Devotionary

This eleventh episode on the book of Judges takes us to chapter 16 and the less-than-stellar ending to the life of Samson. As has been the case in his life all along, Samson would go out in style. His would not be a simple, quiet passing. He lived life on the edge and his death would be no different. What we have here is a picture of a man who had been hand-picked and equipped by God to serve as His deliverer. But Samson would take the attributes and abilities given to him by God and waste them on serving himself. Yes, he would accomplish some incredible feats for God, but they almost all appear to be occasions where he was attempting to meet his own desires, not Gods. As we saw in yesterday’s episode, God tended to use Samson in spite of him, not because of him. And one of the saddest indictments on this somewhat questionable man of God was his inability to remain set apart to God. By God’s command, his parents had dedicated Samson to be a Nazirite. And that unique designation and lifestyle was not an easy o

In this, our tenth episode on the book of Judges, we’re going to continue our look at Samson, the long-haired, strong-armed, free-spirited Nazarite called by God to judge the people of God. Far from providing us with a poster-boy model of spiritual integrity to follow, Samson gives us far more negative lessons from which to learn. He was a loose-cannon who was always getting into trouble and who found himself accomplishing great feats for God in spite of himself. He wasn’t exactly an icon of virtue or a stellar example of godliness. He was impulsive, self-centered and suffered from a bit of an inflated sense of self-worth. He could be cocky and self-assured. His incredible strength gave him a dangerous sense of indestructibility. He was driven by his passions, and quick to demand what he wanted – from his parents and even from God. To Samson, life was all about Samson. His universe revolved around him. His thoughts were always about him. And everyone else on the planet existed to serve him. So, why did God us

This is episode nine on our study of the book of Judges and it covers chapter 13. At this point in the history of the judges, we meet one of the better-known characters whose exploits are almost super-hero like. Of course, we’re referring to Samson, that larger-than-life character who was renowned for his great strength and long hair. But he also had a reputation as a lady’s man and as a loose cannon, who marched to the beat of his own drummer and who was anything but the prototypical servant of God. But chapter 13 is going to provide us with some important insights into how Samson became a judge. This unlikely hero was actually the result of a miraculous intervention by God. In the midst of all the evil taking place in Israel, God would visit a woman who just happened to be barren. She was suffering with the disgrace of childlessness, a powerful social stigma in that day and age. But God was going to give her a child, a boy, whom she was commanded to raise as a Nazarite and whom God said would save the peopl

In this eighth episode on the book of Judges, we’ll be looking at chapters 11 and 12. I’ve entitled this episode, “A False View of the One True God.” In it, we are going to take a look at an all-too-common problem that the people of God have always faced: A false or incomplete understanding of who He is and how He works. Knowing God insufficiently or incompletely can lead to some serious miscalculations in terms of how we relate to Him. Some of us fear Him inordinately, seeing Him as little more than a vengeful judge who loves to punish wrong-doers. Others see Him as all-loving and completely tolerant of all our faults and foibles. He becomes little more than a doddering old grandfather in the sky who exists for no other reason than to make us happy. Misrepresentations of God are dangerous. Misunderstanding God can be deadly. And the story of Jephthah and his unnecessary vow to God provides a sobering example of what can happen when we fail to know God well. Jephthah was going to make a mistake he would live

This is episode seven on the book of Judges and deals with chapter nine. It’s called, “From Bad to Worse” and covers the next period in the life of the people of Israel. As bad as things had gotten with Abimelech, things were going to get worse before they got better. The Israelites were slow to learn life’s lessons, painfully repeating the same pattern of rebellion against God, followed by the rebuke of God. You would have thought that a few cycles into this repetitive pattern of unfaithfulness and God’s discipline, they would have woken up and realized what it was they were doing that was causing all their pain and suffering. But they were stubborn and remarkably rebellious. No sooner than God would deliver them, they would go straight back to their old ways of spiritual adultery. Pursuing false gods and turning their backs on the one true God. The one thing they had learned to do was call to God when they got into trouble. Isn’t it interesting to note that when all our false gods fail us, we always seem to

Today’s episode is entitled, “The Dark Ages of Israel” and takes us into chapter nine of Judges.  With the passing of Gideon, the people of Israel revert back to their evil ways, worshiping false gods and rejecting the one true God who had used Gideon to provide them with deliverance from the Midianites. Before Gideon’s body had had time to cool off, the people were once again revealing their true natures, rejecting the leadership of God over their lives. In fact, they would choose a far-from-desirable individual to be their king. A man who had murdered his way to the top and exhibited a less-than-righteous lifestyle all along the way. Abimelech was one of Gideon’s many sons and he would prove to be a thorn in the side of Israel. Yet, God would use him in spite of him. God would accomplish His will for Israel, even by using a man who had no business sitting on the throne. When all is said and done, chapter nine of the book of Judges provides us with a powerful lesson in the sovereignty and power of God. It re

