God Uses The Overlooked

Day 3- Please read Judges 3:16-25

No doubt this passage is…different J GOD uses all kinds of people and all kinds of circumstances to make all kinds of changes. Ehud was “a left-handed man” which in his society was considered a handy-cap (he actually may have been unable to use his right hand). It is encouraging to know that GOD can and does use people whom the world overlooks for HIS glory and purposes. What in your life seems to be a “disability”, “problem” or “handy-cap” that might be keeping you from doing great things for GOD? Please take time to ask GOD for a new perspective and ability to see what you have in life as opportunity to serve GOD and others. Nobody saw Ehud as a threat, but GOD used him as a deliverer. This is common for GOD. Trust HIM.

S.O.S.

Day 2- Please read Judges 3:15

“Cried out to the LORD” Israel was in big trouble and they cried to GOD. When was the last time you sent GOD an “SOS” call for help? How did HE answer? Where in your life would you like to experience GOD’s help today? Maybe it is on behalf of someone else that you are crying out to GOD. Please take time right now to cry out to GOD and then listen for HIM to respond, watch for HIS hand of deliverance, wait on the LORD.

Consequences

Week 3

Day 1- Please read Judges 3:12-14

Consequences! At the least, consequences are bothersome and frustrating; at the most they are overwhelming, oppressive and painful. In actuality, GOD has made consequences a blessing. For example, you find yourself speeding while driving, an officer also finds you speeding while driving. He pulls you over; you either get a warning or a ticket. Now, we all are pulling for the warning, but realistically, the ticket gets our attention much more effectively. A very easy argument can be made that a ticket will help curb speeding more than a lecture will. How about a car accident being more effective in curbing speeding than a ticket (although if you were at fault you’d get both)? Either way consequences are an opportunity to change behaviors (maybe even your heart) that are harmful to yourself and others. Rather than fight consequences, learn from it, be changed by it, thank GOD for it. Proverbs 3:11-12 says it like this; My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline, and do not resent HIS rebuke, because the Lord disciplines those HE loves, as a father the son he delights in.

Definition of Insanity

Day 5- Please read Judges 3:12

Remember that definition of insanity, doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results? As we have previously seen, Israel repeatedly “did evil in the sight of the LORD” and every time they were disciplined for it. With today’s verse we see the definition of insanity being played out…again. Take time today to pray and evaluate if you have an “insanity cycle” going on in your life. Are you stuck in a cycle of repeated disobedience to GOD? Maybe it is in relationships with others; anger, immorality, jealousy or ignoring a good you can do. Maybe it is in what you are doing with your money or not doing with your money. Maybe it is something entirely different. If the LORD brings something to mind, ask for forgiveness, repent (stop doing it and start obeying GOD) and begin to enjoy the breaking of that “insanity cycle”.

Peace and Rest

Day 4 – Read Judges 3:10-11

Do you feel rested?  Life is hectic and peace or rest can be elusive with all that is going on in our lives.  Rest and peace were pretty elusive for the Israelites as well but not because they had too much going on, but instead, because they were frequently turning away from God.  Could that be our problem too?  Is it possible that we don’t feel rested or at peace because our focus isn’t on God?  There are certainly things that we must do (i.e., work, pay bills, buy groceries, etc.) but so much of our time is filled with other things that seem to take priority over God.  When the Israelites turned to God and followed Him, they had rest and peace.  Take a look at your priorities today, where is God on that list?  Make it a priority to spend time with God; in His word, in conversation.  Make Him THE priority and ask Him to give you peace and rest.

Cry Out

Day 3 – Read Judges 3:9

Who do you cry out to when you are in trouble or hurting?  Do you turn to yourself or to God?  The Israelites “did evil in the eyes of the Lord” and the “anger of the Lord burned against” them.  As a result, God allowed them to be subjected to the rule of others for eight years.  The text doesn’t make it clear when the Israelites cried out to God but the implication is that after eight years they cried out to God.  What about you?  Have you ever cried out to God and admitted that you need help, that you can’t save yourself?  Too often, we get into a mess and we try to fix it ourselves and maybe when we have exhausted all of the options that we can see, then we turn to God.  Why do we do that?  Why do we wait to turn to God?  Did you notice what happened when the Israelites finally turned to God?  He sent them a deliverer that saved them.  Don’t you think they would have liked to have been saved sooner?  God loves us and longs for us to be safe.  We may not ever be subject to others like the Israelites were here, but, without the saving grace of Jesus, we are slaves to sin.  God has sent us a deliverer as well.  If we were subject to slavery, we wouldn’t refuse to be saved, yet, so many people refuse to be delivered from the bondage that they are in.  Are you stuck in sin?  Have you refused to be delivered from the mess that we all have been born into?  God sent us a deliverer in His son, Jesus Christ.  Stop trying to rescue yourself and turn to the ONE who can deliver you.

