Monday is accountability day. Send me an email informing me of where you stand. If you have fallen behind don’t quit. Simply mark those passages not read and continue with today. Satan wants you to get discouraged and drop out of the race. This is a marathon not a 100 meter sprint.
Judges 1:19 The Lord was with the men of Judah. They took possession of the hill country, but they were unable to drive the people from the plains, because they had iron chariots.
This is what you call “irony.” Irony (from the greek meaning hypocrisy, deception, or feigned ignorance) is a literay or rhetorical device, in which there is an incongruity or discordance between what one says or does and what one means or what is generally understood. Irony shows us the huge gap that existed in the men of Judah. The incongruity between what they knew and how they acted.
The Lord was with the men of Judah and they took possession of the hill country.... now this is making perfect sense to us since we have just read the highlights of the conquest but then comes the irony. But they were unable to drive the people from the plains, because they had iron chariots. What is going on?
Could it be a problem of vision? In the hill country they saw an enemy who they were pretty confident they could defeat but when they looked to those iron chariots, they said, “No way Jose.” The sight of the iron chariots caused their vision of God to become very blurry.
It is easy to trust in God and sing the hallelujah chorus when we are up against an enemy on even terms. But the true measure of our faith is seen when we find ourselves in a battle where the odds are against us.
What we need in battles against iron chariots is faith. Faith says .... “It is so.”
Tony Evans, one of our speakers this weekend, has a great practical definition of faith: “Faith is acting like it's so even when it's not so, in order that it might be so, just because God said so."
Maybe you're saying, "That sounds like I'm supposed to pretend something's real when it isn't." No. We're
talking about believing that what God says is true, even when there's no evidence available. And the way we show we really believe in when we act on it. We are called to live by faith. To act on what “God says is so, even if it not so.” God’s vision is much better than ours. Believe him. Act as if God is telling the truth.
Where are you facing iron chariots today? This is your chance to develop your faith.
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