Tag: Unfaithfulness

Digging in Deeper: Judges 6:7-10

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“When the people of Israel cried out to the Lord on account of the Midianites, the Lord sent a prophet to the people of Israel.  And he said to them, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I led you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of slavery.  And I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out before you and gave you their land.  And I said to you, “I am the Lord your God; you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.”  But you have not obeyed my voice.'”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

The people of Israel were hurting and broken and desperate. They were starving. The Midianites were taking everything. They were keeping them weak and unable to mount any kind of a meaningful resistance to their reign of terror. The Israelites were but a couple of generations into the land God had provided for them and it looked like he had abandoned them to this enemy for good. Now, the reality was that it had only been like this for a few years, but when you’re trapped in misery, a few years can seem like a lifetime. They did the only thing they could: Scrape together a meager survival and cry out to the Lord. Read the rest…

Morning Musings: Judges 17:6

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“In those days there was no king in Israel.  Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

This, at last, is the theme of the book and its final assessment.  The people of Israel had fallen to a place where everyone was doing what was right in their own eyes.  When a culture reaches this point, anything goes and most of it isn’t good.  We each became gods unto ourselves and everything becomes a holy crusade as we try to establish our divine fiefdoms at the expense of those around us.  In the end, no one wins. Read the rest…

Morning Musings: Judges 14:4

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“His father and mother did not know that it was from the Lord, for he was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines.  At that time the Philistines ruled over Israel.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

Certainly God can help us by working with or even through us.  But did you know that He can help us and the people around us by working in spite of us?  He can use our character flaws and failings to His glory. Read the rest…

Digging in Deeper: Psalm 106:16-17

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“When men in the camp were jealous of Moses and Aaron, the holy one of the Lord, the earth opened and swallowed up Dathan, and covered the company of Abiram.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

Reading through verses 16-31 here leaves a couple of strong impressions, both of which are important for us today.

The first is that the people of Israel were stupid.  There were times they were misled and times they were weak or short-sighted and even times when they were deceived.  But on many occasions they made the wrong decision in full awareness of the consequences and without any prodding from the enemy.  They were stupid.  They turned away from the Lord constantly.  And they did it in spite of what we can now see as His obvious action in their midst.  They did it in spite of experiencing the consequences of such actions in ways that were both dramatic and, often, immediate.  It’s like they were dead set on going their own way instead of in the direction the Lord was leading them.  They couldn’t even receive the good things He wanted to give them.  Again, they were stupid. Read the rest…