When We Keep Seeking God

A man was traveling with his concubine and his servant from Bethlehem to his home in the mountains of Ephraim. Seeing that it was late, he decided that they would lodge in Gibeah, which belongs to one of the twelve tribes of Israel, Benjamin. An old man, who was also from Ephraim took them into his home in Gibeah. In the same night, some men from that city surrounded the old man's house. They demanded that he should give them the man, the visitor, so they could "know him carnally" Judges 19:22. (you think today things are bad..) So the old man offered his virgin daughter and the man's concubine, so they would leave his visitor alone. Seeing that the men did not give in, the visitor took his concubine to them. The men abused her all night. Judges 19

In the morning, when the man found the concubine dead, he took her to his place and divided her body into twelve pieces, sending them throughout Israel. The children of Israel were bewildered and gathered before the Lord. After listening to the man's story, the people decided that they would go against Benjamin to repay the act. They demanded that the men who had committed the act should be handed in so that they may be killed. Contrary, the people of Benjamin refused and gathered together to fight against the rest of Israel. The children of Israel went before God and inquired from Him about the tribe that should be the first to fight against Benjamin. The Lord told them Judah. However, the children of Israel did not win and lost twenty two thousand men in the first battle against Benjamin. Scripture says that despite this, the men encouraged themselves and maintained their battle line Judges 20.

Again the children of Israel went before the Lord and wept until evening. They inquired of the Lord, if they should go against Benjamin again and the Lord said yes. They lost again and this time eighteen thousand men fell. Following the incident, all the children of Israel gathered together at the house of the Lord, wept and fasted until evening. After offering to the Lord, they inquired from the Lord for the third time; "Shall I yet again go out to battle against the children of my brother Benjamin or shall I cease?' And the Lord said, 'Go up, for tomorrow I will deliver them into your hand" Judges 20:28 That day, the men who were gathered against Benjamin won, so that they destroyed the cities, killed most people in the cities and the few men of Benjamin who survived, fled to the wilderness.

Will we still seek the Lord even when things seem to be getting worse? One thing that stood out to me in this event, is that the Israelites did not stop seeking the counsel of God. They sought God the first time, obeyed and lost the first battle. Then they sought His advice again and lost again, but they still went back and fought again. They had complete trust in Lord. Will we still be able to trust the Lord, even when the first and second time we went after Him, things did not work out exactly the way we wanted or hoped. 

The Israelites did not even question the Lord when they failed and He asked them to go out again. Sometimes, when such things happen we question if we can still trust God, if we can still rely on Him? At other times we may even question His authority or might...What He requires of us however is more trust and obedience, in every situation; seek Him and trust Him, seek Him again and keep trusting, today, tomorrow, always. We should at all times seek His counsel and He, God, will give us victory. Be encouraged.