Tag: unfaithful

Avoid the Downward Spiral (Judges 6:1-10)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment

The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites. Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds. Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded the country. 

They camped on the land and ruined the crops all the way to Gaza and did not spare a living thing for Israel, neither sheep nor cattle nor donkeys. They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts. It was impossible to count them or their camels; they invaded the land to ravage it. Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the Lord for help.

When the Israelites cried out to the Lord because of Midian, he sent them a prophet, who said, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I brought you up out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. I rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians. And I delivered you from the hand of all your oppressors; I drove them out before you and gave you their land. I said to you, ‘I am the Lord your God; do not worship the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you live.’ But you have not listened to me.” (New International Version)

Frankly, the biblical Book of Judges is rather depressing. Its descriptive arc is a sad downward spiral of forgetfulness and disobedience – with the people crying out for deliverance and being saved – and then another slide, even lower than before, into memory issues, and negligence of the law.

Newer and greater levels of depravity occur, the further one reads into the Book of Judges. Indeed, early in the book we are given the reason for such an immoral and idolatrous slide:

The people served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had seen all the great things the Lord had done for Israel…

After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel. Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord and served the Baals. They forsook the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They aroused the Lord’s anger because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. 

In his anger against Israel the Lord gave them into the hands of raiders who plundered them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist. Whenever Israel went out to fight, the hand of the Lord was against them to defeat them, just as he had sworn to them. They were in great distress. (Judges 2:7, 10-15, NIV)

In today’s Old Testament lesson, yet another round of disobedience brought yet another threat, in the form of the Midianites and Amalekites. Midian’s annual raids of Israelite land destroyed crops and led to the livestock eventually starving. The people were left just trying to eek-out a living and survive.

The Midianites were a nomadic people, subsisting mostly through trade. They were not farmers, and really did not need to raid Israel. It seems they came and did their damage just to keep Israel weak and under their thumb, unable to compete in the caravan markets that Midian depended upon.

The story of crop destruction, and Midianites as thick as locusts, communicates divine judgment and connects with Joshua’s warning to remember God and be faithful to the covenant law:

“If you violate the covenant of the Lord your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them, the Lord’s anger will burn against you, and you will quickly perish from the good land he has given you.” (Joshua 23:16, NIV)

The Israelites cried out in their distress to God for deliverance. They were answered by an unknown prophet who clearly connected the people’s disloyalty to their adverse situation. Although Canaanite gods may have been tolerant of worshiping other deities, the Lord, Israel’s God, is certainly not.

In the case of the ancient Israelites, the people’s disobedience caused their suffering. The prophet did not promise any sort of deliverance. And the distressed people were left wondering if they had been abandoned by God.

This entire situation is a set up for the character of Gideon, who will come on the scene as one of the dominant deliverers in the Book of Judges. And Gideon’s story further illustrates the ever-increasing relationship between Israel, Canaan, and immoral behavior.

By the time we get to the end of the book, there is a sort of morbid and depressing anarchy that has settled amongst the people, ending in the statement:

In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit. (Judges 21:26, NIV)

That was not a statement of freedom, but of depravity. It was almost like living in a dystopian society in which nobody was really safe.

Yet God always has had a remnant of people who are faithful and remember the great things which the Lord has done.

So, if we want to avoid the downward spiral in the Book of Judges, the believer is encouraged to keep memory of God’s works, words, and ways in this world; and to remain faithful in obeying God’s law and embracing God’s love.

We need the law of love, and the love of law, in order to rightly relate to our neighbor and be concerned for the common justice of all persons – instead of living in a bubble of supposed safety, doing only what seems right to me.

Lord God, almighty and everlasting Father, you have brought us in safety to this new day: Preserve us with your mighty power, that we may not fall into sin, nor be overcome by adversity; and in all we do, direct us to the fulfilling of your purpose; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Coming Divine Judgment (Revelation 20:7-15)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
Lake of Fire, by David Howard Hitchcock, 1888

When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—and to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

Then I saw a great white throne, and he who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire. (New International Version)

Almost everything is temporary. All things temporal must come to an end. Therefore, it is foolish to live as if everything we have will last forever.

Conversely, there are a few things which are permanent, namely, God and relationships. So, it only makes sense that we exist for values that will last, while holding very loosely the temporal things. Jesus put the matter like this:

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:19-21, NIV)

Yet, despite knowing this, people struggle with their espoused values. Many times, we succumb to the temporal as if it were permanent; and with permanence the things which are temporary. This situation speaks to the power of evil; and evil is not something to trifle with.

