...the end of book seven.

Judges was a sobering reminder of how easily God can be taken for granted. 

Although I found myself wondering how in the world God's children kept falling back into rebellion over and over again after deliverance from God, I had to remember that each generation had to learn their own lesson. 

It's easy to fall into the trap of, "God will forgive me", and it's true.  God WILL forgive me, if my heart is truly repentant.  However, it's not about that.  It's not about me, its about responding to a love that I will never come close to understanding this side of heaven. 

It's about surrendering to the One who loves me so much that He allows Himself to be taken for granted over and over again. 

It's about learning to love others with the same loyal, faithful and unfailing love that I have been shown. 

"God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us."  (Romans 5:5)



Oh, I just love that verse.  Every time I read it I imagine God physically (and tenderly) sprinkling His love into my heart. 

Pour it to the rim please!  In fact...I think I'll have seconds! 

Please! Just one more chance...

Judges 10 - 21

This book is like a merry go round!  Same journey every time, different horse (translation: judge).  It goes like this:

Israel does evil in the sight of the Lord.  They are overcome by their enemies, God rescues them by raising up a judge.  They live in peace until that judge dies.

But eventually, God reaches the end of His mighty rope.  He's done.  He tells them, "you've abandoned Me, serving other gods."  (10:13) and announces that He's never going to rescue them again.  He told them to cry out to their "gods" to rescue the, next time, in their hour of distress!  

As a parent of a teenager, I can relate.  "That's right, God!  You tell 'em!  They've turned their back on you one too many times!  It's time to show them who's boss!"  

But the Israelites pleaded.

"....and God was grieved by their misery." (10:16)

Again,  I can relate.

The love of a parent is like no other.  It doesn't matter how many times our children mess up.  We always want to give them another chance.  Another opportunity to change.  

To obey.

To love.

So, God sends more judges and one of them is Samson.  

"Hey, I know the story of Samson!  Or at least a little something about him.  He's the guy that grows his hair really long and gets his power from it, right?"

Kind of.

The "daily walk" bible describes his life "a study of unfulfilled potential."

How sad.  God blesses Samson with superhuman strength and commissions him to rescue Israel from the Philistines, but Samson spends most of his life chasing his own passions - mostly women. 

He ultimately ends up blind and in bondage.  The bible says, "the Lord, had left him." (16:20) 

Eventually, he comes to the place where he places full surrender of his life to God.

He prays, "Sovereign Lord, remember me again!" (16:28) 

God, gives him one last portion of power and in his death Samson destroys more Philistines than during his entire life of compromise. 

In the end, Samson embraced the power of love and rejected the love of power.

And once again, God proved to be faithful. 

Mighty hero? Me?

Judges 6 - 13

True to it's name, I encountered many deliverers in this book.  Deliverers that God called, "judges".  I won't write about all of them but there were a few that stood out, mostly because their stories were fun to read!

Ehud - This guy was left handed, like me!  He delivered tax money to King Eglon and one day he  brought the king a secret message - a dagger to the belly!  I especially found it amusing that God felt the need to mention that the king was so fat that Ehus lost his dagger! 

Deborah - a great story!  She believed God, NEVER doubting.  She brought Israel to victory over Sisra, who had 900 chariots!  Deborah, like Moses wrote a song for the Israelites so they would never forget all that God has done for them. 

Those are just a two of the many judges that God used, but there is another man, one whose story reminds me that God always sees what we can become, not what we really are.

Gideon.

The angel refers to him as, "Mighty hero", when he first calls on him.  He sure didn't think of himself that way.  In fact, I think the last thing Gideon felt like was a mighty hero!

He reminded the Lord "my clan is the weakest in the whole tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least in my entire family!" (6:15)

Now, I don't don't know if "least" means youngest, or smallest or even weakest but one thing is for sure...Gideon did not have the confidence to be "a mighty hero."

And isn't it just like God to use him anyway?

God's response to him was, "I will be with you."  (vs 16)

The treasure I loved in this story was -- Gideon was not the obvious choice. 

He was cynical

...or sincere if you will.  Raw.  Sometimes we need to tell God exactly how we feel.  I think God appreciates that.  I believe it brings us to a deeper level with Him.  Gideon had NO problem doing that, "if God's with us, why has all this happened to us?  Where are all the miracles our ancestors told us about?  The Lord has abandoned us." (6:13) Sarcasm much?

He was skeptic

He needed a sign from God - not just once - but three times! He asked God, "please don't be angry with me but if you are truly going to use me...I need proof". (6:39) Fighting against the Midians could possibly mean life or death!  He wanted to be absolutely sure that THIS WAS GOD! 

He was scared

God asked him to tear down his father's alter that he had build for Baal, an idol.  Although Gideon obeyed....he did it at night because "he was afraid of the other members of his father's household and the people of the town." (6:27) 

Finally believing that God is behind him, Gideon watches as God removes all of the props in which he might have trusted.  His army was reduced from 32,000 to 300!  His weapons were reduced to pitches, torches and trumpets and his strategy was but a single command, "Stand still!" 

God's a pretty awesome multi-tasker. He was increasing Gideon's faith but at the same time, He also wanted to be sure that the Israelites couldn't boast, saying they saved themselves, by their own strength. 

God saw the ending.  He knew that Gideon would be a mighty hero.  He also knew that Gideon would give all the glory to God. 

Israel asked him to be their ruler.  His response? 

"The Lord will rule over you!" (8:23)

There was peace for 40 years - during the rest of Gideon's life.

I'm so glad that God loves us for who we are...but sees us for what we can be! 

How's THAT workin' for ya?

Judges 1-5

"How quickly they turned away from the path of their ancestors, who had walked in obedience to the Lord's commands."
(2:17)

Disappointed, but not surprised.  It was foretold, after all.

After Joshua died and another generation rose up, they began to forget what God had done for them.  They chased other gods and abandoned their Lord.

Now, a lot of their problem goes way back to when God told their ancestors to drive everyone out of the land when they moved in and took over. 

But they didn't.

They forced some of the Canaanites to work as slaves for them.  Hmmm - pride, greed, power - I wonder...what was their driving force?  All of the above, perhaps?

But THAT was the old generation.  Now, the new generation has the Canaanites living in their land, among them.  Their gods a constant temptation.

So, God began to do exactly as He promised.  When they went into battle - He fought against them.

But even then, God was faithful - even when His people were not.  He took pity on them.  He began to rise up men and women to rescue them.  Judges, to deliver them.

And so a cycle begins:

• The Israelites fall into sin, and usually begin worshipping other gods.
• God gets mad and hands them over to kings.  They stay under that king's rule for years.
• Israel cries out to God after years of oppression.
• God sees their renewed commitment and rises up judges - someone to rescue them.
• There is peace.  Sweet salvation.

 This is repeated SEVEN times throughout the book of Judges - about 350 years.  Boy, God IS patient!  I suppose 350 years for Him is like a breath.   

But, you'd think they would have noticed a pattern after about, oh say, a couple of hundred years...wouldn't ya?

It's too bad Dr. Phil wasn't around back then.  I'm sure he would have asked them - "How's that workin' for ya?"