In today’s episode we’ll be in chapters 7 and 8 of the book of Judges and I’ve entitled it “Little Is Much When God Is In It.” Those are actually the lyrics from a song made popular by the Gaither Vocal Band a number of years ago. They speak of God’s ability to use our weakness to accomplish great things for the kingdom. When God is the power behind our efforts, we can accomplish great things and enjoy remarkable victories. We live in a world where everything seems to be measured in numbers. We are convinced that more means better. In fact, we say things like “the more, the merrier” and “bigger is better”. But in God’s grand scheme of things, less is often more. That was to be the case in the story of Gideon and his battle against the Midianites. He was already outnumbered and grossly under-equipped to face the Midianite army, and then found himself receiving some less-than-logical directions from God to reduce his forces even further. What God was telling him to do made no sense. It seemed suicidal. But God

This is episode four in our series on the book of Judges and covers chapters 5 and 6. This episode deals with an unlikely hero named Gideon. That’s why I’ve given this episode the title: “The Reluctant Rescuer.” We’re going to find out that Gideon was hand-picked by God, not because he had a lot to offer or had proven himself a well-qualified leader, but because God wanted to reveal His power through Gideon’s weakness and doubt. Gideon was a worrier. He was a fearful man who showed no signs of desiring to be a great leader for God. He would have preferred to have remained in the shadows, living his life in relative obscurity and letting the world go on without him. But that wasn’t going to be his lot in life. He got a call from God. But he didn’t exactly respond to God’s call with enthusiasm. He had his doubts. He even demanded that God give him proof. And God graciously did. But the issue Gideon was going to have to come to grips with was his own inadequacy and God’s power. God wasn’t choosing Gideon because

This is episode three in our series on the book of Judges and I’ve titled this lesson, “Thank Heaven for Little Girls.” I know, that’s a bit of a strange title, but I think you’ll see that it actually fits what takes place in chapter four of Judges. Here we meet Deborah, a prophetess, who will play a significant role in the deliverance of the people of God from the oppression of Jabin, the king of Canaan. Barak, a valiant warrior, was charged with the task of leading the troops of Israel into battle against the Canaanites, but he was reluctant to do so unless Deborah, the prophetess, went with him. But there’s another woman whose name gets mentioned in this chapter. She is Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite. This relatively obscure individual will play a major role in Israel’s victory over the Canaanites. It will be by her hand that Sisera, the commander of the Canaanite army, meets his untimely end. She and Deborah, two women in a culture dominated by men, would be used by God to accomplish His will for His

This is episode two in our series on the book of Judges. It’s entitled “Our Standard Achievement Test” and covers chapters two and three. These two chapters serve as a kind of preface for the rest of the book, providing a backdrop against which to evaluate all that will take place in the subsequent chapters. In chapter two, God reminds the people of Israel that it was He who brought them out of captivity in Egypt and delivered them to the land of Canaan. But He also reminded them that they had been disobedient and had failed to follow His commands. Rather than rid the land of its pagan inhabitants, they had chosen to make alliances with them. And before long they found themselves worshiping the false gods of these very same nations. Chapter two also records the death of Joshua, their God-appointed leader. This led to the various tribes scattering to their own territories to live out their lives separately and independently from one another. There was no king or central government. And on top of that, we’re gi

This is episode one in a new series on the Old Testament book of Judges. Over the next 20 weeks, we’ll be unpacking this remarkable book one chapter at a time and looking at any and all lessons to be learned from this historical account of the nation of Israel, the children of God. The book of Judges provides us with a unique glimpse into the lives of God’s people during a time when they were supposed to be experiencing God’s blessings, but instead, they were struggling with unfaithfulness and disobedience to the one who had delivered them from captivity in Egypt and given them the land of Canaan as their possession. During their years of wandering in the wilderness, they had been led by Moses, but when it came time to enter the land, they were under the leadership of Joshua. He got them into the land, but they had failed to obey God fully and remove the inhabitants of the land. This would lead to all kinds of problems, including idolatry and a rejection of God as their King. The book of Judges is a no-holds-

This is the seventh episode on 1 John, chapter five, verses 13-21 and the our very last session on the book of 1 John. I’ve entitled this lesson, “The Privilege of Knowing God” because when all is said and done and as John wraps up his letter, what John really wants his readers to know is God Himself. That is the whole point of His letter. Because of what Jesus Christ has accomplished on our behalf, we have the unique and totally remarkable privilege of coming to know God the Father intimately and personally. That is the essence of eternal life. It is all about knowing God. It is about relationship, not religion. We were created to have fellowship with God, but that fellowship was disrupted by sin. And there was nothing we could do to fix the problem because we were slaves to sin. Our very nature was sinful, separating us from the One who created us. So, God stepped in and did what only He could do. He sent His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, as a man, to live a sinless life and die a sinner’s death on t

This is the sixth episode on 1 John, chapter five, verses 13-21 and is entitled, “American Idols.” We live in a day when idols are everywhere. No, they’re not the kind of idols we see described in the Old Testament. Ours are much more sophisticated and less blatant in terms of their role as false gods in our lives. Our idols take the form of material goods, entertainment, popularity, pleasure, money, success and our own happiness. But they are false gods nonetheless. Why? Because we worship them. We shower these things with our attention, and place on them our hopes for the future and depend upon them for our needs for the present. But John warns us to be on the alert and to recognize the danger of these God-substitutes. They are everywhere and ever-present. They’re alluring and always subtle in their ability to distract us from the one true God. As Christians, we can even make idols out of worship, Bible study, doctrine, and our own spiritual accomplishments. We can easily find ourselves worshiping the wrong

