April 7 - Ruth1:1-4:12

Good morning everyone,

This morning we come to another one of my favorite books, the book of Ruth. The name Ruth means “friendship” and her story, though short, is a vividly warm story of love, dedication and redemption. 

The story takes place in the dark, uncertain times of judges we’ve just been reading about and begins with Elimelech moving his wife, Naomi, and their two sons from Bethlehem where a great famine was taking place to live in the country of Moab. The Moabites were cave dwellers, decedents of Lot from his two daughters who had tricked him into sex so they would not die virgins and Moab was one of the countries that originally oppressed Israel, so the famine must have been awful for Elimelech to take his family there. Sadly, Elimelech dies leaving his wife a widow with two sons in a foreign land. The boys would marry Moabite women and then they too would die leaving Naomi with the two daughters-in-law. Imagine how heartbroken this woman must have been and she decides she is going to go back to Bethlehem to be with her own people. She encourages the two young women to go back to their own families and while one does, it would be Ruth who would stand by the side of this woman she had obviously grown to love and was faithfully devoted to.

Because the women were destitute, when they arrived back in Bethlehem Ruth went to the fields to collect the leftover grain. It was the law in the land at that time for the corners of the field to not be harvested nor the stalks that were accidentally dropped to be picked up allowing the “poor” to go in and find food for themselves. It was while Ruth was doing this that she caught the eye of Boaz, whose name means “standing in strength”, a sensitive, kind man who would prove to be her hero. 

I love how in 2:10 Ruth asks Boaz, “Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me—a foreigner?” and Boaz told her, “I’ve been told all about you, Ruth” He knew her. He knew her background, her actions, he had his eye on her and knew all about her and despite her background, where she came from, Boaz loved her and would be her redeemer. 

What a beautiful picture of Jesus’ love for us. Jesus knows where we come from and our intentions, He knows our hearts, He knows everything there is to know about all of us. He knows it all, and yet … and yet He loves us. God’s intimate and total knowledge of us and that it is accompanied by immeasurable love for us is so huge that it is sometimes hard for us to wrap our heads around it, to grasp it, but it is the absolute truth we can trust and believe in it. Even typing right now I can see the universe, how boundless it is, and our God’s love is infinitely larger than that. I am reminded of the lyrics of Stuart Townend: “How deep the Father's love for us, How vast beyond all measure, That He should give His only Son, To make a wretch His treasure.” Amen?!

I pray you have a great day, to God be the glory,
God bless you all …

April 6 - Judges 19:1-21:25

Good morning everyone,

Well, this morning the very first thing we read is, “In those days Israel had no king” and the very last thing we read is “In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.” It was a very dark time in the history of Israel, things are now going from bad to worse. Today we will read about rape, murder and civil war in a country that had all but forgotten God.

The story today is of a Levite who had taken a concubine, from Bethlehem in Judah to live with him in a relationship. Having a concubine, though not what God intended, was acceptable behavior for the time. A concubine, often foreign prisoners but could be an Israelite as well, had most of the duties but only some of the privileges of a wife; and though she was associated with only the one man, she and her children with him were not entitled to any inheritance. Anyway, at some point in time this concubine decided she no longer wanted to live with this Levite and went to live in her father’s house to resume her former way of life. But the Levite, despite her promiscuity, missed her and went to get her from the dad’s house and bring her back to live with him again. When he got there the dad was super happy to see a Levite wanting to claim his daughter and did all he could to keep him there. After five days though the Levite wanted to get going and took off on donkeys with the concubine, heading toward the remote area in the hill country of Ephraim where he lived.

Now it is here where things just go off the chart wicked. The Levite stops in Gibeah for the night hoping someone in the town will offer them a place to sleep, as was the custom, and an old man who had been working out in his field saw them out in the middle of the square and invited them in. That night while they were enjoying themselves some wicked men of the city started banging on the door while yelling at the old man to bring out the Levite traveler, they wanted to have sex with him. Hospitality being quite strong in that part of the world, the old man insisted they not touch his guest offering up instead his virgin daughter. Seriously?! But the hoodlums would not listen to the old man so it was the Levite who shoved his concubine out the door, locking it behind him. The hooligans took her, they all beat her and had their way with her over and over again all night long leaving her on the doorstep, in the morning, from whence they got her and where she died before she was found.

