Category Archives: Judges

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The Crazy Cycle of Sin

Reflect:
Judges 2:6-23, 3:1-6

“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…They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They provoked the LORD to anger because they forsook him…In his anger against Israel the LORD handed them over to raiders who plundered them…. They were in great distress…Then the LORD raised up judges, who saved them out of the hands of these raiders.” ~Judges 2:10-16

Judges—the seventh book of the Old Testament—stands in stark contrast to the book of Joshua, which tells the story of a courageous leader and a faithful nation conquering their Promised Land through their trust in, dependence on and obedience to God. Sadly, what you see in Judges is what happens when a nation, void of godly leadership, disobeys and strays from the call of God. And it ain’t a pretty picture!

In Judges we find several distinct cycles of sin to salvation and salvation to sin, repeated over and over again from the time of Joshua’s departure to the arrival of the great judge and prophet, Samuel. As you read story after story, you will feel like someone has pushed the repeat button as God’s people keep following this pattern:

Disobedience: Israel wanders from obedience and falls into idolatry, corruption and other patterns of waywardness.

Discipline: After a period of time where God gives Israel a long leash, he begins to discipline them through the cruel domination and subjugation of other nations. Under the yoke of oppression, Israel finally begins to cry out to God in repentance.

Deliverance: God raises up military champions who lead Isael to victory over their enemies. These military leaders then rule or judge Israel during their lifetimes, restoring the nation to pure worship and obedience to God.

Unfortunately, the people of God are slow learners, continually trading in obedience to God and the freedom and prosperity it brings for “that which is right in their own eyes.” (Judges 21:25) So God punishes his people by letting them fall again into the hands of oppressing nations. And once again, Israel cries out to God in repentance, so he raises up a military champion to deliver them. Yet they fall into sin again, and so on the sad cycle repeats itself. As you read Judges, you get this same song, second verse deal happening all the way through the book.

Theologically, however, this otherwise depressing account show a couple of very important truths:

One, sin always leads to suffering. That message was seen before Judges, and you will run into it again all the way forward to Revelation. We need to remember that sin always has devastating consequences. But on the other hand…

Two, repentance always leads to restoration. Even though we might be faithless and disobedient, God is covenantly faithful—always—lovingly and longingly ready to restore the truly repentant. Every time Israel humbly and authentically repents, God patiently forgives and graciously restores.

I suppose the story of Judges is really the story of your life—and mine. Don’t we, too, fall into that same cycle of disobedience, discipline and deliverance? Haven’t you found, like Israel, that sin always leads to suffering, but in repentance, you always meet a restoring God? And wouldn’t it be so much easier to learn from Israel’s story and break that crazy cycle by wisely skipping the sin and suffering part and simply living in the restoration of a repentant lifestyle?

I think that’s why we have Judges. That’s what God wants us to know.

“No price is too high to have a free conscience before God.” ~Francis Schaeffer

Reflect and Apply: Take an honest look at your life: Are you in the crazy sin-cycle of disobedience-discipline-deliverance? Wouldn’t it be so much easier, and wiser, to simply life in the restoration of a repentant lifestyle?

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No Controlling Moral Authority

Judges 17:1-21:25

No Controlling Moral Authority
Judges 21:25

Go Deep: That line pretty well sums up the sad story of the book of Judges.  Several times in the last few chapters the author gives us several variations of this statement: “In those days, Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes.” (Judges 17:6, 18:1, 19:21 and 21:25)  Even though the Lord raised up godly judges during this period to rescue Israel, overall, there was no controlling moral authority in the land.  The result: personal piety tanked and social chaos became the status quo.

“Everybody did what was right in their own eyes.”  Sound familiar?  That’s one of the popular mantras in our culture right now, albeit in a variety of different expressions: “If it doesn’t hurt anyone, then what’s to stop you?”  “That may be true for you, but not for me.”  “Keep your laws off my body!”  But these types of “enlightened” cultural declarations have led to the legalization of abortion, marijuana, and pornography, the normalization of homosexuality, increased sexual promiscuity and marital unfaithfulness, the widespread acceptance of divorce, the tolerance of filth over the airwaves, and a whole host of other “rights” that are rotting the moral foundation of our society.

