Sometimes God brings us into roles we feel ill-equipped for. He draws us into roles we could never imagine ourselves in, places that require us to believe God’s love to be more than a catchy phrase. He uses what the world would call a weakness as a platform. As we find ourselves stepping into Judges 3 we find the Israelite’s have fallen away from God. Scripture says that a generation rose up that didn’t know the Lord or what he had done, they no longer had a personal relationship with God like their parents did.
Everyone that experienced God bringing them out of Egypt, and could remember the miracles they had seen on their journey have passed away. This generation has begun serving the false gods of their neighbor’s, and did evil in the sight of the Lord- and so He removes his hand of protection and allows their enemies to overtake them.
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God’s Mercy Is Never Ending
One of the most notable themes through the book of Judges in the Bible is Mercy. Don’t see it? Well, hear me out. Time after time we see the people turn their backs on God and embrace the culture, of their own will, they walk away and so God removes His hand from them. The Israelite’s live in bondage and slavery until they cry out to the Lord, and turn back to Him. And He rescues them. Now if that isn’t Mercy I don’t know what is, but He doesn’t just do it once. He does it over and over again. It’s woven through every story in the book of Judges.
Despite their rebellion, their decisions, they’re wandering away from God each time He comes rushing back. Like a loving parent ready to scoop up an injured child. And the best part? He already knows that they’ll fall away again, that they’ll willingly turn their backs on Him and run to other gods. And yet… and yet He saves them anyway.
Forgetting God’s Love To Chase The World
How often are we like this? We forget to trust God, to walk with Him in our daily lives, and then when something tragic happens we come running back. We beg for God to save us from the mess that often we’ve created. Only as soon as God does rescue us, we go right back to living the way we did before. We race back to the things that broke us in the first place, the things that left us empty. And forget about God’s love, we forget about His mercy until we find ourselves in the same place again.
Have you forgotten God, in the hustle and bustle of everyday life? In the business that envelopes each day like a hurricane, maybe you never meant for it to happen. You woke up one day and realized just how far away you drifted. Come back to the one who breathed life into you, experience God’s love once more, and embrace His mercy.
Turning Back To God And Finding Mercy
Each time they cry out, and each time God saves them- knowing that they will break his heart again. Knowing they will walk away again, and yet He still chooses to save them. My bible doesn’t say that God berated them when they finally chose to come back. Or held their rebellion over their heads to shame them, or forgave them only to remind them of it over and over again like so many of us do. Instead, in God’s love and great mercy, He raises up someone to save them.
Throughout the book of Judges God equips ordinary people for an extraordinary mission. He doesn’t call the ones we’d expect, the born leaders, the ones with a following, but the ones many of us would pass over. The frightened ones, the perhaps odd ones, the battered ones, the ones that see life through different eyes. The ones who quietly chased after God despite what those around them did.
Read more of our Judges series here!
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