Judges 14:15
Lest we burn you and your father's house with fire.
The Philistines threatened Samson's wife to get her to betray him, so she did.
15: 6
So the Philistines came up and burned her and her father with fire.
But then they turned around and burned her and her father anyway. These people were awful to their own, no wonder they were cruel to Israel.
16: 21
They gouged out his eyes ...
Samson really had "bad luck" with his women. He never learned to make good choices, and allowed himself to fall in love with women who betrayed him: his wife under threat, then Delilah for money.
17: 6, also 21:25
In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes.
This is the theme of the Book of Judges. They had no king, because the Lord God wanted to be their King. Instead of seeking God and His rules, each man decided in his own understanding.
Well, don't we all do what is right for us in our own eyes?! That's how we get into trouble--we decide for ourselves instead of asking God what we should do.
That's how Satan deceived Eve, telling her that she would be able to make her own decisions instead of depending on God.
And his tactics have never changed. He is still telling us that we're smart, we're intelligent, we can decide what would benefit us; we don't need God.
God knows that His thoughts aren't our thoughts, and our ways aren't His ways. So He gave us His rules, the guidelines by which He made this Earth to operate on, so we could form our societies and make this World in righteousness and Truth. Then we would all prosper in every way.
But our propensity is to rely on our own understanding, just like the Israelites in the time of the Judges. And we also fall into problems and troubles and bondage to our own bad habits. It just isn't easy to follow Someone we can't see with our eyes.
So God has now put His Law into our hearts; the principle of Love. Because God loves us, He has provided for all we need. He has told us how to love one another by sending His own Son to be one of us, to show us how His love works out in life. Then He died for each of us, as the Sacrificial Lamb of God, fulfilling all the sacrifices they performed in the Old Covenant.
Now we have the New Covenant, where we no longer offer animals in sacrifice on an altar, because Jesus died once for all--all people and all time (Hebrews 7:27; 9:12; 10:10). Because by one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy Hebrews 10: 14.
This means that Jesus' death on the Cross was totally sufficient to save every person who ever, who is, or whoever will, live on this Earth. Not every person wants to come to God to receive this gift, however, because we naturally want to turn to our own ways, so we aren't open to God.
When a person comes to the end of his rope in life, that's when he or she will be open to what God wants to do for them. That's when they come to the crisis of faith, to trust God or not.
I came to that place several decades ago. I had been disillusioned by religion, and I was looking for Truth. When I thought that it must have something to do with God, that's when He showed me Jesus on His Cross, and I knew that He didn't deserve it, because I did. It was so obvious to me, I wasn't aware of any "decision" to make, because it was real. God is real. And that's how much He loves me, even when I'm living my life totally against what I know are His ways.
And He loves you, too, my dear reader. Jesus died for you, too. If you are open to receiving this gift of faith to believe that Jesus took your place in death, then God will also give you that new life He gave to me, powered by His Holy Spirit in your spirit, making your dead spirit alive, and able to commune with God.
Tell me how God drew you into His own Family; I love to hear the stories.
And I look forward to getting to know you through all Eternity in that New Jerusalem.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Saturday, February 10, 2018
Friday, February 9, 2018
What He Has Said, He Has Said
Judges 13: 13-14, 16
So the Angel of the Lord said to Manoah, "Let the woman pay attention to all that I said.
"She should not eat anything that comes from the vine nor drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing; let her observe all that I commanded."
The Angel had appeared to Manoah's wife to let her know that she would conceive and have a son, Samson, to be the next Judge (military commander) for Israel, and he was to be a Nazarite, one who has made a vow to God.
The Angel had already told her all this, but Manoah had asked Him how to raise this boy, and the reply was, in effect, Just do what I already said!
"...I will not eat your food ... offer it to the Lord..."
He would not eat a meal with this man. The Lord sat and ate with Abraham (Genesis 18:8), the Friend of God, but would not eat Manoah's food.
Jesus is my Friend; am I a friend to Him?
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
So the Angel of the Lord said to Manoah, "Let the woman pay attention to all that I said.
"She should not eat anything that comes from the vine nor drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing; let her observe all that I commanded."
