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  • Susan Dalton on Judges 5 - 11 years ago
    Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of the LORD, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof; because they came not to the help of the LORD, to the help of the LORD against the mighty. Judges 5:23

    Here we see a curse upon the inhabitants of Meroz, and for what? They came not to the help of the LORD against the mighty. They came not. They did not get involved. They did not take the side of the LORD to battle against the mighty.

    Why do some not want to go to battle for the LORD? Jesus spoke of a certain man who made a great supper, and bade many...but, they all began with with consent to make excuse: one bought a piece of land that he needed to go see, another had bought five yoke of oxen and he was going to prove them, and another had married a wife and therefore could not come. Each one had an interest that they put before the Lord.

    Some people will not come out to the Lord's battle against the mighty because they love the praise of men more than the praise of God. They prefer to stand with men and with the acceptable gospel than to risk persecution for the gospel of Jesus Christ.

    Still others will watch and say it's not my battle. They do not want to get involved because it will cost them something, something they do not want to give up; a false peace, a false unity, a false reputation.

    To come to the help of the Lord, to come to the help of the Lord against the mighty, one must be willing to forsake all. One must be willing to count the cost, deny oneself, and take up one's cross daily and follow the Lord. This needs to be done individually and collectively as the body of Christ.

    In Judges 5, the LORD commanded Barak to take ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the the children of Zebulun to go to battle against Sisera, the captain of Jabin's army, the king of Canaan who had a host of men and nine hundred chariots of iron.

    The LORD commanded Barak to take of the tribes of Naphtali and of Zebulun to go to battle. Later, we see that some tribes did not take part in this victory. Why?

    Barak was sent on foot into the valley; then we see "For the divisions of Reuben there were great thoughts of heart. Why abodest among the sheepfolds, to hear the bleatings of the flocks? For the divisions of Reuben there were great searchings of heart."

    Could this be the result of a divided heart? Barak was sent on foot into the valley to meet with the mighty - he was sent on foot into the valley - here one must have faith and obedience. When you are sent on foot into the valley to do battle against the mighty who are mightier than you, a divided heart can stop you from entering that valley on foot. Was Reuben divided? Had they things that divided their hearts? Was their heart with their sheep? Was the heart of Dan with his ships? Was the heart of Asher with his business on the sea shore? Did Gilead stay on the other side Jordan because their hearts were not with the cause of the LORD. Had things and distance divided their hearts against the LORD and when the time came to enter into the valley on foot, their hearts, having divisions, were against the LORD? They either feared, or either felt it was not their battle, or they had other interests that manifested their hearts had divided against the LORD.

    Barak was sent on foot into the valley. Jesus was sent on foot into the valley of death. To overcome all the foes of darkness, He had to be in complete obedience and subjection to the Father. Jesus came out victorious over all darkness.

    Divisions of heart can make the head and heart have great thought: should I go, what will I lose, is it my battle, do I take part in the victory? Sometimes the heart can rationalize not entering on foot into the valley. A divided heart is unstable in all its ways. Jesus said a man cannot love God and mammom. He will either hold to the one, or he will let go of the other; but, he cannot hold both. The allusion is he thinks he can; but, when it is time to enter on foot into the valley, he will not go.

    Nothing can be put above the Lord's will for the one who is sent on foot into the valley - he must be willing to go, even in the face of death with full assurance and complete trust in the Lord who sent him. He must love the Lord his God with all of his heart; a divided heart will fail.

    Meroz, and her inhabitants, were cursed because they came not out to the help of the LORD, to the help of the LORD against the mighty.

    Zebulon and Naphtali were a people that jeoparded their lives unto the death in the high places of the field.

    A divided heart produces failure. We must love the Lord our God with all of our heart. When we are sent on foot into the valley of death, we must go with a single heart, and we will always be victorious.



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