Judges 6b - Standing for God

Making a stand against sin and for God has never been easy. The world's opposition is strong and the consequences can be severe. Recently in the news, a clerk went to jail because of her refusal to issue same sex marriage licenses. Taking such a Biblical view is often mocked in our culture that has largely rejected God's word. Even the Pope who recently visited said he didn't endorse her position but admired her courage to stand by her convictions. He had a chance to stand against sin and he refused it. She however stood against sin and endured the backlash. 

Gideon got a face to face encounter with the Lord who gave him a startling message. Gideon was very fearful of the enemy and now the Lord has told him he will lead Israel into battle against Midian and God will give victory. (Jud 6:16). Gideon asks for a sign that it is God himself issuing the command. So the angel of the Lord consumed his offering when fire flared out of a rock where the offering was laid. Again Gideon is struck with fear this time not because of Midian, but because he has just seen God face to face, but God assures him he will not die from the encounter. (Jud 6:23). 

Now God issues a test to Gideon. Gideon must take a bull from his father's herd and tear down his father's altar to Baal and the Asherah pole beside it. Note:  Sometimes the sin is within our own household making the stand against it much more personal. Gideon still fearful, does the deed in darkness, but was still found out. Gideon's sentence for breaking down the altar: death. Amazingly, though his father had just lost a bull and his altar to Baal, he comes to Gideon's defense and suggests that if Baal is really a god, he can take care of his own punishment. The stand Gideon took risked his life. He had good reason to fear, but God's hand was with him to protect. This was just a test for Gideon to be assured of God's presence. God knew Gideon's fear and showed him that he could take a stand. Now he was almost ready to face the real enemy: Midian. 

When standing against sin, Christians are frequently labeled as ignorant or intolerant. The stand we take could even risk our very lives. The mockers and haters cannot consider that God's thoughts may be higher than their own or that their choices may lead to destruction in this world, the next or both. Sinners cannot see their own son and repent on their own. As long as Christians do not stand against sin and the Holy Spirit does not convict, they remain in their terrible state. 

We are called to live in a world that embraces sin, but to live differently. We are called to give the gospel of peace, but sometimes that means standing against the sin that enslaves the hearer. We can rest assured that if God has called us to this task, He will be with us as we complete the task. 

May God richly bless you as you seek Him and as you serve Him. 

Judges 6a - What is God Doing?

Look around you. Consider the circumstances in which you have been placed. Do you know why God has allowed them to come to pass?  What is He doing in your life?  Is He correcting you and chastening you through some difficult situation?  Or is that situation brought about because He is going to use you as a player in a mighty victory He is about to unfold?  God does not always let us know in advance the reasons for our condition. In this chapter of Judges, we see Gideon struggling with these same issues. 

As a reader of scripture we are often given the benefit of God's purposes and plans and we see people either align themselves or stand against God. In our own life we don't always have a map to interpret our circumstances and at the time, neither did the Israelites unless God spoke directly to them. We have the benefit of the written word in full. They had just the foundations of the law to rely upon. 

After the defeat of Sisera by Deborah  we are told that the Israelites enjoyed peace for 40 years. During that time the Israelites went back to living their own way and sinning against God. As a result God allowed them to have a taste of His hand of protection being removed from them. God allowed Midian to overtake his people and oppress them. [Sidenote: notice that God allowed the nation to have victory. These difficult circumstances were the natural end of their sinful choices, but prior to this point (for 40 years) God protected the people from their enemies.]

The circumstances were so overwhelming that Israelites abandoned ther homes and farms and fled to caves for protection. Their crops were ruined by the enemy. The Midianites even destroyed the livestock. They had become completely impoverished because of them. While they lived in peace they did not cry out to the Lord, but now in their time of trouble they cry out. 

God sent a prophet to remind them of the ways God has intervened for his people in the past and explained that their condition is not because of the Midianites or due to God's failure, but because of the faithlessness of God's people. (Judges 6:10). This must have been a word of hope and conviction all in one. God had not changed, it was the people who had failed God. 

The angel of the Lord (preincarnate Jesus) came to Gideon who was threshing in a wine press to hide the grain from the enemy. He gets a word directly from the lips of God, "the Lord is with you, mighty warrior".   This is odd to Gideon because it doesn't seem like that. he isn't mighty and the Lord doesn't seem to be with anyone right now. 

Gideon asks the age old question that so many have asked. "If God is good and loving and stands with His people, why would He allow these circumstances to befall us?"  (Judges 6:13). He sees that God is Sovereign, but wrongly attributes his condition to God rather than the failure of the people. 

