Lessons from Judges

Lessons from Judges (Robert Andrew Faussett, p.35):

"Manasseh, pusillanimously and without a struggle, acquiesced in the occupation of many leading cities and their dependencies by their original inhabitants, in the plain of Jezreel. The resolute determination of the Canaanites was more than a match for the languid will of Manasseh. So it will ever be, when professing believers shrink from the good fight of faith, and will not endure hardship, as good soldiers of Christ (2 Tim. ii . 2, 13; 1 Tim. vi . 12). The world will not yield an inch to the man who is not resolute and courageous for God : nay, it will push him back, step by step, from the ground which he had gained: for one compromise entails a second, and that a third, and so on, as Manasseh lost town after town. Attempt in faith great things for God, and then you may confidently expect great things from God. But if, forgetful of the honour of God whom you represent, you compromise religious principle, condoning the world's enmity to God in consideration of the earthly gain to the church, wherewith the world compounds for obedience, as the house of Joseph and Zebulun and Naphtali, when Israel became strong, contented themselves with levying tribute from the Canaanites, your graces will languish, your lusts will revive, and the prince of this world will regain his hold. The only safe principle for the believer is that laid down in Holy "Writ (2 Cor. vi . 14—18), " Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness, and what communion hath light with darkness ?—And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols ? for ye are the temple of the living God—Wherefore come out from among them, and he ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord God Almighty."