When the initial campaign was over, Joshua kicked the bucket and each tribe went their own way to clean up the remaining riff-raff and purge any enemies still residing in their designated territories. The only problem was, by themselves, they failed. Sure, they took most of the land, but they lost sight of God's instructions, did things their own way, and didn't drive out all of the people. As a result, they weakened themselves, divided the nation, compromised the culture, and pointed fingers at each other. Now, 3,500 years later, they are still trying to figure things out.
"and they took possession of the hill country. but they failed to drive out the people living in the plains, who had iron chariots." Judges 1:19
In the first chapter of Judges, you read example after example of each individual tribe's first solo album flopping. Together they topped the charts, by themselves, one-hit wonders long forgotten. That’s the way it is with teams (and families).
When individuals go their own way out of pride, arrogance, ignorance, selfishness, or even fear, they typically damage both themselves and the team.
I read of a player in the NFL who recently just refused to enter the game when his team needed him. He said he didn't "feel like playing". So dumb. My guess is his locker has been cleaned out by now...or he may be stuffed in it...
When teammates refuse to participate, want to do their own thing, or think they always know better, it leads to division and lackluster results. Sure, we can have differences of opinion on the best that can be done, but once a plan is determined, communicated (critical piece of the puzzle), and agreed upon, it's gotta be team first. Individual agendas impede progress.
There's a reason wildlife travels in herds. The enemy constantly tries to pull you away from the team, and once that happens, you're toast.