Why Are You Angry?

Day 2 – Read Judges 3:8

What do you get angry about?  It is pretty easy to get angry or frustrated about things, isn’t it?  Some people have a really long list of things that they are angry about and others go with the flow and aren’t bothered by as much.  Whether you are easily angered or not, we all get angry at times.  Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount “that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment” (Matthew 5:22).  So is there such a thing as righteous anger or anger that is justified?  Certainly if God gets angry, like He does in today’s passage, or if Jesus gets angry, like He did in the temple when He overturned tables, then there must be times when it is okay to be angry, right?  Frequently in the book of Judges, God’s people continue to turn from Him and disobey His commands causing Him to become angry with them.  But, is it OK for God to be angry? God's people have repeatedly turned their backs on Him and done evil and because God is a loving and good father, He allows His people to suffer the consequences of their behavior.  God loves us and because He loves us, He will allow us to do our own thing, even if that is turning from Him.  But, He also loves us enough to take us back and forgive us as soon as we ask Him to.

What do you get angry about?  Why are you angry about those things?  There are many things that make us angry but too often we get angry because we aren't getting what WE want.  Those instances tend to lead to responses that are different from what God models to us.  While we are sometimes right to be angry, our response should be one of love.  Ask God to reveal to you where you are wrong in your anger and your responses to your anger.  As He reveals those areas, repent, seek forgiveness if necessary and ask Him to change your heart.

Out of Brokeness

Day 1- Read Judges 3:7

As we continue in the book of Judges, we will see that this is a recurring theme for the Israelites.  Unfortunately, it is a recurring theme for us as well.  As we talked about last week, evil is anything that is not in God’s will and because we are, at best, a work in progress, we won’t be free from doing evil until we go to Jesus or until He comes back.  Since the fall of Adam and Eve in Eden, we have been broken.  Our nature is to do our own thing and some of us choose to live in that brokenness and either not care that we are broken, not know that we are broken or refuse to believe that we are broken.  Others of us realize that we are broken and know that there has to be more but we aren’t sure where to find it.  Others of us know we are broken and recognize Jesus as the only way out of that brokenness. Whether we recognize our brokenness, our evil, or not, doesn’t change the fact that just as the Israelites did before us, we too do evil in the sight of the Lord.  Take an honest look at your life.  Where are you doing evil in the sight of the Lord?  Confess that to Him and ask Him to help you overcome those sins and struggles and to keep your eyes fixed on Him.  The good news is that this doesn’t have to be the end of our story.

Undeserved Gifts

Day 5 – Read Judges 2:18-19

Have you ever received a gift that felt undeserved? We’re talking seriously unwarranted here.  Maybe you even deserved some sort of punishment but you received a gift instead.  How did you respond or how would you respond?  In today’s reading we see the amazing response of God to the continual turning away of His people.  The Israelites time and time again turned away from God and did their own thing and while God allowed them to do that and at times allowed them to suffer the consequences, He is so loving and kind that He extended them grace.  The Israelites did nothing to deserve the grace of God.  Sure, there were times when they followed Him, but there were also plenty of times when they turned away from Him.  What about you, what is your response to unmerited grace?  Shouldn’t the response change based on the magnitude of the gift?  As we wrap up the first week of this devotional and get ready to move into 7 more weeks looking at the book of Judges, know this; you are loved by the creator of the universe.  The same God who extended this grace to the Israelites has extended His grace to us through His son Jesus Christ.  Do you respond like the Israelites in verse 19 or do you respond with a life of obedience and gratitude to God?

What/Who Do You Worship?

Day 4 – Read Judges 2:11-17

Do you know any who worships or serves Baal?  What about the Ashtaroth?  Probably not.  In fact, it is likely that most people who admit to worshipping anything, would say that they worship God.  As a result, today, we mostly think of idol worship as something that happened in the past.  Similarly, most people would admit that there is evil in our society but would probably also feel that evil is largely isolated to a small percentage of “bad” people and isn’t exhibited by the majority of people.  We tend to have pretty small specific boxes for things like idol worship and evil.  Idol worship includes little gold figures that we bow to and evil is reserved for things like murder, rape, kidnapping and molestation.  But those are narrow views of idolatry and evil.  If you were to do an honest assessment of our society, what would you say we worship?  Is it God, or something(s) else?  The truth is, God is on the list of many, many things that we worship but He is far from the only thing.  We worship all sorts of things like; people, T.V., movies, sex, sports, food, cars, money, success……  We were created to worship and we all do it and sometimes God is the object of that worship but rarely is He THE object of our worship.  While we underestimate the number of things we worship, we also tend to minimize what we consider evil.  Usually evil is stuff that other people do but not stuff that we ourselves do.  But really, evil is anything outside of God’s plan, aka sin, all sin.  Take some time to think about your life; are you worshipping anything other than God (i.e., your family, your hobbies, your money, your stuff, etc.), are you ignoring God’s will in any area of your life?  When/if God reveals things to you, repent of those things and ask God to help you worship Him alone and follow His will for your life.

