anger at the canceled plans. Anger at my boys who just won’t listen. Can you relate? So, I’m taking back this ground. How? Paul writes it this way, “25Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. 26“In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27and do not give the devil a foothold. (Ephesians 4:25-27) The Greek word for “foothold” is topos where we get our English word topography. God is having us look at the map of our souls and kick out our enemies. Every place we find anger, lies, and sin that we won’t address or confess is a place where we are giving squatter’s rights to our home.
Prayer
Lord, I’m going to be quick to repent! Lord, I’m not going to let anger have a square inch of my soul or to steal from this time I have with my family. Along with daily exercise I’m practicing daily surrender of words that were said, plans that were destroyed, and frustrations that abound. You are training us on how to take back our homes, take down these demons, and see our family relationships renewed and reconciled. Thank You for the training this morning. I choose to fight with You so I don’t fight with my family. Help me to raise my boys to know how to do the same.
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