If Not Now, You May Never…

Judges 1:21
The Benjamites, however, did not drive out the Jebusites, who were living in Jerusalem; to this day the Jebusites live there with the Benjamites.

In the book of Judges, the story of Israelites conquering Canaan continues from the book of Joshua. Each of the twelve tribes of Israel except Levites was allocated land that they should fight to push out inhabitants, then conquer it and settle in. Levites were to serve God and He guaranteed that He will be their inheritance. The book of Judges reports to us how each tribe was going about their assignment. In our text, today is the performance of the tribe of Benjamin.

The tribe of Benjamin shared Jerusalem with the tribe of Judah. Judges 1:8 tells us that Judah fought and chased away the inhabitants of Jerusalem from their side. But our text today tells us that Benjamin did not succeed in driving out Jebusites from their side of Jerusalem. For some strange reason, the people of Benjamin were reluctant to implement God’s instructions. Maybe they postponed the idea. Maybe they took a break to refresh. Maybe they waited to settle down. Whatever reason caused them to disobey God, cost them a lifetime of living with Jebusites.

Benjamites at some point in their struggle decide to give up the fight. Instead of sending away Jebusites they befriended them and settled with them. They must have been reminded by leaders that they should complete the assignment by sending them away but they didn’t and may have kept postponing when to do it. The end result is that Jebusites never ever left Jerusalem. There are things if you can’t do them now, you may never do them!

Important assignments are hard and taxing. Important assignments take a long time to bear fruit. Important assignments do not have instant and immediate gratification. Important assignments are the easiest to abandon because of laziness and poor perception. The tribe of Benjamin left a very important assignment and they never got back to doing it. There are things if you postpone them, you may never do them!

If you postpone preparation for an examination, you may never do it properly and will have to make do with last-minute panicked reading. If you postpone attending the gym or starting healthful living, you may never do it. If you keep pushing the saving plan to your next income, you may never do it. If you keep postponing your decision for baptism or re-baptism or return to church, you may never do it. There are things if you do not do them now, you may never do it!

If you are dating the wrong person and you plan to quit, since obviously, the future won’t be good, if you do not do it today, you may never do it, until it is too late. If you plan to write a book or an article, if you do not do it today, it will be like the many yesterdays, you may never do it. If you are planning to do it perfectly someday, that is the secret of never doing it. If you really want to do it, do it anyway, even with imperfection and errors, do it. If you plan to go for studies but you keep pushing ahead for a time when you will have resources or ample time, you may never study. There are things if you do not do them now as it is even with imperfection, you may never do it!

The secret is to do what you must do. Discipline is pushing yourself to do what is important but you do not feel like doing it. Discipline and focus are doing now, what you have good reasons to do later. We must learn to act now and not later. Do what must be done now. This is because there are things if we do not do them now, we may never do them!

Help us, God, to do today that which we have postponed for a long time. Help us to do it now and not after the break or after this. Remind us to act now. Help us to act now, in Jesus’ name, Amen!

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