Day #58
Scripture Reading: Judges 1 - 6 ...
The fact that there is only one true God used to be
accepted as truth by the majority of those in our nation. Religious “diversity”
has perhaps been commonplace in other nations of the world, and to some extent
in our own, yet something "new" has occurred in the past few decades:
a turning away from the one true God, our Creator, who has revealed Himself in
His creation, in His Word and in His Son, Jesus Christ. More and more and more
people believe that it doesn't matter what you believe ... or IF you believe.
All of this points to one of two things: judgment from God ... and/or
the soon return of Jesus and God’s final judgment on the world. While that
doesn't sound like much of an option, it is the reality of God's dealing with
those who turn away from Him.
The first few chapters of the book of Judges
explain this disastrous shift in Israel, the nation that had been chosen by God
to display His wisdom, holiness, power, justice, truth and faithfulness. Chapter one records that when the tribes of
Israel first entered the land God had promised to them, "the LORD was
with them" (1:19,22). But then the Israelites disobeyed God by
failing to drive the people who lived in Canaan out of the land, as God had
told them to do. God told them, "They will be thorns in your
sides and their gods will be a snare to you" (2:3). This may be
hard for some people to accept. What right did the Israelites have to
this land in the first place? That question continues to be asked today!
The answer is in Genesis 12-17: God had promised the land to
Abraham and his descendants. How could God do this? Questions such
as these often arise because people have not read the Bible and do not know the
God who is holy and just, and who carries out judgment on those who do not
worship Him.
The simple reality facing our world today is that
the majority of people in every nation, including our own, do not know
God! It is impossible to understand
God's judgment unless you believe He is worthy of worship and perfect
obedience, and that those who worship other gods bring His just judgment upon
them. When you understand that, you quickly realize the implications of
Judges 2:10: "After that whole generation had been gathered to
their fathers, another generation grew up, who knew neither the LORD nor what
He had done for Israel." This was a people who had received
every possible blessing from the LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and
had then disobeyed His Word and turned and worshiped idols, the gods of the
nations around them.
God brought judgment on Israel ... but He did not
abandon them. Now we read, "Whenever Israel went out to fight,
the hand of the LORD was against them to defeat them" (2:15).
Having the one true God fighting against you is a scary proposition.
Still God showed His mercy and grace. Chapter 2 reveals a cycle
that continued for some three hundred years.
As the people of Israel turned away from God, He sent enemies against
them. Then they were oppressed by their
enemies and cried out to the LORD, and He heard them and sent
"Judges" to deliver them. But as soon as God saved them from
their enemies, they settled into their everyday lives again, forgot about the
LORD, their God, and turned once again to idols.
The “judges” themselves were sinful people who
sometimes obeyed God and sometimes went their own way. God used them to deliver His people, but when
the judge died the people once again “did
evil in the eyes of the LORD.” God
sees the way people live. He sees your
sins and He sees mine. And sin deserves
God’s judgment. From time to time God
would give them a period of peace, yet they would inevitably return to their
evil ways. We’ll talk more about Gideon
tomorrow, but the clear pattern of Israel and their leaders was one of sin,
judgment, crying out to the Lord for help, God’s deliverance, peace ... and
then the cycle would start all over again.
How much like them are people today? So many
claim to believe in God, to know God, even to worship God, yet they live on
this merry-go-round of spiritual death where God is treated like a lucky
rabbit’s foot when troubles come, but otherwise ignored and put in the drawer
for safe keeping until the next crisis occurs.
How foolish to worship the idols of the world around us, to give in to
the temptations of the flesh and the world.
John writes in I John 2:15-17: “Do not love the world or anything in the
world. If anyone loves the world, the
love of the Father is not in him. For
everything in the world – the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and
the boasting of what he has and does – comes not from the Father but from the
world. The world and its desires pass
away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.”
Since the death, resurrection and ascension of
Jesus, God has sent the message of salvation throughout the world, beginning in
Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and extending throughout the nations. Is there
a nation today where the Gospel has not been proclaimed? There is one
true God, one Savior, and one way to come to God - through faith in Jesus
Christ. Those who believe are saved, no matter what nation they live in
or what language they speak, or what race they may be. But those who do
not believe will face God's judgment.
God could not and did not ignore the sins of Israel, and He cannot and
will not ignore the sins of the people of the nations in our world today.
God's wrath and judgment are already being seen in
many ways in our nation and the nations of the world. Only repentance,
confessing our sin and turning from it, placing our faith in Jesus Christ, can
bring God's forgiveness and even deliver a nation from His judgment. The
same is true for you! God knows those
who are His and calls us to come to Him, to worship Him, to serve Him, to
proclaim His name and to trust Him ... as we wait and watch for His judgment to
come.
Find your hope in the LORD, the God of Israel, the
God of all who believe in His Son Jesus Christ, the only true God. He is
worthy of your praise, your worship and your love!
"Father, help us to teach our children to know
You, to love You and to serve You! Pour out Your Spirit upon those who
are truly Your people today, that we may be faithful to You, our God.
Forgive us our sins and renew our strength to serve You and to proclaim
Your name to the nations. In Jesus' name, Amen"
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