Obedience
Does obedience lead to victory? That might have been a question the Israeli army asked themselves when they went up against the Tribe of Benjamin.
The battle is recorded in Judges 20. The Tribe of Benjamin committed an abominable act against the concubine of a Levite. In response, all the other tribes of Israel fought against them.
Before the battle, members of the Israeli army inquired of the Lord who should lead them into battle. God replied that the Tribe of Judah should lead the army.
18 Before the battle the Israeli army went to Bethel first to ask counsel from God. “Which tribe shall lead us against the people of Benjamin?” they asked.
And the Lord replied, “Judah shall go first.”
19-20 So the entire army left early the next morning to go to Gibeah, to attack the men of Benjamin.
Wouldn’t you think if God gave directions for one of the tribes to lead in battle, he would give them victory over their enemy? I would. And apparently, so did the Israelite army. However, that isn’t what happened.
Obedience Did Not Lead to Victory
21 But the men defending the village stormed out and killed 22,000 Israelis that day. 22-24 Then the Israeli army wept before the Lord until evening and asked him, “Shall we fight further against our brother Benjamin?”
And the Lord said, “Yes.” So the men of Israel took courage and went out again the next day to fight at the same place.
25 And that day they lost another 18,000 men, all experienced swordsmen.
Okay. The army asked of God and did what he told them to do. And they were still defeated.
Twice.
They were obedient.
They followed God’s directions.
Judah even led the way, but their obedience did not guarantee them the victory.
So now, they ask one more time.
One More Time
26 Then the entire army went up to Bethel and wept before the Lord and fasted until evening, offering burnt sacrifices and peace offerings. 27-28 (The Ark of God was in Bethel in those days. Phinehas, the son of Eleazar and grandson of Aaron, was the priest.)
The men of Israel asked the Lord, “Shall we go out again and fight against our brother Benjamin, or shall we stop?”
And the Lord said, “Go, for tomorrow I will see to it that you defeat the men of Benjamin.”
I don’t know about you, but I’m not so sure I’d want to go back out there in battle a third time, knowing I’d been obedient the last two times and my obedience did not grant the victory.
I imagine the Israelites couldn’t figure it out either. They asked. God said fight. They fought. They were defeated.
After suffering severe losses the first two days of battle, the Israelites once again asked God if they should fight the next day. God said, “Yes,” adding, “I will see to it that you defeat the men of Benjamin.”
The Key
That’s the key, isn’t it? The Israelites prayed. God said yes, because he would go with
them this time.
God himself would grant the victory.
29 So the Israeli army set an ambush all around the village, 30 and went out again on the third day and set themselves in their usual battle formation. 31 When the army of Benjamin came out of the town to attack, the Israeli forces retreated and Benjamin was drawn away from the town as they chased after Israel. And as they had done previously, Benjamin began to kill the men of Israel along the roadway running between Bethel and Gibeah, so that about thirty of them died.
32 Then the army of Benjamin shouted, “We’re defeating them again!” But the armies of Israel had agreed in advance to run away so that the army of Benjamin would chase them and be drawn away from the town. 33 But when the main army of Israel reached Baal-tamar, it turned and attacked, and the 10,000 men in ambush west of Geba jumped up from where they were 34 and advanced against the rear of the army of Benjamin, who still didn’t realize the impending disaster. 35-39 So the Lord helped Israel defeat Benjamin, and the Israeli army killed 25,100 men of Benjamin that day, leaving but a tiny remnant of their forces.
Obedience Does Not Guarantee Victory
As the Israelites discovered through this battle, obedience does not guarantee victory. Nor does it guarantee our desired outcome. Sometimes the purpose of obedience is to teach us faithfulness to God’s directions.
Often, our default is to expect our desired outcome because we are obedient. Have you ever felt that way?
As we see with the Israelites, although they prayed for direction and did what God said, victory was not granted until the third time they went to battle.
While writing this post, I thought of Elisabeth and Jim Elliot, missionaries in the jungles of Ecuador. Elisabeth spent nine months developing a written language for the Ecuadorans in the jungle. However, when she prepared to leave the jungle, her suitcase full of these handwritten materials was stolen.
Everything she worked tirelessly on so the people living in the remote jungle could have the Gospel in their own language was gone. Elisabeth’s obedience did not guarantee victory.
Then there is her husband Jim.
For nine months he repaired three dilapidated buildings, and constructed two new ones at the Shandia mission station in the eastern jungle of Ecuador.
In addition to all that, he hand-planed five hundred additional boards to have on hand for future buildings. Those boards represented five hundred days of work.
Regardless of his obedience to spread the Gospel to the people of Ecuador, the entire station of Shandia was demolished in a flood. It literally washed away.
Not long after, Jim died at the hands of the Auca Indians at the age of 29. Jim’s obedience to love and minister to The Auca Indians did not guarantee victory.
Your Turn
There are many more stories where the obedience of God’s people did not guarantee victory. We find them in Scripture and we see this in the lives of those around us. The important, although sometimes difficult, thing is to remain obedient. In that obedience, victory may not look as we imagined, but God will bring victory in his way, and in his timing.
It happened this way for the Israelite army. God gave them the victory when he was ready.
Who knows? Victory may not come until we hear Christ say, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”
How do you handle times when your obedience does not bring the victory you expected?
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I wish you well.
Sandy
You can read more about Jim and Elisabeth Elliott in Elisabeth’s book, Made for the Journey.
If you missed my January post, you can find it here.
The story of the Elliotts is both tragic and glorious in how God used the death of Jim and the other men, and the persistence of his wife Elizabeth to bring the Auca tribe to faith in Jesus. We may look at the short-term results, while God takes the long view for our good and His glory.
Absolutely, Steve.