#soap # Judges 01 ## Title: Compromise Always Leads to Future Destruction ## Scripture: (Judges 1:33) “The men of Naphtali did not conquer the people living in Beth Shemesh or Beth Anath. They live among the Canaanites residing in the land. The Canaanites living in Beth Shemesh and Beth Anath were forced to do hard labor for them.” (NET) ## Observation: The nation of Israel was supposed to remove all the rebellious nations unwilling to leave. This started out as their land. They vacated it due to a severe famine. This was the promise God gave them. Also, this was judgment for the 400 years of terrible idolatry by these nations. Instead of removing the ‘cancer,’ they compromised. They decided they knew better than God and made these nations slaves instead. The problem with not obeying God fully is it ends up hurting you in the long run. These nations became a constant thorn in their side. We have to be careful not to twist or “know better” than God. Sometimes the most dangerous words in a Christian’s vocabulary are “tolerance” and “balance.” Sometimes balance means to not go further than God intends us to go. However, many times it means that we don’t really want to go far enough. Therefore, we say we want to be balanced as a way to excuse our sin. ## Application: Always check God’s Word and our decisions. Do they line up? If not, course correction is needed. ## Prayer: Thank You, Jesus, for putting these things in the Bible as a warning to us all.