The Judgment of Satan

Just when we might evil is contained, it isn’t. In today’s lesson, Satan is loosed from his imprisonment, still a threat. That is the nature of evil amongst us; it has the sinister capacity to rebound and wreak havoc in people’s lives.

In the Apostle John’s apocalyptic vision, Satan is joined by Gog and Magog, who represent the nations of the earth. This hearkens back to the prophecy of Ezekiel in the Old Testament (Ezekiel 38-39) in which Gog – the leader of the land of Magog – leads an attack on Jerusalem. In other words, evil comes together and focuses its energies on the people of God in order to destroy them.

However, God intervenes; the destruction the nations intended on God’s people comes upon them. Evil is finally done for, once and for all; it is thoroughly purged from the presence of the righteous.

The Judgment of the Dead

With evil put in its place, there is nowhere for the old rebellious systems and order of things to exist anymore. A new heaven and a new earth is needed – not just a reconstituted heaven and earth – because that’s how nasty evil really is, that it must be completely purged. New systems are put in place which can accommodate righteousness. Jesus predicted this new reality:

And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins.  (Luke 5:37-38, NIV)

When the time comes, all persons will stand as they truly are before the Lord. There can be no making oneself look better than they are, or presenting a particular optic that spins a good look in order to impress. All the actions and deeds of people are laid bare.

God’s grace, along with and human actions, are held together in tension. God grants salvation; and what we humans do with that gift matters a great deal.

Humanity’s works in this life demonstrate what sort of person they actually are. So, if those works are inconsistent and incongruent with how one’s life has been lived, it demonstrates where their hearts truly are; and where their final destination will be.

There is a coming judgment in which death and hell are done away with forever. Anyone whose name is not found in the Book of Life goes the way of death and hell, because when they had the chance to use their temporal life to give permanent life for others, they did not.

Conclusion

The point is not to try and determine who Gog and Magog are; or when in the future this all will happen. The sage person remains far away from such useless folly.

The aim of the Apostle John, for which we must pay attention, is twofold: encourage the faithful; and warn the unfaithful.

The Book of Revelation was given to believers in Jesus, to help them see that suffering, persecution, and hardship is temporary; remain faithful, persevere in faith, and you will see your name written in the Book of Life.

Revelation was also given as great warning sign to those who have put so much stock into power politics, jostling for authority, and oppressing others to get what they want. The positions they hold now are temporary. The oppression they give in this life will be what they receive in the next.

In the end, all things shall be judged rightly. In this, I take great comfort and hope.

Lord Jesus Christ, by your patience in suffering you hallowed earthly pain and gave us the example of obedience to your Father’s will: Be near me in my time of weakness and pain; sustain me by your grace, that my strength and courage may not fail; heal me according to you will; and help me always to believe that what happens to me here is of little account if you hold me in eternal life, my Lord and my God. Amen.

Mercy Is Coming (Micah 7:8-20)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
“Justice Tempered with Mercy,” an oil painting by Emil Bisttram, 1936

Do not rejoice over me, my enemy,
        because when I fall, I will rise;
            if I sit in darkness, the Lord is my light.
I must bear the raging of the Lord,
    for I have sinned against him,
        until he decides my case and provides justice for me.
    He will bring me out into the light;
        I will see by means of his righteousness.
    Then my enemy will see;
        shame will cover her who said to me:
            “Where is the Lord your God?”
    My eyes will see her ruin;
        now she will become something to be trampled,
            like mud in the streets.

A day for the building of your walls!
        On that day, the boundary will be distant.
        On that day, they will come to you from Assyria and the cities of Egypt,
            from Egypt to the River,
            from sea to sea,
            and from mountain to mountain.
And the earth will become desolate because of her inhabitants,
        because of the fruit of their actions.

Shepherd your people with your staff,
        the sheep of your inheritance,
        those dwelling alone in a forest in the midst of Carmel.
    Let them graze in Bashan and Gilead, as a long time ago.

As in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt,
        I will show Israel wonderful things.

Nations will see and be ashamed of all their strength;
        they will cover their mouths;
        their ears will be deaf.

