by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
Judges 19-21
Today we wrap up the approximately 335 years following Joshua’s death. Cycles of apostasy, oppression, and deliverance continue in the land. It’s hard to imagine that these people are thinking of God., yet every now and then there seems to be a little sign that they know that there are certain expectations.
One of these is when Israel rises against the tribe of Benjamin because of their treatment of a concubine. They are appalled at the rape and murder of this girl, so they take retribution. After the defeat of Benjamin, when there are very few left, the Israelites take an oath that none of their daughters may marry Benjaminites.
At that time, however, the other tribes mourn the fact that one of the tribes will become extinct. They have no wives to replenish their tribe – they have all been slaughtered.
Hey, wait. An idea pops up. Oh, when the great feast is held in Shiloh and everyone is dancing, the Benjaminite men may hide and watch. Then they can choose girls from the dancers and kidnap them. What a plan!
The last verse of Judges is a repeat of one we’ve heard before. “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”(21:25)
Some strange things seemed “right,” didn’t they?
Better days ahead.
Luke 7:31-50
I love the way Jesus treats those around Him. He’s never ruffled by the charges of the arrogant Pharisees. He knows their hearts and thoughts, and speaks to them very directly.
At the same time, our Savior shows such love and compassion for those who are humbly seeking to be lifted out of their sinful lives.
We’ve seen this account in the other gospels, but I love reading it every time it’s presented. Jesus understands and appreciates the sinful woman who washes His feet with her tears and pours perfume on them. She is weeping and kissing Him because of her great love for Him. She knows that He has forgiven her.
“For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.”(47)
Over the years, I have seen this principle applied many times. Often you will see someone who came from a very sinful lifestyle turn to the Lord, and they will be the most radical christian in the crowd. Having experienced the love and power of Jesus, they know first hand how good He is.
I love to see those people as they share their stories. They have such a zeal, and often those people lead the way in evangelism.
He says, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”(v. 50)
by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
Judges 13-15
What a tremendous attitude!
Monoah’s wife has been barren, but an angel comes to her and says that she is to have a son. She is not to drink strong drink nor to eat anything unclean. When the wife relays this to her husband, his only request is that an angel will show up and tell them how to raise this son.
No doubting. No questions about the certainty of this word. His faith is amazing in the back-slidden country of Monoah’s day.
So they give birth to Samson, a most unusual man. He is not to drink any strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing, nor cut his hair. He is to take a Nazarite vow. Sanctified to the Lord.
Yet Samson has some problems. He is often swayed by women, and he definitely has anger issues. And this is not someone you would want to be mad at you! When his wife tells her Philistine friends the answer to his riddle – an answer she had wooed him for, he kills all thirty of them.
Later, when he is captured and handed over to the Philistines, he loosens his binding ropes, finds a “fresh jawbone of a donkey,” and kills 1,000 with that jawbone. None of our present day super-heroes would match the strength of this man!
Like I said, however, he is easily swayed by women.
More to come tomorrow…
Luke 6
This chapter contains some of the most talked-about verses in all of the gospels.
My husband often says that if we would “do Luke 6,” our lives would be so fruitful. As he says that, he is focusing on v.27-28. “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.”
As we counsel people, one of the biggest problems is how they are dealing with hurtful people in their lives. Sometimes these are co-workers, sometimes family members, sometimes even spouses who are not saved.
When someone is mistreated, the natural inclination is to fight back. But we are not natural people. We have to have a higher standard than those who don’t know Jesus.
There’s a secret here. When we fight back against those who do us harm, we are assuming the responsibility for our own defense. When we obey the commands of Jesus in blessing, forgiving, and praying for those people, then God Himself takes on our defense.
I have seen this work so many times. I have seen those who were constantly wanting to bicker – and even falsely accuse – start seeking me out for prayer. I have seen those who mistreated me, suddenly want to be my friend. Not always have they wanted to be my friend. Yet I have never encountered someone who could persist in “meanness” when I have continued to return kindness for their evil.
The greatest joy has come when these people actually want to receive Jesus. Or, if they consider themselves christians already, want to have a closer walk with Him.
God’s way is always the best. When we walk in forgiveness and love, His favor is upon us. He opens doors for us. We are so aware of His presence.
There’s one more verse which is related…”Give and it shall be given unto you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, they will pour into your lap. By your standard of measure it will be measured to you again.”(6:38).
You get to set the standard for your life. What you put out, will be what you get back. That works for finances, of course. It also works for your relationship with God, your understanding of the Word, the love you give and receive.
If we could all just get this! What a difference we would make in the world, if all the christians decided to truly live by this principle!
