Over and over again the Israelites did things their own way. They committed to following in their fathers footsteps, casting aside the true God of their fathers for the gods of their neighbors. You would think after time they would come to a point where someone, anyone would simply and maybe with a hand raised say, has anyone else noticed that we’ve been down this road before? Has anyone else realized that a history lesson is in order here?
Friends, if you think anything like me you would think that after further review of their history they’d get it, that there’s no way we’re going to go down this same road over and over again and come up with different results. We’re just following what’s been done in the past and it’s always led to heartache and pain, and that’s what we find once again in Judges 10.
Judges 10 says the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD. They served the Baals and the Ashtoreths, and many other foreign gods. And as a result, God gets angry. He allows the Philistines and the Ammonites to take them captive and for eighteen years the Israelites who thought they knew better were in great distress, they were being oppressed.
What happens next isn’t atypical. The Israelites cry out to God saying we’ve sinned against you, help us God. But what follows comes as a bit of a surprise – God says no. Don’t miss this – God says to Israel in Judges 10:14, go and cry out to the gods you’ve chosen instead of me. You see I think at some point in time we have to get real honest. Real honest about the fact that talk is cheap, action is what matters. And God knows all this; He’s heard it all before. What Israel does next is what God wants – they finally back up their words with action. They got rid of the foreign gods and pleaded with God to give them whatever the consequences He saw fit. They came to a point where after further review, the thought of life without the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, life without the God who truly can deliver them was unbearable. Never did they think they’d hear God say no; never did they think it might one day come to a point where God might not forgive. Thankfully, God finally answers them because He couldn’t bear their misery any longer.
You know God knows when we’re just talking the talk but not walking the walk with our faith. Let’s take this history lesson and always remember God knows when we mean what we say when we’re willing to back it up by also doing what we say. Our faith without action is dead. Think for a moment about areas of your life where you're just talking and not walking. Get honest with God and then together let’s live our faith by casting off the sins that so easily entangle us. Live for God today and give God the glory!
Posted by Joe Stecz
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
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2 comments:
One of the things that struck me about this passage was in verse 7 "...He sold them into the hands of the PHilistines and the Ammonites..."
What does it mean that He "sold" them into the hands? I recall in the past "giving" them into the hands, but this word is obviously different. Is there something more going on in this story?
It sounds like the kind of language that is used in connection with the Exodus. Joseph was "sold to slave traders" which brought the family of God out of the Promised Land and into Egypt. All of the events around the Exodus provide the language of salvation, blessing and curse for much of the reading of Israel's history.
For example, for the Israelites to leave the Promised Land is to be removed from the place of blessing. That is certainly true for when Israel is being ruled by a foreign party--it is as if they had returned to slavery in Egypt and need a new "Moses"-like deliverer to restore the blessing.
Those are a few thoughts
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