Judges // Week 2
When we first moved to our new city and when our church was planted, I felt like I was blind. It was almost paralyzing trying to go anywhere because I had no idea how to get anywhere, and I had no friends to help me. In those first few months, I was just wandering; I relied on those around me. If someone gave me directions, I believed they were the best ones. Did someone recommend a place to eat? That’s where I am going. This new place made me feel so insecure and uncomfortable that I just tried my best to do what those around me were doing.
Isn’t that the same for the people of Israel in Judges? God’s people were in a period of transition and instability. They had entered a new land with little direction and no leader. Of course, they would stray. Robert Robinson says best when he wrote the hymn “Come Thou Fount”:
“Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it
Prone to leave the God I love
Here's my heart, oh take and seal it
Seal it for Thy courts above.”
God knew His people were prone to wander, and to deliver them out of their sin and affliction, He appointed the Judges to guide and protect the Israelites, especially during times of conflict with neighboring peoples or when they strayed from following God's commandments. The Judges helped maintain order, settle disputes, and lead the people in battle against their enemies. They played a crucial role in keeping the Israelites connected to their faith and laws during this turbulent period in their history.
Throughout this period of history, Israel went through seven cycles: rebellion against God, overrun by an enemy nation, delivery by a God-fearing judge, loyalty to God under that Judge, and Forgetting God when that judge died.
Seven cycles. Let that sink in for a minute. God delivered His people seven times. What a patient God we serve.
The book of Judges is violent and gruesome, but so is the cross. Sin has real, devastating consequences, and we have a Perfect Judge who came to save us from that. As you begin in this book, would your heart be stirred with affection for a merciful God who loves us so much that He would send His son Jesus, the Perfect Judge, to intercede on our behalf?
As we delve deeper into the book of Judges, let us not just read, but truly engage with the text. Let it stir our affections, reveal our own forgetfulness and sinful desires, and, most importantly, remind us of God's mercy and patience. May this reflection draw us closer to His presence.