Lord, increase my ability to hear you and to obey. Let me truly be a light in the world, shining for You.
by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
Judges 7-11
Let’s backtrack a little to get up to speed.
Gideon is one of the greatest heroes of the Bible. Yet he certainly has attributes with which we can identify.
If you ever feel discouraged, take a look at Gideon. If you ever feel small and insignificant, you might also take a look at Gideon.
Gideon is the youngest member of the “least” family of Manasseh, and as such, has no regard among his peers. An unimportant, unnoticeable individual. And that’s the way he sees himself.
Yet there is something about Gideon which arouses God’s attention.
We first see him as an angel appears to him, “The Lord is with you, O valiant warrior.”(6:13). (Remember, our Lord speaks things into existence. At the moment, Gideon does not appear as a valiant warrior).
The salutation elicits an explosion of frustration from Gideon. “If God is with us, why this and why that?” Have you ever felt that way? Of course, you have. All of us have.
However, God is ready to make a big move – and Gideon is just the man for the job. Our God doesn’t see as man sees. Man always wants to go to the high, the mighty, and the connected to get their job done. God goes after a heart which is willing to obey Him – and He seems to specialize in going to the “least.”
So Gideon tears down the altar of Baal, and there is no turning back!
If you are going to tear down the altars of idols, you’d better be ready to follow through with the alternative, and Gideon is ready. He is renamed “Jerubbaal” which means “Let Baal contend against him.” The Israelites now have their eyes focused on Gideon.
A huge crowd of men assemble for battle, but God rejects them. He doesn’t want men thinking that they are the ones to win the battle, so he calls for those who are afraid, to leave. 22,000 leave, with 10,000 remaining, but the Lord still says there are too many.
God wants an unmistakable claim to this victory coming up, so He calls them to do something absolutely impossible. He has Gideon bring the men to the water and watch how they drink. Everyone who laps like a dog, stays; everyone who kneels to drink, putting their heads down, have to go home.
Only 300 men survive the test, and God is requiring something totally impossible. A huge army, as “numerous as locusts” and camels as “numerous as sand on the seashore” awaits this tiny group. It’s impossible.
But God has a plan. The 300 are to hold a trumpet in one hand, and a torch, covered by a pitcher in the other. They are to, at the signal, break the pitchers, exposing the light, and blow the trumpets – all at the same time as they run toward the enemy. Fear overtakes the opposing armies, and they flee.
The rest of the Jews are called to finish the job, and Israel is delivered from the Philistines.
There are tons of lessons we can learn from this story. Of course, nothing is impossible with God, when we are walking in obedience.
Further, if God calls us to do something, we can do it through Him. We may think that we can’t because of our position in life, or our lack of education, or our lack of funds.
Yet, with God, truly all things are possible.
Luke 5
“I am willing!” We can’t hear this word enough in our society.
There is a tendency for people to say, “If it be Thy will, please heal me.” I don’t see in the ministry of Jesus where it was ever God’s will for people not to be healed. He healed all who came to Him in faith.
I really don’t understand why that error has gotten into the church. I guess when we don’t see things happen, we try to explain them away.
I would much rather go to the Word of God and prayer and get the answers. I know there are delays sometimes, but i never consider them to be the fault of God.
If we could ever “get it” that His love for us is beyond human imagination. His goodness is perfect. And His will is always to heal and restore, then we would have the faith we need.
There are times when any of us feel overwhelmed by the atmosphere of doubt around us – which tries to invade our minds. That’s when it’s important to draw aside to the Lord, and spend time with Him.
In those times if we would just praise Him and worship Him. Then let his Word restore our minds.
He has all the answers – and power to bring his will into our lives. His good, perfect will. We just have to reach for it.
by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
Today and tomorrow we will be doing some catching up on our reading, since we diverted some attention to Resurrection Day.
Judges 4-6
We are now in some of the darkest days of Israel’s history. It’s easy to see that the faithfulness of one generation doesn’t necessarily get passed down to the next. For the next decades, we will see a yo-yo effect happening. “Good” generations followed by “bad” ones, over and over.
Without any real explanation, we see Deborah come on the scene. (I say without explanation, because the society was unmistakably led by men, and here we see a woman rising up to judge Israel). For all women leaders, this should be encouraging, because it’s clear that even in early times, God was using women in leadership.
God speaks with her and gives her prophecy to bring deliverance to the sons of Israel. Barak is to go out against Jabin, King of Canaan. Deborah is so highly esteemed that Barak wouldn’t go without her going with him. So she does, and he does.
With the aid of another woman, Jael, Jabin’s army is thrown down, and Israel is free one more time.
What rejoicing we see. Deborah and Barak celebrate with singing and dancing…and Israel enjoys peace for another forty years.