Our view of ourselves is usually higher than God's view. If we truly saw the reality and full measure of our sin, I don't know that we could bear it. God does send his Holy Spirit to convict us of our sin, but I believe the Holy Spirit only gives us a glimpse - we just couldn't handle the full view. In the case of Gideon, He was viewing the circumstances as God acting on the people rather than seeing that the people had brought destruction on themselves. It didn't seem that the Lord was with them; he felt God's blessing had been removed from the people. Sometimes God brings chastisement to us to correct our view of our sin. Sin should never be minimized and God says it deserves death. Thank God that we are seen not for the merit we bring, but we have the grace of God because of the sacrifice of Jesus on our behalf.  We were condemned, but through Jesus finished work we have been redeemed. 

Notice that God never allowed His people to suffer for as long as they had rebelled. In the midst of the suffering, God is gracious. God never allows his people the full measure of their punishment because that would result in eternal separation. God is gracious even in suffering. 

Finally, though Gideon is doubtful, God has come to redeem His people from the enemy and end the oppression of Midian.   They are about to see a mighty victory of God delivered by one of the weakest men in the nation. Even though we may not have wisdom, strength, or leadership skills, in the hands of God, we can be a part of the victory God provides. The question is will we trust and obey. 

This chapter is full of so much rich treasure we need to continue this until next time. 

May God richly bless you as you seek Him and as you serve Him. 

Judges 5 - Giving Recognition

Recognition is a double-edged sword. When we have done rightly and have accomplished something of significance we love to receive recognition from among our friends and colleagues. We thrive when our counterparts see the good we have done. When we have done wrongly however, we hope and pray no one notices. To notice all the wrong we have done would ruin our reputation among our peers. 

This is one of the reasons unbelievers have such a hard time coming to faith. It is when we recognize that we are thoroughly sinful and God has seen it all and has pronounced judgement on that sin that we have to abandon any hope of maintaining our own reputation. Our only hope is based on the reputation of another. There is no room for pride at the foot of the cross. 

Deborah in her song presented in Judges 5 lists the source of her help and calls out those who chose not to stand with the nation in battle. First, she acknowledges that the source of victory is God himself. Verses 1-5 are a praise to God for the way he acted to secure Israel's victory. We should always take time to praise God for his hand in our lives. Not only does He offer salvation, but He is active and at work in the believers life.  It is God who gains the victory for His people. 

Secondly, she gives credit to the tribes who came to help and to all the willing volunteers who offered themselves to stand against the enemy who had treated the people so cruelly. 

She then calls out the tribes that chose not to engage the enemy in verses 15-17, forever having their reputations tarnished among the nation.  Why did they choose to stay home when their brothers were on the battlefield standing against an enemy vastly stronger than themselves? 

The heroine is recognized. Jael was thought to be a friend of Sisera. So many things could have prevented her mission. And the task was so brutal and violent. Not what you would expect from a woman, but in the last few chapters you see the men choosing not to stand up as leaders and leaving the tasks to the women. Not God's chosen plan, but in this case the women are lauded for their bold acts. 

We see in the final section another woman highlighted. Sisera's mother, looking for his return chooses to delude herself into thinking he is only delayed because of the great victory he must have won. The world relies on it own strength and even when it is not trustworthy it looks to delusions to help reinforce its thinking. One day all the delusions will be gone and Jesus will stand before the world in judgement. Ther will be no more opportunities to repent then. Our world view should be grounded in truth and our trust should be in the strength God supplies rather than our own. 

In the end, we can choose the path of Jael, taking on what might be hard and brutal tasks in obedience to the Lord or we can be like Sisera's mother placing all her faith in a man who could not save and deluding herself to assure herself that her faith was not misplaced. You can operate in the Lord's strength and wisdom or your own. 

In the end the nation enjoyed peace for forty years because of God's mighty victory for the people. We can enjoy peace for eternity because of God's victory over death and sin. All we have to do is accept the free offer of salvation. Will we give recognition to the source of our victory?

May God richly bless you as you seek Him  and as you serve Him. 

Judges 4 - Justice

At first blush, this chapter would seem to scream for a commentary on girl power as we see the story of a woman judge and a woman warrior take center stage. There is no doubt that God can do mighty things with a woman when His Spirit is allowed to have control. We should all yield to the Holy Spirit and we would see God active and almighty in the circumstances we face. But that is not the topic of this devotion. 

