Judges 2:12
“And they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked the LORD to anger.”
You will only succeed in the Christian life by faith. Faith is what activates every promise in the Word of God. You will find that the only time someone fails in the Christian life is when they stop living by faith and start walking by sight.
Israel stopped walking by faith towards the end of Joshua’s life. The great battles they won somehow caused them to take their eyes off God and begin to walk by sight. Their faithless life acquired sequential faults that eventually led to bondage and judgment. There were five faults of their faithlessness that you must be aware of so that you don’t take the same sequential steps as they did.
The first fault of their faithless journey was that they took their eyes off God. In Judges 1:1 they said, “Who shall go up for us…?” This was a foolish question because they knew that God would go before them if they would continue to live by faith. You must never forget the life of faith requires you to keep your eyes on God. The answer of who will go up for you should always be God. You are always better off trusting God for He will never fail.
The second fault of their faithless journey was they depended on man. In the same verse, they were looking at which man would go up with them. Let me remind you that man will never be able to help you win the battles of life. Don’t look to man for your direction in the Christian life; instead, always look to God. Man will not be there for you when the battles come, but God is faithful to help when everyone forsakes you.
The third fault of their faithless journey was they lost their drive. They stopped driving out the heathen, which was a step backwards instead of forwards. You will always find it hard to keep your motivation and drive for God when you stop living the life of faith. Faith always keeps the drive alive.
The fourth fault of their faithless journey was an overconfidence in their own ability. They thought they could keep their enemies under “tribute.” God told them to destroy their enemies, not to control them. The faithless life always thinks they can control their sin, which is foolish and fateful. It doesn’t matter how strong you think you are, you will never be able to control sin.
The fifth fault of their faithless journey was they made a league with the world. The last step before one is destroyed is to start justifying the world’s influences in their life. Worldliness should have no part in the Christian’s life. An agreement with the world puts you at odds with God. You must never allow worldliness to have any part in your life.
The final fault of their faithless journey was forsaking God. How sad to find them forsaking God, the very God Who delivered them from the world. Friend, you cannot take this faithless journey without ending up forsaking your God. If you want to continue living for God, then you must choose to daily live by faith because the life of faith is the only life that will keep you close to God. I beg you to never take the journey of a faithless life, for it will only lead to your eventual destruction.