(Tuesday)
Well, today, we begin another book of the Old Testament. This is Israel’s story of the Judges which span over 325 years. There were twelve in all, men and women. Heroes. Leaders who rescued Israel during hard times. Heroes that were far from perfect. But all of them willing to be used by God. We will read about Othniel the first of the Judges to Deborah and Gideon, Jair and Samson.
These judges were military leaders who also presided over legal issues.
During the time of Joshua, the people did as God commanded, and they remembered God and served Him. By the time of the Judges, Israel had turned against God and “another generation grew up, who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel (2:10).” And guess what, “they did evil in the eyes of the Lord.” And because this angers God (of course it does, since it breaks the covenant agreement), God says he will “no longer drive out before them any of the nations Joshua left when he died (2:20).” And God is going to use these nations to test Israel and see whether they will turn back to Him and follow Him (2:22).
These battle I think mirror our own response to God in many ways. When everything is going well, we start to get lazy and turn away from God by not reading our bibles, or doing devotions. Our prayer life becomes a series of quick little prayers, or maybe even none at all. We turn our attention to the world around us and all of a sudden we know more about the winner of the “Voice” or Taylor Swift’s latest hit. Or who won the Super Bowl or March Madness? Anything that takes the place of Jesus in our life, anything that puts Him at the bottom of our priorities. Or not even on the list at all.
When things are going well in our lives, that is when we need to take special care not to fall away, not to turn our back on God and remember that we would not even be here if not for Him, we would have no hope of an eternal life. Let us remember the great things Jesus has done for us and never forget.
Blessings
Pastor Kathy