In 1608, a man named Thomas Coryate travelled throughout Europe on foot. He walked many miles, carrying a journal along the way. On these travels, he noticed a peculiar habit: the Italians would shield their faces from the sun with a large shade-creating contraption. He would later be credited for naming this the umbrella. The Italians had also developed a small, two-pronged metal tool to help them eat their food without using their fingers. Coryate, on his return to England, enthusiastically wrote about this eating tool, praising its usefulness.
At that point, Englishmen had never seen such a thing, and many considered it completely unnecessary – people even mocked it. But as we know, over time the habit of using a fork has become very trendy. Now in Hong Kong, we may favour chopsticks over the fork, and I have to say, during my time here, I have developed a habit of using chopsticks instead of a fork… well, at least sometimes!
What we repeat, we eventually become accustomed to. One small practice used again and again shapes our behaviour. This behaviour then shapes culture, and this same behaviour can even shape our character. Habits form us quietly and slowly. They can form without us even realising it. No one wakes up one morning possessing an unpracticed habit. Through our daily habits, we can grow towards God or away from him.
Through our daily habits, we can grow towards God
That is the world we enter in the book of Judges. Joshua’s generation had seen God split rivers and shatter walls. It was a generation that had seen God feed his people and overthrow nations. Yet only a short time later, Israel had fallen into forgetfulness. The people did what was right in their own eyes. They drifted from worship to idolatry, and each compromise, however small, became a habit. Judges reads a lot like a cycle: disobedience, distress, deliverance and back again, disobedience, distress, deliverance. An endless cycle of spiritual amnesia. God’s people had forgotten his goodness and failed to implement the habits that keep faith alive.
As this new year approaches, the story in Judges asks us gentle, probing questions. What patterns have shaped you this past year? What quiet practices guide your heart? In every season, God invites his people to form holy habits: to open the Bible daily, to pray honestly, to worship with his gathered people and to remember his grace. Judges warns us of what happens when we drift, but also points us back to God. Reminding us of his faithfulness, his mercy, and his patient invitation for his people to return to him.
As we begin this series and study it over the next few weeks, let’s ask him to shape our habits so that our hearts turn towards him.