The Angel had appeared to Manoah's wife to let her know that she would conceive and have a son, Samson, to be the next Judge (military commander) for Israel, and he was to be a Nazarite, one who has made a vow to God.
The Angel had already told her all this, but Manoah had asked Him how to raise this boy, and the reply was, in effect, Just do what I already said!
"...I will not eat your food ... offer it to the Lord..."
He would not eat a meal with this man. The Lord sat and ate with Abraham (Genesis 18:8), the Friend of God, but would not eat Manoah's food.
Jesus is my Friend; am I a friend to Him?
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Thursday, February 8, 2018
In This Your Strength
Judges 6: 14
And the Lord looked at him and said, "Go in this your strength . . ."
Gideon was to go, to start forth, in the strength he already had. He was to begin the task before receiving anything for it.
It's easier to steer a cart if it's already moving.
I need to begin today to do what I can with what I have already, moving in the direction God is leading me in. I must remain pliable in His hand, and allow Him to shape me into the person He wants me to be, going with His flow.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
And the Lord looked at him and said, "Go in this your strength . . ."
Gideon was to go, to start forth, in the strength he already had. He was to begin the task before receiving anything for it.
It's easier to steer a cart if it's already moving.
I need to begin today to do what I can with what I have already, moving in the direction God is leading me in. I must remain pliable in His hand, and allow Him to shape me into the person He wants me to be, going with His flow.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Wednesday, February 7, 2018
Deborah And Jael
Judges 4: 8-9
Barak said, "If you go with me, I will go; but if you don't go with me, I won't go."
"Very well," Deborah said, "I will go with you. But because of the way you are going about this, the honor will not be yours, for the Lord will hand Sisera over to a woman." So Deborah went with Barak to Kadesh
(Read Judges chapter 4 for the story.)
When the Israelites turned away from the Lord again, God gave King Jabin, a Canaanite king, power over them. The commander of his army was Sisera, and he had cruelly oppressed them for twenty years.
So they cried out to the Lord again, and He had Deborah, the wife of Lappidoth, a prophetess, to call for Barak, and tell him to lead an army against this Sisera.
But Barak was lacking in confidence, and wanted Deborah to go with him. Women were not considered able to fight as warriors, so when Barak insisted that she go with him to the battle, he was depending on her for his confidence.
So God did allow him to defeat this Canaanite commander and his army, but Sisera himself got away, and went to Heber the Kenite because there were friendly relations between King Jabin and the Kenites.
Jabin's wife, Jael, welcomed Sisera into the tent, gave him a soothing drink, and let him sleep, as he was exhausted from the battle. In that society it was the women who pounded the tent pegs into the ground when they set up their tents, so while he slept, she just hammered the tent peg into his temple, into the ground, killing him.
So Jael got all the praise for winning the battle (see The Song of Deborah, chapter 5).
Today in Israel the women as well as the men are all drafted into the military to serve.
I wonder, would I be a Deborah, giving confidence to the man in the battle; or would I be a Jael, taking the tool in my own hand to execute justice?
There may be many battles ahead. But when Jesus returns to fight the Battle of Armageddon, I will be there; not to give confidence, nor to participate in the fighting, but to witness my Lord's great victory.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Barak said, "If you go with me, I will go; but if you don't go with me, I won't go."
"Very well," Deborah said, "I will go with you. But because of the way you are going about this, the honor will not be yours, for the Lord will hand Sisera over to a woman." So Deborah went with Barak to Kadesh
(Read Judges chapter 4 for the story.)
When the Israelites turned away from the Lord again, God gave King Jabin, a Canaanite king, power over them. The commander of his army was Sisera, and he had cruelly oppressed them for twenty years.
So they cried out to the Lord again, and He had Deborah, the wife of Lappidoth, a prophetess, to call for Barak, and tell him to lead an army against this Sisera.
But Barak was lacking in confidence, and wanted Deborah to go with him. Women were not considered able to fight as warriors, so when Barak insisted that she go with him to the battle, he was depending on her for his confidence.
So God did allow him to defeat this Canaanite commander and his army, but Sisera himself got away, and went to Heber the Kenite because there were friendly relations between King Jabin and the Kenites.