I was struck by how God uses evil to bring justice while at the same time, overcoming evil. In Judges 4:1 after the death of Judge Ehud, Israelites again doing evil in the eyes of the Lord.  Here are God's selected people turning against God's leadership. They go their own way and once again disregard God. They prese that because they are Hos people that God will bless and bless without holding them accountable for sin. We could discuss some parallels for today among Christians, but there is no time for that. 

Enter the Canaanites. Remember in Chapter 1 how the Israelites did not annihilate the Canaanites, but allowed th to live in the land as well?  Now they have become more bold and have captured Israel. Note however, in Judges 4:2 that it was the Lord who initiated this action. This was not just their inclination or the natural result of their prior choices, but God is actively moving nations against His own people. Sisera, the commander of the armies was merely being used by God to execute justice against His people. God cannot be treated with such casual disregard by His own. He will defend himself and humble His people to bring them back to himself. 

Sisera cruelly oppressed the Israelites for 20 long years. When the Israelites had come to the end of themselves, they cried out to the Lord for help. It makes you wonder why they would wait so long but our sin nature is stubborn and headstrong. We resist yielding to God and resist doing our battle in prayer. We prefer our own efforts and it takes a while for us to realize again our efforts are nothing against the powers of God or the peers of Satan at work. Yet they did cry to God and He answered their prayer. 

Even though Sisera had a huge army and great power to oppress, even he was no match for even the most unlikely warrior, a woman who was aligned with him. God had a plan to defeat Sisera and there was nothing he could do to resist God. The armies of Israel didn't win the victory, but Sisera was taken out without a fight. 

God brought both Justice and victory to Israel all because one person led by the Spirit of God followed His leading. God seemingly allowed the pagan nations to overcome God's people and to reign for a time, but God will not let them escape Hos wrath. For those who do evil, God will not overlook. But for those who will turn to h in prayerful dependence He will offer great power to see victory over the enemy. Will we yield to God's Spirit at work in us?

May God richly bless you as you seek Him and as you serve Him. 

Judges 3 - We Need A Hero

As we look into the conditions of the hearts of men in Judges 3, we see a nation that had turned from God, embraced the worship of worthless idols and had engaged in the ways of the pagans living in the country. I can't help but thinking of the parallels between our own times and theirs. We also live in a culture that chooses doing their own thing without regard for others or God. As in the times of Israel, we also cry, "we need a Hero!"

Most of the nation didn't recognize their need until God allowed these other nations to dominate them and subject them to serving foreign nations. Then they cried out to the Lord. (Judges 3:8-9).  Note: prosperity and times without I strife and conflict often change our perspective and keep us from intense dependence on God. So it was with Israel and in our own time. 

They like us needed a hero to rescue them. They needed someone strong who was not afraid to take on the enemy. They needed someone who could guide the nation back to righteous living and point the way to their Father in Heaven.   As we in the United States are beginning to search for a leader I think how wonderful it would be to have one of the Judges in this chapter. They have earned a place in history because of their faithful service powered by the Holy Spirit. Othniel, Ehud and Shamgar were not afraid to stand up against wicked rulers and leading the people overcame the enemy. Each of them saved Israel. 

Each of these Judges was just a man, but they are a type of Christ. Israel failed to honor God and the result was bondage to nations they thought were their friends. Just as Christ redeemed mankind from the enemy, the judges released their brothers and sisters from the bondage of the enemy nations. Just as Christ asked us to come to Him and embrace right living, the Judges did the same for Israel.  Note that the judges did not do these mighty things in their own power, but they had the Spirit of God upon them to empower them. All of us lining for Christ are weak in our own flesh but with God's Spirit in us, there is nothing that cannot be accomplished. 

We too had once dabbled in sin and found that one day sin was our Master and no longer a playful companion. In our sin, we saw our need for a Savior. If you happen to be reading this and do not have the Spirit of God living within you, you can have this assurance too. Just cry out to God and agree with him about the matter of sin. Confess your sins and ask for Jesus the redeemer to save you and give you peace with God. You can know forgiveness. God in turn will give His Spirit to empower you to turn from sin and to live boldly for Him. 

Our nation surely needs a righteous leader who will look to God for his/her strength. We need a leader who will guide the nation back to God and help them to know that forgiveness is available for those who will agree with God about the sin in our nation and yield to His leadership, abandoning our own way. Only then will we know the victory and the fellowship of God. 

One last challenge for you today. You may never lead a nation, but each of us has an number of people who are influenced by our life. Let's be the one in our area of influence to stand for right and to encourage our friends to do the same. We may not lead a nation, but with the Spirit of God in is there is no telling how we may be used to bring God glory. 

May God richly bless you as you seek Him and as you serve Him. 