From there the Levite would cut up her body into twelve parts, sending one part to each of the twelve tribes which would result in civil war. Man! Hear the words? There was no king and everyone did as they very well pleased, we are told four time in the last chapters of Judges. 

Tragic story indeed, however, the Israelites could have had it all but they took their eyes off God. They allowed the gods of the land to tantalize them away from their Abba and ultimately they became no better than the evil people around them making laws for their own benefit, changing the meaning of scripture and lowering their standards way below what God’s are. Sound familiar? Our country today, is guilty of the very same thing. People, despite what’s going on around us, we must keep our eyes on the prize, not allow our personal standards to be compromised or lower than the bar God has set for us, anything other than that can also end quite tragically. Our God is not a “make you guess” kind of God, nor does He lie. Our God tells us what, as Christians who follow Him, is expected of us and the consequence of choice whether good or bad. Life or death. I challenge you, I challenge us all to take a good look at our lives, are we falling prey to the seductions of the world or are we living each moment with a heart to please God? Unlike the Israelites in those days, we do  have a King to follow and His name is Jesus. Proverbs says 15:19 “The way of the wicked is an abomination unto the LORD: but he loveth him that followeth after righteousness. Right on?!

I pray you have a good day to God be the glory.

God bless you all …

April 5 - Judges 16:1-18:31

Good morning everyone,

Today we begin our reading with a look at how Delilah wore Sampson down. Sampson loved Delilah. The rulers of the Philistines, who thus far, had been unsuccessful in capturing Sampson, knew this and offered Delilah eleven hundred shekels of silver if she would find out the secret of his strength for them. The average annual income of the time was ten shekels so she must have been thinking “score!” Not a woman to mince words she flat out asked Sampson “Tell me the secret of your great strength and how you can be tied up and subdued.” Seriously?! But maybe it was in some playful way she first asked him because he tells her a silly tale, “If anyone ties me with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, I’ll become as weak as any other man.” But she bought it, tried it and of course he easily broke free of the bowstrings. Now, though, one would think that Sampson might be a little suspicious from here on out and maybe even dump his girlfriend for trying to get him killed, but no, he continues to be vulnerable to her as she continues to ask for his source of strength until one day her persistent nagging wears him down and he finally tells her all she has been paid to find out. Note worthy, this is the second time Sampson has allowed himself to be worn down by constant nagging, first his wife and now Delilah sadly this time it would not bode well for him. The Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes and took him down to Gaza where in shackles he would grind grain in prison.

In the end Sampson would wipe out more Philistines in one day than that of his entire life but look at all he gave up in his disobedience to God and it all started so subtly. Where he could have walked down God’s narrow path of obedience he chose to “party hearty,” missing out on so many blessings. Often we allow ourselves to fall prey to flattery, having our ego played to in an effort to get us to compromise our beliefs. Beware! One of the devils greatest tools is constant temptation, nagging lies, saying things like, “Oh just one drink, who will know”, “Everyone else lives together before marriage” or “Does the Bible really say that?” You name it and the enemy is right there trying to woo you away from God with it. Beware!

In chapter 17 we come to a man named Micha. There is no leader, no king in Israel at this time and it is just a little crazy in the neighborhood as everyone did as they saw fit. Now this guy Micha had stolen eleven hundred shekels of silver (curious, the same amount Delilah got paid) from his own mom, probably her life savings. While she is quite naturally not happy about that, not knowing it was her son, puts a curse in the person who stole it. He finds out about this curse and takes the money back to her, fessing up. She is so pleased with him for returning it she has a silver idol made. Again there is so much cRaZy going on in Micha’s house, he adds the god to a shrine he has along with other gods, an ephod - which you remember is the vest a priest wore. To go along with all that, he has installed his own son as priest until a Levite came strolling through town whom he then hired as his priest. He is a man worshiping what he wants and living by the rules he wants to live by. Then one day five Danite spies rat him out and all of what Micha possessed was stolen by the Danites who go on to attack Laish, a people at peace, take over their city and rename it Dan continuing to use the idol they’d taken from Micha, we’re told, all the time the house of God was in Shiloh.

