As Christians, we must never forget that God and evil cannot co-exist. Because of the Lord Jesus, we know that God's anger blazed out at Calvary, and we believers are spared from His wrath. But it is impossible for us to live in sin and have fellowship with God. The disciplining hand of God will work in our lives if we choose sin in deliberate disobedience to Him. Sin that is not confessed to the Lord brings servitude and bondage.

God had promised victory to Israel if she trusted in Him. But when she turned away from God, she inevitably condemned herself to defeat and bondage. Over 300 years, she was repeatedly plundered, and her people enslaved and oppressed (Judges 2:14). In addition to external oppression, they were afflicted with inner decay. Sin produces servitude.

But God's grace is triumphant over people's sin. Although He allows His people to experience servitude, He does not abandon them to it. Following sin and servitude, comes supplication. Chapter 2 has no direct reference to Israel calling out to God; verse 18 only tells us that ″the LORD had compassion on them as they groaned under those who oppressed and afflicted them″. However, five times within Judges (3:9; 3:15; 4:3; 6:6; 10:10) the people cry out to the Lord in their servitude, and each time that supplication marks the beginning of their deliverance.

We often live in our weakness, ignoring God's presence until all the threads begin to unravel. Then, in our desperation, we call out, praying and begging for Him to intervene and put the pieces back together again. This kind of prayer can be a life-changing experience that turns everything around. Or it can be a shallow, superficial call for help, forgotten as soon as things improve.

In fact, the latter is what we see consistently throughout Judges. Not once is the people's prayer one of genuine repentance. They groan over the consequences of their sin, but not over the fact of their sin. They regret the consequences, but do not repent of the cause.

The amazing fact is that, no matter how deep our sin or how shallow our prayer, God hears us. Each time His people call, God hears and intervenes. Not once does He refuse or turn His back. He does not condition His help on their improvement or on their past record, but on their need. The throne we approach in prayer is a throne of grace, where we receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:16).