Now, they couldn’t say they hadn’t been warned. Joshua had told the people of God to drive out the unbelievers from their territory. Joshua had told them not to marry those who didn’t share their faith. Joshua had told them that getting close to people who worshipped the things of this world would eventually become a snare and a trap to them (Joshua 23:12-13).

But after Joshua died, that’s exactly what the people ended up doing. Little by little, they transferred their affections to the false gods that promised them pleasure and prosperity. Little by little, they forgot the One True God who had given them everything they had.

And how many of us have followed their example? Maybe you know someone who grew up in a Christian home but ended up turning away from God. Maybe he went off to college and some professors convinced him that the Bible is just a myth. Maybe friends who were living in ungodly ways convinced her that it’s okay to reject God’s ideas about marriage and family structure. Maybe an initial fling with sex or booze or drugs was fun.

But then the habits turn out to be hard to break. And the ungodly friends turn out to be unreliable. And the professors’ ideas turn out to be nothing more than educated guesses. And those who have abandoned their faith in God end up with nothing, nothing they can depend on.

But there’s good news in this passage as well. For verse 9 tells us that when the sons of Israel cried out to the Lord, God raised up a deliverer for them. And the same thing is true for all of us today. It doesn’t matter what we’ve done, or how far astray any of us have gone. In Jesus Christ, God has already provided a deliverer for us. Christ has paid the penalty for all our sins, and opened a way for all who trust in Him to be restored to a right relationship with God.

So, instead of trusting in what we can see and hear and understand, instead of trusting the opinions of the people around us, let’s turn our eyes upon Jesus. Surely Someone Who died for us is Someone we can rely on.

Judges 3:5-11 (NASB)

5 And the sons of Israel lived among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites;
6 and they took their daughters for themselves as wives, and gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods.
7 And the sons of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and forgot the LORD their God, and served the Baals and the Asheroth.
8 Then the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, so that He sold them into the hands of Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia; and the sons of Israel served Cushan-rishathaim eight years.
9 And when the sons of Israel cried to the LORD, the LORD raised up a deliverer for the sons of Israel to deliver them, Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother.
10 And the Spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he judged Israel. When he went out to war, the LORD gave Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand, so that he prevailed over Cushan-rishathaim.
11 Then the land had rest forty years. And Othniel the son of Kenaz died.