But then…”the sons of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.”
Can you believe it? Will they ever learn?
Will we ever learn?
Luke 4:31-44
Jesus has authority and power everywhere He goes. He amazes those around Him as He heals all the sick and casts out demons. The crowds have never seen anything like this!
Interestingly, the demons recognize Him and say, “You are the Son of God.” But, rebuking them, He “would not allow them to speak, because they knew Him to be the Christ.”(v.41) Why would Jesus do that?
I think there are two reasons. The first is that Jesus stops many attacks of the devil at their source by stopping the words the demons speak. Since words have power, the demons could have created more warfare for Him – and created more confusion in the people around Him.
The second is related. The kingdom of God is built upon people who hear within their hearts that He is the Christ. Jesus is counting on Holy Spirit drawing men to Him, because only when the revelation comes from the Spirit is the foundation sure. The message is pure.
If demons are proclaiming Jesus, only great discord could be the result. Needless to say, a pure gospel would not be preached in that manner. So the demons are prohibited from speaking of Him.
Jesus and His mission are God’s business. Certainly the devil and his imps are to stay out of it!
by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
Road trip today! We’re taking a trip to Calvary.
It’s Good Friday, and Christians around the world are celebrating the three days of death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. I thought it would be a good time to take a break from our reading schedule and delve into the subject of the cross. Why the cross? And what in the world happened there that made us call it “Good” Friday.
So let’s go to the prophecy which explains it.
Isaiah 53
There are some mysteries here for sure, but this is what we know. When God created the world and gave Adam delegated authority over it, to represent God in managing the earth, Adam blew it! He turned around and sold out to Satan, so that he lost his authority, lost his relationship with God, and set all of mankind on a path to perdition.
For some reason (and this is one of the mysteries), there had to be a second Adam to take back the authority. This man, since the world had been sold out to Satan, had to be a perfect man and had to go into Satan’s very headquarters just as Satan demanded, to pay the price for the sin of the world.
There was a dilemma, however, since there was no perfect man. Satan thought he had everything tied up forever – until Jesus appeared on the scene. He was obviously the Son of God and the son of man. He was born to a woman, but by the Holy seed of God.
Satan was nervous as he saw Jesus represent God on the earth, but he thought, “If I can just kill Him, then, I’ll win.” Little did he know that he was playing into God’s hands. It was God’s plan to have His Son crucified and go into hell. From there, God’s resurrection power would catapult Him out of hell, out of the grave, back to earth, and eventually up to Heaven.
So Satan took the bait, and God’s plan – the plan that was made before the foundation of the world – came into effect.
When we look at the cross, death, burial, and resurrection, all of the chapters we have been reading take on more clarity. God had to raise up a group of people who could bring His Son into the world. (And sometimes this took extreme measures).
He had to teach these people that He was a Mighty God and that He could be trusted. God had to teach them that He was a covenant keeping God, so that eventually we could understand the covenant we have with Him through Jesus.
He had to teach these people about the necessary sacrifice of a perfect lamb. Only then could they – and we – understand the sacrifice of His perfect Lamb, Jesus. He had to teach them that they would not be able to keep the law; only through Jesus would we have the empowerment to obey God.
Lesson after lesson, year after year, our Father led these covenant people to the culmination of all things.
As we read Isaiah 53, we see the prophecy foretelling the cross. (Especially notice verses 4-6). He took our griefs and our sorrows. He took our sin, our pain, our sickness. Oh, this is much more far-reaching than we can imagine!
Jesus paid the price not only for our sin nature, but He made the way for us to escape the result of sin. Sickness, poverty, and pain are all part of the curse which came on the earth when Adam sinned. We have been redeemed from all of that.
We’ve been talking about taking the Promised Land, and this is that! These are promises, but they don’t fall on us like the manna did in the wilderness. These promises are taken through “faith and patience.”(Hebrews 6:12)
To take the Promised Land provided by Jesus, we have to follow the rules of Joshua. “Ever place on which the sole of your foot treads, I have given you.”(Joshua 1:3) We have to put our foot down to receive the abundance.
We still have an enemy who tries to trick us and rob us, but we have a Savior now. Our Savior has paid the price for an abundant life, but we do have to take it.
I am confident that when we get to heaven, we will be amazed to see what He paid for. It’s so easy to get distracted and settle for “whatever comes.” But there is more. Much, much more. If we will reach out for it.
My prayer today is that you and I will meditate on Isaiah 53 until we see beyond what we have before seen. He paid the price for us to go to heaven, and much more here on earth.
“What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits toward me? I shall lift up the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord.” Psalm 116:12-13.
I want my life to be a witness to the goodness of God, don’t you?
