“And the Lord was with Judah, and he took possession of the hill country, but he could not drive out the inhabitants of the plain because they had chariots of iron” (Judges 1:19 ESV).
We all want to be faith-filled people, right? We’d love to jump into God’s plan with a resounding “YES!”, fill the air with worship songs and skip along the path He’s laid before us like we’re Dorothy in the land of Oz.
It’s a beautiful desire! And yet, how many times do we make it partway down that yellow brick road, discover a roadblock and suddenly pause, hesitate, and question what God is doing?
Those moments are what I like to call our “Yes . . . BUT . . . ” times in life.
When God called Judah to face the Canaanites in Judges 1, Judah moved forward faithfully and won! Victory after victory, Judah experienced God’s power. One territory after another fell before him.
But then we get to Judges 1:19.
“And the Lord was with Judah, and he took possession of the hill country, but he could not drive out the inhabitants of the plain because they had chariots of iron” (Judges 1:19 ESV).
Read that again: “He could not drive out the inhabitants of the plain because they had chariots of iron.”
Basically, these Canaanites had more sophisticated military hardware, and the Israelites looked at it and said, “Well, now that’s a big problem.”
You almost want to look at them and say, “Excuse me?! What difference do chariots of iron make if the Almighty God is on your side?”
The Almighty had said, “I’ve given you this land.” Israel, in effect, said, “Yes, Lord, we heard you—but have You seen their military equipment?”
We all have our own iron chariots.
Here’s what we have to remember: When we focus on the chariots, we will always lose. We will always turn away. Our hesitation isn’t going to change God’s mind; it’s only going to make our journey that much harder. Judah’s reluctance became the start of a long line of struggle for Israel, and a delay in experiencing the promise God had set before them.
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