This is a picture of how easily it is for us as mere humans to excuse God out of our lives, turning to any number of false gods or idols to fulfill the void in our soul. Worshiping images of any sort is not worshiping God even if it resembles true worship in some way. Every church is godly in its own sight, because they have a “form of godliness”, their ministers will preach philosophy, politics, worldliness, common sense and basically anything they think will interest you as a trap, using Bible verses and religious clichés in the name of Jesus Christ to do it. But it is only through God of all creation, His Son, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit that you will satisfy the longing in your soul. The only way you will really feel the peace that surpasses all understanding and the absolute only way you will ever step foot in heaven. I would encourage you to not let the world wear you down, nag you into sinful behavior or trick you into serving false gods of any sort. Choose the Truth, choose Life by choosing Jesus.

I pray you have a great day to God be the glory.

God bless you all …

April 4 - Judges 11:29-15:20

Good morning everyone,

As we begin today you will remember that Jephthah, because he was the son of a prostitute and a threat to the inheritance of his brothers, had been thrown out of the town and went to live in the land of Tob where a gang of worthless rebels would join up with him. When the Ammonites began war against Israel they sent for the J man to be their commander, he accepted the position and led an army throughout the land against the Amorites. 

In verse 30 we read of the vow Jephthah makes, offering to the Lord, as a sacrifice, what ever comes out to meet him when he gets home, never thinking the first thing he would see is his daughter, an only child. Because God does not honor human sacrifice, this was a little confusing to me. When I looked into it I found that while some scholars believe the girl was actually sacrificed on an alter with fire others will argue that that is not what happened at all. They will point out that in verse 31, and you will see this in the King James version, you can use the word “or” instead of the word “and” thus having the vow be “I will dedicate to the Lord or I will sacrifice.” I am not going to pretend that I know what actually happened there, that is something that I may never know this side of heaven, but whatever it was one thing is for certain, Jephthah made a vow to God and he kept it and because he is mentioned in the Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11 we can believe he wholly trusted in God.

 Next we will take a brief look at Ibzan, Elon and Abdon. Little is known about these kings aside from the fact they must have had great wealth due to the number of kids and donkeys they had. Now that kind of makes me chuckle but nonetheless that’s the way it was.

That brings us to the sixth cycle of disobedience and Sampson. Though a man hand picked by God, while still in the womb, to be one to fight for Israel in a time of oppression, he will prove to have questionable morals. Sampson was a man of incredible strength, a gift from God that sadly wasn’t always used to glorify God. Sampson would prove to violate God’s law on different levels on many occasions and be weak to the sensuous eyes of a woman. However despite all of Sampson’s short comings, all of his past mistakes, in the end Sampson recognized his dependence on God. He would ask God for his strength back and take down the Philistine leaders.Sampson too has honorable mention in Hebrew’s Hall of Faith.

I love the lesson here, that no matter how badly we have failed in the past, it is never too late to repent and put our faith in Jesus because Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” but 1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” that Psalm 103:12 “as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” and, get this, Hebrews 10:17 “Then he adds, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.” God will remember them no more! I love that promise! Even as we continue beating ourselves up over stupid things we do and have done, God has already forgotten them. Our God is such a loving and forgiving God who longingly wants to have a personal relationship with you and with me, with anyone who desires to walk down that narrow path with Him. We will read how Sampson made some really poor choices but God still loved him and in the end would still hear his prayer of confession and repentance and use Sampson one last time. Our God is an awesome God!

I pray you have a super good day, to God be the glory.

God bless you all …

April 3 - Judges 9:22-11:28

Good morning everyone,

As we begin reading today you will remember Abimelek, the illegitimate son of Gideon, had killed off sixty-nine of his half brothers in order to become the next in line to the throne, totally self appointed.  He was a ruthless, power hungry man, wiping out entire cities that refused to submit to him. In the end it would be an upper millstone which is about 4” to 8” long and about 2 3/4’ to 6” wide, dropped from the roof of a stronghold tower in the city of Thebez by a woman that would seriously injure him enough that he would order his servant to run a sword through him so that it could not be said  that he was killed by a woman. I found it a bit interesting that Abimelek took the lives of his half brothers by putting their heads to a stone and chopping them off and then it would be a stone to his head that would serve to end his life. Coincidence? I think not.