“All the people did whatever seemed right in their own.” The problem with that kind of personal and societal philosophy is that it never results in a good outcome.  It might sound like it’s a fair and enlightened way to do life—as long as it doesn’t hurt anybody else—but it always hurts somebody else.  Whenever there is no “king in Israel”—no controlling moral authority—personal piety will decline and social chaos will rise, which is exactly what we’re witnessing in our society today.

It would be easy for me at this point to rant and rave against any number of cultural forces that are presently at work in America, and insist that we get back to the Bible as the standard by which our society must be governed.  And of course, I would be right…and you would agree.   But perhaps the best cure for the social chaos and loss of piety in America would be for you and me to make sure that God’s Word is king in our lives on a personal basis.

What if Christian by Christian we truly made the Scriptures our controlling moral authority?  I am not talking about just giving lip service to the authority of Scripture; I’m talking about it being what we mediate on day and night (Psalm 1:2), what we are careful to obey in exacting detail (Joshua 1:8), and teach and model to our children and our children’s children (Deuteronomy 4:9).

Can you imagine what would happen in America if everyone who called themselves a believer would live under the authority of the King’s Word?  I think the supply line for most of the impiety and chaos in our culture would get choked off, and America would become a Christian nation once again.

Have you read, absorbed and determined to obey God’s Word yet this today? What are you waiting for, brother?  Crack open that Bible and get after it!

Just Saying… A.W. Tozer offers these challenging words to us, “The Word of God well understood and religiously obeyed is the shortest route to spiritual perfection. And we must not select a few favorite passages to the exclusion of others. Nothing less than a whole Bible can make a whole Christian.”  And nothing less than a wholehearted commitment to the whole Bible can make a Christian nation wholly Christian again!

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Flawed Leaders

Judges 12:1-16:31

Flawed Leaders

When her son was born, she named him Samson. And the Lord blessed him
as he grew up. And the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him.
Judges 13:24-25 (NLT)

Go Deep: Samson’s story in Judges 13-16 is a real head-scratcher. Obviously he was an amazingly talented but incredibly flawed leader.  He was as strong as an ox but highly impulsive. He had been set apart for God’s purpose yet throughout his life continued to be firmly attached to fleshly desires. And most obvious of all, Samson had a weakness for women—not the first (or last, unfortunately) spiritual leader to have that particular weakness. Definitely this leader had feet of clay.

How can God choose to use such flawed leaders?  Why does God seem to bless men and women who are not only not perfect, they are glaringly weak?  Doesn’t he realize that when he promotes people to such visible positions of influence who are bound to fail, they give the rest of us, and our cause, a bad name before a watching world when they fall?

Well I hate to disappoint you here, but I can’t really answer those questions.  God has his reasons, and sometimes he doesn’t share his insights with us.  I do know this: If God chose only perfect people for leadership positions, we’d have no leaders.  All leaders are flawed to some degree.

Now don’t get me wrong, I am not excusing weaknesses, only explaining them. I get frustrated by flawed leaders who have failed , too, but what I have learned over the years by watching many great but flawed leaders is simply this: I must not confuse the gift with the package.

God places his incredible gifts within deeply flawed packages—that has always been and always will be. And in regard to your spiritual leader, it is likely that they are an extremely talented and charismatic person who has the call of God on their life.  But don’t forget, like you, they are flawed.

So celebrate the gift, but don’t worship the package.  Pray for them, build accountability systems around them, do what you can to help them to stay dedicated to God’s purpose for their life and leadership role, and pray for them.

Did I mention pray for them?

Just Saying… John Stott wrote, “The authority by which the Christian leader leads is not power but love, not force but example, not coercion but reasoned persuasion. Leaders have power, but power is safe only in the hands of those who humble themselves to serve.”  So true!

 

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Love That Outweighs Wrath

Judges 7:1-11:40

Love That Outweighs Wrath

Then the Israelites put aside their foreign gods and served the Lord.
And he was grieved by their misery.
Judges 10:16 (NLT)

Go Deep: When you read the book of Judges, you quickly discover a pattern—a sad one.  It’s not limited to Judges—it’s the same cycle in the history of God’s people from creation to the present day.  In a nutshell, it is concisely illustrated in Judges 6:6-10, and it goes something like this:

God calls a people unto himself and blesses their obedience to his ways; God’s people wander from their calling and pursue gratification outside of God’s law; God sends warning after warning of the disastrous consequences of disobedience; God’s people continue in their rebellion; disaster strikes; the people repent; God relents and restores.