Jabin's wife, Jael, welcomed Sisera into the tent, gave him a soothing drink, and let him sleep, as he was exhausted from the battle. In that society it was the women who pounded the tent pegs into the ground when they set up their tents, so while he slept, she just hammered the tent peg into his temple, into the ground, killing him.
So Jael got all the praise for winning the battle (see The Song of Deborah, chapter 5).
Today in Israel the women as well as the men are all drafted into the military to serve.
I wonder, would I be a Deborah, giving confidence to the man in the battle; or would I be a Jael, taking the tool in my own hand to execute justice?
There may be many battles ahead. But when Jesus returns to fight the Battle of Armageddon, I will be there; not to give confidence, nor to participate in the fighting, but to witness my Lord's great victory.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Tuesday, February 6, 2018
A Snare
Judges 2: 3, 10
...And their gods shall be a snare to you.
This means that their ways will be very attractive and enticing, to trap them into doing things that are not right.
Our enemy knows our weaknesses, and always presents his alternate way as reasonable and beneficial and good for us. But he lies to us and entices us with what seems to be good for the moment; and he uses these silver-tongued tactics to deceive us into believing that bad is good, and twists what is right.
And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord, nor yet the work which He had done for Israel.
Oh-oh, they didn't talk about these things with their kids when they got up and went to bed, when they walked the roads and sat in their houses (Deuteronomy 6:7). The children grew up not knowing the stories.
Judges 2:16-19 gives us the cycle of what was going on in those days in Israel: Abundance then Forget then they do evil then they suffer then they cry out to God then He delivers them then they have abundance again; over and over and over again throughout this whole book.
It's just so easy to slide away into sin when I'm not paying attention!
O my Father, keep me aware of Your Presence with me every moment of every day, so that I will focus on Your ways, Your thoughts, Your attitudes and Your view of things. Let me learn more of You fresh every day, as Your mercies are new every morning. Take pleasure in what I do each day, as I seek Your face.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
...And their gods shall be a snare to you.
This means that their ways will be very attractive and enticing, to trap them into doing things that are not right.
Our enemy knows our weaknesses, and always presents his alternate way as reasonable and beneficial and good for us. But he lies to us and entices us with what seems to be good for the moment; and he uses these silver-tongued tactics to deceive us into believing that bad is good, and twists what is right.
And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord, nor yet the work which He had done for Israel.
Oh-oh, they didn't talk about these things with their kids when they got up and went to bed, when they walked the roads and sat in their houses (Deuteronomy 6:7). The children grew up not knowing the stories.
Judges 2:16-19 gives us the cycle of what was going on in those days in Israel: Abundance then Forget then they do evil then they suffer then they cry out to God then He delivers them then they have abundance again; over and over and over again throughout this whole book.
It's just so easy to slide away into sin when I'm not paying attention!
O my Father, keep me aware of Your Presence with me every moment of every day, so that I will focus on Your ways, Your thoughts, Your attitudes and Your view of things. Let me learn more of You fresh every day, as Your mercies are new every morning. Take pleasure in what I do each day, as I seek Your face.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Monday, February 5, 2018
All Are Accountable
Joshua 8: 32, 35b
And he wrote there on the stones a copy of the Law of Moses, which he had written in the presence of the sons of Israel.
...There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded which Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel with the women and the little ones and the strangers who were living among them.
Everyone needed to know what the Law said: men, women, children, little kids, and even what "strangers" came to live with them. All were equal under the Law in that they were all accountable to obey everything that God told them. Even people who were not descended from Jacob.
Who were these "strangers"? Not of the peoples around them that they were not to fraternize with--Unless they were individuals who assimilated into the Hebrew culture and beliefs, forsaking their original ways and worships. Like Rahab and Ruth.
God loves all people, and wants them all to recognize His sovereignty and goodness.
The fields are ripe, ready to harvest. Lord, send Your workers into the fields--even send me!
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
And he wrote there on the stones a copy of the Law of Moses, which he had written in the presence of the sons of Israel.
...There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded which Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel with the women and the little ones and the strangers who were living among them.