Fill Up and Pour Out

Day 3 – Read Judges 2:6-10

Have you ever taught a person or a group of people a lesson or a skill and then later (weeks, months, years) see them act/behave/live as if they had never even heard the topic let alone be specifically taught that lesson or skill?  If you are a teacher, coach and/or parent, you are probably responding with a resounding yes.  This is a frustrating situation that unfortunately is all too common.  So who is to blame?  Did the teacher do a bad job teaching or did the student do a bad job learning?  In today’s reading we read that Joshua and his generation served the Lord and knew of His great work, yet, the following generation neither knew the Lord or what He had done.  How does that happen?  Did Joshua and his generation do a great job of following but a bad job of leading?  Or, did the next generation do a bad job of paying attention and learning?  The answer is likely….both!  What a great reminder for us today though.  We are not merely called to be disciples of Jesus, but instead, disciple making disciples.  Part of following Jesus is to reach other people for Jesus and teaching them to obey Him.  Who are you pouring into?  Ask God to show you who you can be praying for, telling about Jesus and helping them to follow Jesus.  But we also don’t have all of the answers and we all need help ourselves.  Who can you learn from?  Ask God to show you who you can walk with to learn what it means to follow Jesus.  We can’t make someone decide to follow Jesus and then live out that decision.  However, if we strive to be poured into and to pour into others, we won’t repeat the tragedy of a generation growing up without knowing the Lord or of His great works.

Partial Obedience is Disobedience

Day 2 – Read Judges 1:27-36

Have you ever done something half way?  Probably a silly question, haven’t we all cut corners or done part of a job without completely finishing it?  A better question is probably, what were the results?  Perhaps you did something half way and nobody ever knew.  Or, perhaps you did half the job but made it look like the whole job was done by covering some things up.  Sooner or later the half job tends to get exposed and often times ends up creating even more work and/or damage than if it had just been done fully and correctly in the first place.  The Israelites were told by God to drive the inhabitants of the Promised Land completely out but as we read, they didn’t do that, they allowed them to stay in the land.  We don’t know why the Israelites disobeyed this command maybe; they were too lazy, too tired, too compassionate, etc.  Maybe they thought God’s command was unfair, even mean.  Whatever it was, they only did part of what God told them to do.  That’s a dangerous place to be; partial obedience.  To a lot of people, the Bible feels old and outdated so we take it upon ourselves to make updates.  We decide which parts God really really means and which parts are open to our “updates”.  This results in partial obedience to God.  We live in a culture that tends to pick and choose which parts of the Bible we are going to believe/follow and which parts we are going to disregard.  Are you partially following God?  Ask God to reveal any areas where you are only partially following Him and as He reveals those, ask Him to help you follow Him completely because parital obedience is really disobedience.

Who Will Go?

Throughout our series on the book of Judges, "Part-time Heroes: Ordinary People, Extraordinary God" we will be offering a daily devotional here on the blog that corresponds with the sermon from the previous Sunday.  This past Sunday we did an overview/intro of Judges from chapter 2 of Judges, so this week the devotions will come from the first couple of chapters.

Day 1 – Read Judges 1:1

Think of someone that you have followed.  Maybe it was a parent, perhaps a coach, maybe a mentor or boss.  We have all followed someone or probably even multiple people at various stages of our life.  But what happens when we are no longer able to follow that person?  Hopefully, the person we’ve been following has prepared us to no longer need them; they have readied us to act on our own behalf knowing that some day we wouldn’t have them to rely on.  The Israelites had been following Joshua and had been beneficiaries of his victories against the Canaanites.  However, part of what God had told the Israelites to do, occupy Canaanite territory, hadn’t yet been completed and their leader was now gone.  What were they to do?  Had Joshua prepared them to face the challenges ahead or had he done everything for them?  We all can and should learn from others, but, there is a difference between following to learn and following so we don’t have to do anything ourselves.  The same is true in our relationship with Jesus.  It is easy to allow others to go before God for us (a pastor, spouse, friend, parent, etc.); they pray, they read/study and then summarize it and wrap it up in a bow for us while we don’t do anything on our own other than listen to them.  While those things can be helpful in guiding us and teaching us, God wants us to come to Him directly, to pursue Him directly.  Go to God now and ask Him to lead you and show you where He wants you to pursue Him more deeply.