Topic: Know God for Yourself
The Bible reading for the month of May is the book of Judges. It can be a hard book to find personal applications and key verses that encourage our faith. Although it has its challenges, we should still read it. As we dig into Judges, ask God to clear away the difficult clutter so that you can see and experience the riches of God amid your own challenges of faith.
The first chapter of Judges describes Israel’s initial failure to depend on the Lord and their subsequent defeat. The second chapter describes the reason why Israel lived in defeat and where it all led in their downward spiral towards ultimate chaos and ruin.
It all began with a generation “who did not know the Lord or the work He had done for Israel.” Unlike their parents, they did not experience the miracle of manna in the wilderness. They did not experience the miracle of crossing the Jordan River on dry ground, and they did not experience the miracle of Jericho’s wall falling flat. They had no personal experience of God at work in their own lives. They only had the stories of what God did for their parents, and that was not enough to sustain their faith. This new generation of Israelites did not know the Lord personally, It led to disbelief, disobedience and their ultimate defeat.
Since they did not know God, they did not obey God. In fact, they turned against God to serve other gods. Judges 2:11 says, “And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and served the Baals.”
They served the gods of war and fertility, which involved child-sacrifice and orgies with male and female temple prostitutes. One commentator said, “It involved the most debasing immorality imaginable” (F. Duane Lindsey, Bible Knowledge Commentary, p.383). Israel turned against the Lord, so the Lord turned against them. Judges 2:14, “So the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he gave them over to plunderers, who plundered them. And he sold them into the hand of their surrounding enemies, so that they could no longer withstand their enemies.”
Their defiance brought great distress. Literally, they were severely cramped, pressed in from all sides. Some people think that rejecting God’s authority liberates them. On the contrary, it enslaves them. It severely constricts them in a bad place. Israel defiantly disobeyed the Lord, and it brought them “terrible distress.” Judges 3:4 tells us that God was using the other nations to test Israel to see if they would obey Him.
Here is a thought: Are you going through a time of testing to see if you will trust God? Do you trust God from personal faith or just from the faith of others?
See you Sunday!
Dr. Scott Kallem