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.