Everyone needed to know what the Law said: men, women, children, little kids, and even what "strangers" came to live with them. All were equal under the Law in that they were all accountable to obey everything that God told them. Even people who were not descended from Jacob.
Who were these "strangers"? Not of the peoples around them that they were not to fraternize with--Unless they were individuals who assimilated into the Hebrew culture and beliefs, forsaking their original ways and worships. Like Rahab and Ruth.
God loves all people, and wants them all to recognize His sovereignty and goodness.
The fields are ripe, ready to harvest. Lord, send Your workers into the fields--even send me!
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Sunday, February 4, 2018
The Fear Of The Lord
Joshua 7: 19
Then Joshua said to Achan, "My son, I implore you, give glory to the Lord, the God of Israel, and give praise to Him, and tell me now what you have done. Do not hide it from me."
When they were going to attack Jericho and God did such a wonder for them, He had told them exactly how to do it, and He also gave them instruction concerning all the goods they would find there: it all belonged to the Lord. They were to burn up everything that would burn, and all the metals were to be put into the Lord's treasury (6:18-19).
Then God fulfilled His part, the walls fell down, and they all ran straight in and took the city (6:20).
But one of the soldiers stole what belonged to God. Achan showed a disregard and distain toward God to take these items for himself. And his family were all complicit in this, helping him to hide them. They had no fear of the Lord.
Joshua called out Achan for this disobedience, and implored him to give God the respect He deserves by confessing what he had done.
And he did.
So that this attitude of nonchalant disregard for obeying the details of God's commands would not spread, dire consequences had to happen: they stoned him and his family, then burned them up and buried them under a great heap of stones (7:24-26).
His disobedience had cost them casualties and lost the battle for Ai (7:4-5).
So even this little bit of plunder caused them to lose God's blessing and power. God wanted to live in their midst, so He wanted them to be pure and righteous, to obey His rules and directives. He wanted them to understand how much He loved them. So this rebellion had to be nipped in the bud before it could spread.
The first time I read this, I thought as the World thinks, and considered this to be cruel, an overreaction. But my civilized attitude was just as dismissing of God's holiness as Achan's was.
The more I read and studied God's ways in all that He did to teach His people, the more I came to understand how great, how powerful, how dangerous our God really is, and how we really do need to respect His justice and righteousness and authority to do everything He wills. This is the Fear of the Lord we are to have.
And I also came to understand how much God loves us, cares for us, and is persistent in continuing to reveal Himself to us so that we will want to love Him back.
God is still the same God, He still wants us to know Him. And He has now even given us His Spirit to live inside each of us who know Him, to teach us and strengthen us and help us to produce the Fruit of the Spirit in our lives (Galatians 5:22-23) in loving others the way He loves us.
This is His Law written in our hearts, as He told His people He would do in The Last Days (Jeremiah 31:31-34). It's the New Covenant that Jesus said He was instituting with His Blood as He sat at the Passover Meal with His disciples (Matthew 26:28; Mark 14:24; Luke 22:20; and John calls it a new command to love one another 13:34-35).
When we understand what Love really is, and love one another with this pure, strong, compassionate love (instead of the controlling or possessive or permissive attitude that passes for "love" in the World), then we will be obeying the spirit, the underlying foundation, of all the Commandments, Precepts, Decrees, and Laws, and not need to worry about the details. We'll be going beyond the perameters of the Law to do what is right and fair and just toward one another, as well as putting God first in our worship and adoration (see Matthew 22:37-40).
God loves us just the way we are, but He loves us too much to leave us where we are; He will work in our lives in ways we might consider "meddlin'," to shape us up into the image of His dear Son. He will burn out of us all the attitudes and frames of mind that war against His ways rebelliously. He will do interventions to draw us out of dangerous situations (as He did for Saul of Tarsus, Acts 9:1-6). God's "tough love" does to and for us what we need, even when it is painful for us.
Our love for one another must be as powerfully strong as His is for us. We must consider other before self, as He did in the sending of His own Son, which had to be as painful for the Father as it was to Jesus.