Judges 2 - Discarding God

We live in a nation and in a culture that toys with sin on a regular basis. We have even gone so far as to embrace the activities the God has said, "You shall not".  As we look back over our history, it seems each succeeding decade has gone just a bit deeper into the abyss, so that sin is now normalized and those who cling to God's principles are ostracized and maligned. Oh, how far we have come. 

They say that those who don't learn the lessons from history are doomed to repeat them. In Judges chapter 2 we have a very similar scenario played out before us and we see God's response. The nation of Israel followed God's ways when they were under the leadership of Joshua, (though we did see some cracks in the foundation). Once Joshua and the elders who served with him passed on to their reward, the nation began to slide further and further away from God. 

We saw in the last chapter, that many of the tribes of Israel had not taken full control of the land but they cohabitated in it with the Canaanites. They allowed them to continue their idol worship and their perverted ways. Israelite children growing up in that time would see idols as normal and would live side by side with pagans. It is no wonder then that after a generation that they began to practice idolatry with the pagans and saw nothing wrong with it. 

In Judges 2, the Angel of the Lord comes and shares God's heart with the people. he brought them out of Egypt and gave th a place of honor with Him. He made a covenant with them yet Israel violated that covenant. Rather than correcting them and separating the pagans from them as He had in the past, God gives them over to their sin and allows it to grow. Instead He uses these pagans to test the people to see if they will remain loyal to God and follow in His ways or if they will embrace the sinful practices around them. 

God does not abide sin. In Judges 2:20, we see God is angry with the nation. Just because the people didn't see immediate correction from God doesn't mean that  judgement is not being stored up. In fact their fate was all that much worse because God allowed them to deceive themselves that they were in good standing with God though they dabbled in sin. 

It is a warning and a challenge to us now. Will we take a close look at our lives and clearly see where we have allowed sin in and thus deceived ourselves. Will we take the test that God has left before or nation to turn from ungodly idols and activities?  Will we embrace God's ways though they are unpopular and may bring the world's mocking? Will we endure the taunting and ostracism in order to align ourselves with our Lord?  

How much have you been helped by our God?  How much sin has He forgiven?  What sacrifice did He offer to save you from the sin that enslaved you?  Will we not also endure hardship to stay pure and turn from worldly ways?  

Our nation should not be deceived. Just because God has not offered immediate correction does not indicate that He is pleased. We know the Lord's return is sooner today than it was yesterday. He could come at any moment and with Him being judgement for the careless disregard we have shown Him. We should confess our sins and turn from them while there is still time. Our Lord longs for us to seek Him and promises peace, redemption, and eternal rewards for those who will. 

May God richly bless you as you seek Him and as you serve Him. 

Judges 1 - Friends and Enemies

As we open the book of Judges the stage is being set. Joshua has passed and now the nations are left without clear leadership. What will they do?  In verse 1 we are encouraged to learn that the Israelites sought God and received His  council.   But not all tribes of Israel executed that council. 

Friends

Judah receives orders to drive the Canaanites out of the land and occupy it for themselves. They turn to their friends and brother nation Simeon and together the conquer the land. 

Caleb offers his daughter Acsah, to them valiant enough to capture the City of Debir. He later received his daughters request for expanded territory to include springs of water to nourish the land and animals. 

The men of Judah saw great victory operating on Gods commands. Oh that it would be true of us as well. 

Enemies

Midway through this first chapter (Judges 1:22) we learn that the story is not as rosey as we initially thought. There were tribes if Israel that chose not to drive the enemy out of the land and chose to let them remain. As a result they had ongoing conflict with the former peoples. God had clearly instructed the Israelites to completely remove the former inhabitants, but we are about to see that the results of half-hearted obedience.   The enemy continued to live in the land stirring strife and influencing generations away from faithful obedience. 

Application

When I consider my own testimony, I can see that when I seek the Lord and ask for His direction, I have greater victory and ultimately sleep better at night with less conflict. I enjoy the fellowship of fellow Christians who encourage me and pray for me and keep me in the way I have commited to God. 

But when I determine my own boundaries and follow God with less  than my full effort, I find that the easier way I may have chosen is full of strife and conflict. I have unbelievers embedded into life in such a way as to sway me from whole-hearted yielding to the Spirit residing in me. I am tempted to go the way of the world rather than influencing the world for Christ. 

We have these two examples of obedience before us in this chapter. We must choose to serve God fully or go our own way. Each have difficulties and consequences, but only one gives us victory. Which will you choose today?

May God richly bless you as you seek Him and as you serve Him.