In chapter ten we will read of Tola and Jair who both served just briefly, thirty-five years between them, as leaders of Israel. They were humble active men with quiet, peaceful reigns. But again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord and for eighteen years they would fall under oppression of the Philistines and the Ammonites. When they cried out for help it would be Jephthah, who had been driven out of town by his half brothers because his mother was a prostitute and they did not want him getting even a cent of their inheritance, who would go to battle for them. Jephthah had formed his own “gang” and was a little skeptical when approached with being the head of the army, questioning their motives. The elders of Gilead, however, were able to assure him their agenda was honorable and so it was that Jephthah accepted the challenge. Jephthah sent a message, trying to reason with the king of the Ammonites, but the king paid no attention to the message sent him. Tomorrow we will see that that may not have been the kings best decision ever, but that’s tomorrow.

I just want to say, I like Jephthah. I rather imagine his feelings were terribly stomped on when he was tossed out of the only family he’d known. Let’s face it as a boy he probably ran the streets with his half brothers, laughing while playing tag, kick ball (maybe stone), hide-n-seek or just doing chores and then one day those “innocent eyes of a child” changed and he was looked upon as a threat, no longer welcomed. Oh how that had to hurt. Yet, when he was called upon to help some of these very same people he was able to put all pride aside and protect them.

Being the “bigger person” doesn’t come naturally or easily. It is always tempting to “do to others what they do to you” instead of how in James 6:31 “And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.” instructs us. The only person you every really have control over is yourself. People will be grouchy at you or down right mean at you for any number of reasons that you know nothing about and they usually are not personal. That guy who just cut you off in traffic that you’re thinking “that jerk” about, may very well be rushing to be at the side of his wife who just had a life threatening accident; or maybe the grocery checker with a very unfriendly scowl on her face had her husband walk on her leaving a mountain of debt and collectors knocking on the door and she is beside herself with grief and fear. My point, we never know what is going on in someone’s life or how far a kind word, a smile or especially undeserved forgiveness will go to bless their day. Ephesians 4:32 says “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”  and Colossians 3:13 “Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” We must forgive as we hope to be forgiven, right? Jesus died on the cross for us and so we must die to self for others. That was Jephthah.

I pray you all have a great day, to God be the glory.

God bless you …

April 2 - Judges 7:1-9:21

Good morning everyone,

Today we begin our reading with Gideon, having been convinced God wants to use him, is camped at the spring of Harod with all of his troops 32,000 strong.  But God knowing how easy it is for us to take credit for His work “helps” Gideon reduce the size of His army first by 22,000 and then by 21,700, leaving a scant 300 men to go to war against the Midianites. 

With all of the  soldiers that got sent home so went Gideon’s courage. To say he was intimidated may be a bit of an understatement. I can see Gideon up on the hill all alone in the dark, probably on one knee with his elbow resting on it, his hand cupping his face, rubbing his whiskers while looking down on the Midian camp of approximately 135,000 men, thinking “Oh, buddy!”, but God, of course, was not surprised by this and so He told Gideon to go have a “looksie”. When Gideon did, what he saw were troops of men that were more afraid of him than he was of them and while he was down there checking things out, he found his courage, which we know he had all the time. Right? :-) Then Gideon strategically marched his 300 men down there, positioned them around the camp and with torches in their left hands and trumpets in their right they shouted “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” then stood and watched the Midianites, in their fear and confusion, started attacking and killing each other while trying to flee.

When the men of Ephraim saw what God had accomplished through Gideon they were a little put out, challenged him vigorously and complained about the strategy, asking Gideon “Why didn’t you call us when you went to fight Midian?” But don’t you just love how humble and selfless Gideon was? He essentially told them, “Hey, what we did pales in comparison to your effort” making them feel a part of the victory and very good about themselves. A lesson in “sacrificing ones own interest for the greater good” we should all learn.

Gideon, will go on to pursue Zebah and Zalmunna  the two Midianite kings, and at last, capture and kill them himself as justice for the death of his brothers. The Israelites would then say to Gideon, “Rule over us—you, your son and your grandson—because you have saved us from the hand of Midian.” and I love this, 8:23, But Gideon told them, “I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you. The Lord will rule over you.” The Lord will rule over you! How easy would it have been for Gideon when the Israelites were patting him on the back saying things like “Way to go! You’re the man! You rocked that, Gid!” to let his head swell and think “By golly, I am awesome!”, but he didn’t. Despite all of his fears Gideon recognized the importance of putting God first. 