They will lick dust like the snake,
        like things that crawl on the ground.
They will come trembling from their strongholds to the Lord our God;
        they will dread and fear you!
Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity,
        overlooking the sin of the few remaining for his inheritance?
    He doesn’t hold on to his anger forever;
        he delights in faithful love.
He will once again have compassion on us;
        he will tread down our iniquities.
You will hurl all our sins into the depths of the sea.
You will provide faithfulness to Jacob, faithful love to Abraham,
        as you swore to our ancestors a long time ago. (Common English Bible)

The prophecy of Micah was directed to the people because of the nation’s messed up social and political relations. Unrighteousness had thoroughly drenched the land. In this situation, the nation groaned; Micah responded to them and interceded for the people; God agreed with it all; and Micah concluded with a theological reminder of who God is and what God is like.

The nation of Israel was in a bad way during the eighth century B.C.E. because of their injustice toward one another. The leaders only thought of themselves, and not the people as a whole. Unfaithfulness ran so deep that not even one’s closest friends or relatives could be trusted.

To be a faithful and righteous person during that time required a resolve to wait for God’s deliverance – because there was no way any one person or group of people could fix any of it.

And this is the nature of hope – it can only be understood and realized by knowing, sensing, and feeling hopelessness in all of its despair. We do not hope for something we already possess.

The prophet Micah recognized the situation of the nation for what it was, as well as the consequences to having injustice throughout the land. Yet, he also looked forward to a time when God’s wrath will move from God’s people to the people’s enemies.

It may seem as if the Lord is either slow, not paying attention, or doesn’t care; but God’s timing is not the same as ours. Divine deliverance will come when divine deliverance will come.

The circumstances of Israel’s national sins were ripe not only for God’s judgment, but also for Micah’s prayers on behalf of the people. He called on the Lord to shepherd Israel, while at the same time, to put Israel’s enemies in their place.

And God, out of the storehouse of divine mercy, granted an assurance of pardon.

But if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from everything we’ve done wrong. (1 John 1:9, CEB)

Micah affirmed the grace and mercy of God. He had the confident expectation that the Lord would cast all of Israel’s sins into the depths of the sea. Guilt, shame, and despair will not have the last word; the final word belongs to mercy.

Into a world full of cynicism and sarcasm, hopelessness and despair, it is vitally important that we have faithful and godly individuals who have a settled hope. This is what it means to be a remnant, a small minority of people who hold onto that which is just, right, and good.

We are to quietly go about our business of bringing justice, mercy, and love to this world with a quiet and confident expectation that God’s grace will overcome and overwhelm everything in its path.

Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent. For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us; that we may delight in your will, and walk in your ways, to the glory of your Name. Amen.

Deborah the Prophet and Judge (Judges 4:8-24)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment
Illustration from “Woman in Sacred History, A Series of Sketches Drawn from Scriptural, Historical, and Legendary Sources” by Harriet Beecher Stowe, 1873

“I’m not going unless you go!” Barak told her.

“All right, I’ll go!” she replied. “But I’m warning you that the Lord is going to let a woman defeat Sisera, and no one will honor you for winning the battle.”

Deborah and Barak left for Kedesh, where Barak called together the troops from Zebulun and Naphtali. Ten thousand soldiers gathered there, and Barak led them out from Kedesh. Deborah went too.

At this time, Heber of the Kenite clan was living near the village of Oak in Zaanannim, not far from Kedesh. The Kenites were descendants of Hobab, the father-in-law of Moses, but Heber had moved and had set up his tents away from the rest of the clan.

When Sisera learned that Barak had led an army to Mount Tabor, he called his troops together and got all 900 iron chariots ready. Then he led his army away from Harosheth-Ha-Goiim to the Kishon River.

Deborah shouted, “Barak, it’s time to attack Sisera! Because today the Lord is going to help you defeat him. In fact, the Lord has already gone on ahead to fight for you.”

Barak led his 10,000 troops down from Mount Tabor. And during the battle, the Lord confused Sisera, his chariot drivers, and his whole army. Everyone was so afraid of Barak and his army, that even Sisera jumped down from his chariot and tried to escape. Barak’s forces went after Sisera’s chariots and army as far as Harosheth-Ha-Goiim.

Sisera’s entire army was wiped out. Only Sisera escaped. He ran to Heber’s camp, because Heber and his family had a peace treaty with the king of Hazor. Sisera went to the tent that belonged to Jael, Heber’s wife. She came out to greet him and said, “Come in, sir! Please come on in. Don’t be afraid.”

