Judges 2:1
“I will never break my covenant with you.”
Consider the word “never” and the impact that it can have when it is used. When we are young and dating, we are so quick to tell the person that we think we love that we will “never” love anyone else but them. What we are really saying is “…until someone else better comes along.”
When we use the word “never” it does not carry the same weight or meaning that it has when God uses it. Our “never” is always conditional on our circumstances, our feelings, even the weather.
The difference between our “never” and God’s “never” is that when He proclaims it there are no conditions placed upon it. In Judges 2:1, God sets down the fact that He will “never” break His covenant with the nation Israel. In 2:2, He restates His command not to allow the inhabitants of the land they were receiving to remain among them to influence them. God knew that their presence would draw His people away from Himself to serve and worship false gods.
Then God places the truth directly to them in that they have not obeyed His voice, and have allowed the very thing that He told them not to do.
Judges 2:2
“But ye have not obeyed my voice.”
God is seeking accountability from them for not obeying His command. He wants them to realize that this wasn’t just something that they had an option on, but demanded an answer from them concerning their actions.
Judges 2:2
“Why have ye done this?”
What I want us to notice in these passages the progression of God’s dealings with His people. He doesn’t come to them with the thought of destroying them. He doesn’t come to them with the attitude of disowning or leaving them. First, He states that He will “never” break His covenant with them. Then He addresses the things that are wrong and need changed.
That is exactly the same way God deals with us through Jesus Christ. He first reminds us of the price paid for us through His Son, then in His unconditional love for us, He shows us what needs changed. Don’t be fearful to go to God with the sins we have committed. Regardless of what we have done, He will “never” leave us or forsake us.