Tag: Judges 3

Whose Will Be Done?

This is one of those passage where there is almost an overwhelming number of options for things to talk about. Why does Shemgar only get a single verse? Was he a contemporary with Deborah? A female judge? How does that square with the idea of leadership roles being reserved only for men? Jael broke… ALL the hospitality rules of the Ancient Near East. The angel of the Lord chose the smallest man from the weakest tribe to lead a military campaign? The altar of Ba’al worship was used as kindling for the offering on God’s altar. And the people of Israel were going to KILL Gideon for destroying the altar to the false god Ba’al! And that’s just the SURFACE stuff.

But the thing that struck me during today’s reading was actually this passage:

… Then the land had peace forty years. The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord …

Judges 5:31b-6:1a

What do we not see here, nor anywhere in the transition from Deborah to Gideon? Repentance! Now, I know full well that the traditional interpretation is that the people turned back to the Lord, but I just do not see that in the text. I see regret, a desire for help. They know that the God of Moses delivered them before, and they call out to the one true God to rescue them again. But true repentance eludes them.

However, God knows His plans for Israel. In the same way that he uses flawed men like Noah, Abraham, Samson, and David, he uses the nation of Israel to accomplish His goals. Jesus is coming, but not until the fullness of time. Things needed to happen in world history to facilitate the wildfire-spread of the Gospel before Jesus could come. And in the meantime, God would step in from time to time to save the people from themselves. That’s right. Not their oppressors, but themselves!

God told them how to have peace and prosperity, but they decided to go their own way and now that are forced to deal with the consequences of walking out from under God’s umbrella of protection. But they don’t ever seem to realize that they did this to themselves. Gideon says as much! “If the Lord is with us then why has all this happened to us?”

Are we doing this today? Am I? Are you? Have we put ourselves into an unenviable situation and then asked why GOD abandoned US? If you are having a pity party about your circumstances, maybe it’s time to put on your grown-up pants, humble yourself before the Lord, and ask Him to bring the correction you need into your life.

He loves you and He wants what’s best for you. If you won’t say to Him, “Your will be done”, then He’ll step back and say it to you.

Judges 3:31-6:40 | 091/365

Did God Drag His Feet?

Yes.

Remember when we talked about Joshua saying God had fulfilled His promise, even though the totality of the land was not yet in possession of Israel? It was because God did His part, but the people had to do their part. That is confirmed here in Judges where God outright says as much.

Something is only worth what it costs you. I understand that this isn’t true in every possible circumstance, but the vast majority of time it is. That’s where the phrase ‘easy come, easy go’ comes from. If the totality of the land was given to Israel in one fell swoop they would have no opportunity (or need) to continue in trust of the Lord. Instead He gives some. And He sees how we handle it.

God gives us little bits. And if we do well with the little bits, He will give us medium bits. And If we do well with the medium bits, He will give us large bits. And so on.

However, if — like Israel — we let the little bits go to our head and give us a more inflated sense of ourselves than is justified (really, any inflation is bad) then we should not be surprised that God is going to pull back on the blessings and the trust.

Zechariah 4:10 encourages us to NOT overlook the day of small things. From small things, big things one day come.

Judges 1:1-3:30 | 090/365