After they had gone inside, Sisera lay down, and Jael covered him with a blanket. “Could I have a little water?” he asked. “I’m thirsty.”

Jael opened a leather bottle and poured him some milk, then she covered him back up.

“Stand at the entrance to the tent,” Sisera told her. “If someone comes by and asks if anyone is inside, tell them ‘No.’ ”

Sisera was exhausted and soon fell fast asleep. Jael took a hammer and drove a tent-peg through his head into the ground, and he died.

Meanwhile, Barak had been following Sisera, and Jael went out to meet him. “The man you’re looking for is inside,” she said. “Come in and I’ll show him to you.”

They went inside, and there was Sisera—dead and stretched out with a tent-peg through his skull.

That same day God defeated the Canaanite King Jabin while the Israelites looked on, and his army was no longer powerful enough to attack the Israelites. Jabin grew weaker while the Israelites kept growing stronger, until at last the Israelites destroyed him. (Contemporary English Version)

The biblical book of the Judges is a sad account of Israel’s downward spiral into ignorance and wickedness. Because of this situation, God would occasionally raise up leaders, or judges, to help the people whenever they cried out in their distress.

Deborah was one of those judges, and the only woman leader during the time of the judges. She was recognized in Israel as both a judge and a prophet. In the time of Deborah, the Israelites had once again become oppressed by Canaanites who had not been dislodged from the land.

Having both legal and prophetic authority, Deborah called for a holy war and became the leader. Her army general, Barak, mustered the troops and led them into battle. The opposing general, Sisera, drew up his forces to attack, but God got involved. The Lord threw Sisera’s soldiers into a panic, and the general ended up fleeing for his life, his army defeated.

Sisera had a safe place in mind to go. Heber, an ally and friend, was in the area with his tents. So, Sisera believed he would find hospitality and protection. Heber’s wife, Jael, however, was no friend of Sisera. She took care of him, lulled him to sleep, and then proceeded to kill him with some surprisingly skilled precision.

Eventually, Barak came along, and Jael showed him the dead general. Deborah’s prophecy that a woman would prevail was realized. We are not told in the text why Jael sided with the Israelites and deliberately brought an end to Sisera. Yet, by killing him, Jael clearly proved sympathetic to Israel.

Whatever was really going on there, it’s illustrative of a prominent theme in the book of Judges. Since the Canaanites were not expelled completely from the land, they would continue to exert religious and ethical influence on the Israelites.

Judges is a book that, as you read it, becomes progressively mixed between Israelite and Canaanite – piety with the Lord and pagan practices were more and more synchronized, so that an odd religious amalgam happened. The people claimed to follow the Lord, and yet, they became increasingly violent and adoptive of the surrounding nations with their bloody practices.

We have, dramatized before us in today’s lesson, the effects and consequences of only a partial obedience to God. Like putting one bad apple into the pie, it causes the whole thing to become rotten.

In our own day, it will not do to dedicate a Sunday or a specific time to the Lord, then walk away and do whatever you want the rest of the time, without any concern to the words and ways of Jesus. We will only please the Lord if we engraft God’s universal law into our entire lives, and not just the religious parts.

Eventually a life only partially attentive to God will crack and then crumble to pieces. We must plan to live the spiritual life with perseverance, endurance, and consistency, each and every day of our lives.

The foundation of our life is built on the cornerstones of the body, mind, emotions, and spirit. A whole and healthy life pays attention to all four with equal consideration, energy, and focus. It won’t do to have any one cornerstone a different size than the others; a life cannot be constructed on such an uneven foundation.

This is why the Israelites in the time of the judges found themselves in such dire straits, time and time again. And it is also a testament to the infinite patience and grace of God, that the Lord continued to respond with mercy whenever the people cried out.

What’s more, today’s story points to the necessity for gender equity and inclusion, as well. We must pay attention to everyone in the community, and not put limitations on particular individuals because they are different. Deborah and Jael, the women, were the heroes of the story – and not just because the men didn’t step up – but because they were the divinely ordained people for the job.

We have enough on our plate in dealing with issues of obedience and disobedience, without adding to it by defining which people can be used of God, or not. Commit yourself to the Lord with your whole life, and the rest will mostly work itself out.

I thank you, Lord, that you love to do extraordinary things through ordinary people like me. Release me from any limitations I, others, or the enemy have put on my life that have kept me from the great plans you have for me, so that I might wake up and arise to shine the glory of the Lord! Amen.