It would be so much easier if we would just stay under the umbrella of God’s blessing through our loving obedience, wouldn’t it?  And yet we don’t.  As the old hymn points out, we’re “prone to wander from the God we love”.  And how it grieves his heart when we do.  It grieves him that we would spurn his love—and the blessings that flow to us for our loving obedience—to swallow the sweet poison of the world’s enticements.  It grieves him that we would ignore the plentiful warnings, both throughout Scripture as well as through the convicting voice of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, to plunge knowingly into that which invites Divine judgment—the direct judgment of his punitive anger and the more familiar judgment of the consequences of going our own way.

God is a just God, and sin brings his justice.  But God’s redemptive love is more powerful than his righteous wrath!  That is not to lessen or negate the consequences of sin—the law of sowing and reaping is a universal law—but what we observe in the history of God’s dealing with his people is that his compassion outweighs his indignation…when there is repentance. Notice the interaction between God and his people in this section of Judges 10:

God:  “You have forsaken me and served other gods, so I will no longer save you. Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen. Let them save you when you are in trouble!” (Judges 10:13-14)

Israel:  “We have sinned. Do with us whatever you think best, but please rescue us now.” Then they got rid of the foreign gods among them and served the LORD. (Judges 10:15-16a)

God: And the Lord could bear Israel’s misery no longer. (Judges 10:16b)

Again I say, how about we skip the rebellion and it’s consequences by staying under the umbrella of blessing by loving and obeying the God who loves us.

Just Saying… Dutch Anabaptist reformer Menno Simons wrote in a letter, “Wherever there is a pulverized and penitent heart, there grace also is, and wherever there is a voluntary confession not gained by pressure, there love covereth a multitude of sins.”

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The Power of a Proper Baton Pass

Judges 1:1-6:40

The Power of a Proper Baton Pass

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.
Judges 2:10

Go Deep: Is there anything sadder, or scarier, than the failure of a parent or a pastor or a leader to properly pass the baton of vision, purpose and calling to the next generation.  The book of Judges is the classic case study of how a once great and godly nation quickly lost its way after the death of Joshua, and never really found it, not consistently at least, for the 400 years between the departure of Joshua and the arrival of Israel’s greatest prophet, Samuel.

Who was to blame for Israel’s demise?  Judges doesn’t really assign blame to any particular person.  And to be certain, each generation has to make its own decision to wholeheartedly follow the Lord.   Scripture makes this abundantly clear in Joshua 24:15 (NLT),

“But if you refuse to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve. Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates? Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live? But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.”

“But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord!”  Joshua didn’t have the ultimate power to determine how his descendents would live, but he was going do everything in his power to make sure they had a compelling vision of what God had already planted in their hearts—a lifetime of love for and service to God.

That is job number one for a Christian parent, isn’t it! It is not to ensure their child will have nice things, make all the latest techno-gadgets available to them, get them into all the cool activities available to kids these days, make sure they’re in the best school, buy them a hot little car when they come of age, or even leave them a nice nest egg for an inheritance.  Those are all secondary, at best.  The best gift dad and mom can give their child is an active and intelligent faith in God.  When a generation of parents neglects to pass the baton of faith to their children, you get what happened in Israel.  It’s describe in the very last verse of Judges, which I’ll paraphrase:

“Israel had no moral compass, so everyone did what was right in their own eyes.” (Judges 21:25)

I don’t want that to be true of my family, or my church, or even of my nation.  You don’t either.  So let’s recommit to Joshua’s bold pledge today: “As for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.”  And if nothing else, let’s make sure there is a smooth and solid baton pass of active, intelligent faith to the next generation.

In my case, I’d just as soon skip Judges and pass the baton directly from Joshua to Samuel!

Just Saying… Dr. Larry Crabb writes, “A vision we give to others of who and what they could become has power when it echoes what the spirit has already spoken into their souls.”  Parents, make sure you give your child a compelling vision of what God has already embedded in their DNA!