O Father, help me to know You better, and love You more every day. Teach me Your ways, that I may obey Your Law of Love. Check me when I am about to stray to the right or to the left, keep me in Your path for me. Let my Fear of God help me do right. Let Your love in me be poured out onto others, even those who have tried to make themselves unloveable.
And use my life to bring the glory to Your Name, for it is You Who are doing all these things, and You alone deserve the credit.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Then Joshua said to Achan, "My son, I implore you, give glory to the Lord, the God of Israel, and give praise to Him, and tell me now what you have done. Do not hide it from me."
When they were going to attack Jericho and God did such a wonder for them, He had told them exactly how to do it, and He also gave them instruction concerning all the goods they would find there: it all belonged to the Lord. They were to burn up everything that would burn, and all the metals were to be put into the Lord's treasury (6:18-19).
Then God fulfilled His part, the walls fell down, and they all ran straight in and took the city (6:20).
But one of the soldiers stole what belonged to God. Achan showed a disregard and distain toward God to take these items for himself. And his family were all complicit in this, helping him to hide them. They had no fear of the Lord.
Joshua called out Achan for this disobedience, and implored him to give God the respect He deserves by confessing what he had done.
And he did.
So that this attitude of nonchalant disregard for obeying the details of God's commands would not spread, dire consequences had to happen: they stoned him and his family, then burned them up and buried them under a great heap of stones (7:24-26).
His disobedience had cost them casualties and lost the battle for Ai (7:4-5).
So even this little bit of plunder caused them to lose God's blessing and power. God wanted to live in their midst, so He wanted them to be pure and righteous, to obey His rules and directives. He wanted them to understand how much He loved them. So this rebellion had to be nipped in the bud before it could spread.
The first time I read this, I thought as the World thinks, and considered this to be cruel, an overreaction. But my civilized attitude was just as dismissing of God's holiness as Achan's was.
The more I read and studied God's ways in all that He did to teach His people, the more I came to understand how great, how powerful, how dangerous our God really is, and how we really do need to respect His justice and righteousness and authority to do everything He wills. This is the Fear of the Lord we are to have.
And I also came to understand how much God loves us, cares for us, and is persistent in continuing to reveal Himself to us so that we will want to love Him back.
God is still the same God, He still wants us to know Him. And He has now even given us His Spirit to live inside each of us who know Him, to teach us and strengthen us and help us to produce the Fruit of the Spirit in our lives (Galatians 5:22-23) in loving others the way He loves us.
This is His Law written in our hearts, as He told His people He would do in The Last Days (Jeremiah 31:31-34). It's the New Covenant that Jesus said He was instituting with His Blood as He sat at the Passover Meal with His disciples (Matthew 26:28; Mark 14:24; Luke 22:20; and John calls it a new command to love one another 13:34-35).
When we understand what Love really is, and love one another with this pure, strong, compassionate love (instead of the controlling or possessive or permissive attitude that passes for "love" in the World), then we will be obeying the spirit, the underlying foundation, of all the Commandments, Precepts, Decrees, and Laws, and not need to worry about the details. We'll be going beyond the perameters of the Law to do what is right and fair and just toward one another, as well as putting God first in our worship and adoration (see Matthew 22:37-40).
God loves us just the way we are, but He loves us too much to leave us where we are; He will work in our lives in ways we might consider "meddlin'," to shape us up into the image of His dear Son. He will burn out of us all the attitudes and frames of mind that war against His ways rebelliously. He will do interventions to draw us out of dangerous situations (as He did for Saul of Tarsus, Acts 9:1-6). God's "tough love" does to and for us what we need, even when it is painful for us.
Our love for one another must be as powerfully strong as His is for us. We must consider other before self, as He did in the sending of His own Son, which had to be as painful for the Father as it was to Jesus.
O Father, help me to know You better, and love You more every day. Teach me Your ways, that I may obey Your Law of Love. Check me when I am about to stray to the right or to the left, keep me in Your path for me. Let my Fear of God help me do right. Let Your love in me be poured out onto others, even those who have tried to make themselves unloveable.
And use my life to bring the glory to Your Name, for it is You Who are doing all these things, and You alone deserve the credit.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
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