Many of us miss out on living the “blessed life” because we fail to put God first. In order to receive God’s full blessing in our lives He must come first. He wants us to put Him before our jobs, our money, any of our “things,” even our spouse and children. He wants to be our number one priority. It begs the question, are our lives as blessed as they could be? Am I always, are you always putting God first in our lives? When we put God first, everything else in your life will line up, too. In Matthew 6 Jesus says, “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on.” 

Where God guides, have faith, allow yourself to be blessed and let God provide. Amen?

I pray you have a really good day and to God be the glory.

God bless you all …

April 1 - Judges 3:31-6:40

Good morning everyone,

Today we are going to take a look at two more of the 13 judges, remembering that as judges they did not sit and make decisions on infractions of the law, but rather they were individual leaders God assigned with temporary authority to go in and clean up the mess the Israelites had gotten themselves into by disobeying God’s commands. 

In chapter four we have Deborah the only female judge of Israel. She was a wife, a prophetess, a judge (the kind that did make decisions on infractions) who held court under a palm tree, she was able to make the “tough” decision, and she was courageous. Deborah was an ideal role model for all women called to be leaders though it did serve to show that Israel lacked male leadership at they time.

Israel had been under ruthless oppression by King Jabin of Hazor for 20 years. The Canaanite  army had 900 iron chariots which would be like tanks to us, and there was no way the Israelites, by their own power, would ever be able to overcome them. Nevertheless, Deborah told her assistant, Barak, that God wanted him to take ten thousand men and go whoop some Canaanite bum. Now, Barak whether a coward or just in need of support was definitely lacking faith and told Deborah that he would only go if she went with him and of course she did go. God would lead Israel to defeat Jabin, and a song of praise that Deborah and Barak would sing is recorded in chapter five. I love that they took time to praise God. No matter if we are experiencing a dark and troubled time in our lives or if we are riding high in victory we should always be singing praises to God; He most certainly deserves it and the effect on our attitudes is always positive.

In chapter six we read the Israelites, once more, did evil in the eyes of the Lord and for seven years He gave them into the hands of the Midianites. Once more they will cry out to God for deliverance from their oppressor and once more God will come to their aid. Verse 11 makes me smile. The angel of the Lord is just “kickin’ it” in the shade of a mighty oak while Gideon is threshing wheat in a winepress. Let your mind’s eye see that for just a moment. Picture Gideon hard at work, doing what he does day ofter day. Maybe he has his ear buds in (okay maybe not), but he is hard at work and has no idea that a christophany is happening, that Old Testament Jesus is sitting there, perhaps chewing on a strand of wheat, watching him with the eyes of a loving father, proud of the work his boy is doing and then He says to Gidoen, “The Lord is with you mighty warrior.” I can just see Gideon quickly looking around, wondering “who said that?”, seeing the angel of the Lord and then look around for who He is talking to, because really, wouldn’t you?

Gideon is up for the task but is wanting God to provide him with some signs from above to be sure he is really suppose to be doing what he hears God asking Him to. Some would argue he was testing God, but I don’t believe this is the case. Gideon totally worshipped God in a society that was rebellious and wading waist deep in sinful behavior. No, I believe Gideon was being cautious and just wanting some validation, which is not out of line. Today we have the Bible to validate our actions, Gideon did not have that luxury so he asked for signs to know without doubt he was in God’s will. 

Has that ever been you? Life is a never-ending series of choices, decision after decision and I know it’s been me way more than once. God will ask me to do something or I am looking for direction and I wish more than anything God would send a handwritten note that says, in no uncertain terms “DO THIS”, and though doors are often opened for us or slammed in our faces rarely (okay never) do we get that handwritten note from God, right?. We can rest in the promise, though, that if we are in close communication with God He will communicate with us. Jesus tells us in John 10:27, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” So I would encourage you to be in your Bible and on your knees in prayer and listen for that sweet and gentle voice of God because even without a note or sheep skins wet from dew he is talking to you.

I pray you have a super good day, to God be all the glory.

God bless you …