This is episode five on 1 John, chapter five, verses 13-21 and is entitled, “Knowing God.” In our day and age, and most certainly within the church community, we hear a lot about coming to know Christ. And rightfully so, because that is the essence of the gospel. It is essential that those who are lost come to a saving knowledge of who Jesus Christ was and what He has done on their behalf by providing Himself as a substitute payment for their sin penalty. But one of the things that seems to get left out is why Jesus died. He didn’t just give His life so that we might have eternal life. He sacrificed Himself so that sinful men and women might be restored to a right relationship with God the Father. Sin had broken that relationship. Sin separated men and women from God. Their sinfulness and His holiness could not coexist. So, God sent His Son to pay the penalty for the sins of men, and to offer a means by which humanity could find themselves back in a right relationship with God. Knowing God is the key to our s

This is our fourth episode on 1 John, chapter five, verses 13-21 and is entitled, “Divine Protection.” One of the things John wants us to understand as he begins the wrap-up of his letter, is the reality of God’s loving protection over His children. While we remain in this world after conversion, and find ourselves surrounded by hostile forces and subject to the attacks of the enemy, we are not alone. In fact, John would have us remember that, because of our faith in Christ, Satan, the evil one, cannot touch us. He is held at bay by God Himself. And not only that, because of our relationship with Christ, we have a new capacity to say no to sin. We no longer have to sin. We now have a Spirit-empowered option to do what is right in the eyes of God and live righteously, no longer enslaved to our old sin nature. Oh, it’s still there and it will raise its ugly head and attempt to force its will on us, but because of Jesus, we do not have to keep on sinning like we once did. We are new creations. We have been born

This is episode three on 1 John, chapter five, verses 13-21. It’s entitled, “Practical Prayer” and deals with a matter that each of us as believers should take to heart: Our prayers on behalf of a sinning brother or sister in Christ. Not only are we to take sin seriously in our own lives, we are to care deeply about the sin that we see in one another’s lives. And John tells us we are to pray. We are to lift up our fellow believer to the throne of God, asking that God will give them life. In essence, we are to pray for their restoration to fellowship with God. Sin breaks that fellowship. It puts a barrier between God and the one who has unrepentant sin in their life. We are to ask God to open their eyes to the reality of their sin so that they might confess it and be forgiven by God and restored to a right relationship with Him. Sin in the body of Christ is dangerous. It can spread like a cancer, eventually infecting all those with whom it comes into contact. That is why we are to pray. Prayer is an expression

This is part two in our look at 1 John, chapter five, verses 13-21. This episode is entitled, “Whatever We Ask.” In today’s verses, John is going to deal with the subject of prayer, but specifically our prayers of petition, where we ask for things from God. It would seem that some of us believe that we can ask God for anything and He is obligated to give us whatever we want. This is not only a gross misunderstanding of prayer, it reveals a serious deficiency regarding the nature of God. God does not exist for our pleasure. He is not at our beck and call, somehow required to fulfill our every wish and make all our dreams come true. We exist for God. We serve Him. Not the other way around. And while we are fully free and even commanded to come to God with our prayers and petitions, we are to do so within His will. We are to pray according to His will and in keeping with His desires for us. But to do so requires that we know what God wants. We have to know His will in order to pray according to it. Prayer is a l

This is episode one on 1 John, chapter five, verses 13-21 and I’ve entitled it, “Jesus=Life.” As John begins to wrap up his letter, he appears to be stressing the life made available to those who believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior. The eternal life to which he refers is far more than just a synonym for heaven. While heaven is a significant part of our future, it is not the end-all. A location or destination is not the point of our salvation, but a restored relationship with God the Father and God the Son. It is not so much where we are going to spend eternity, but who we will be spending it with. We will experience unbroken fellowship with Jesus Christ and His Father, free from sin and no longer plagued by the threat of death. But the truth is, we have that unbroken fellowship right now, on this earth. Nothing can separate us from the love of God. He will never leave us or forsake us. We are His adopted children, His heirs – and nothing will ever change that. We have life because we have Jesus. Our etern

This is our sixth episode on 1 John, chapter five, verses 6-12 and I’ve entitled it simply, “Life.” Jesus spoke of eternal life and abundant life. He spoke of a future life to come and the present life in which we live. By accepting Jesus as our Savior, we receive life – not just at some, as-yet-to-be-revealed date, but right here, right now. We are provided with new life in Christ. As Jesus told Nicodemus, we are born again. And as Paul put it, “the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20 ESV). Before Christ, we were dead in our sins. But because of Christ and our faith in His sacrificial death on the cross, we have been made new – given new life and a new relationship with God the Father. Jesus said that He was the way, the truth, and the life. And a relationship with Him assures us of abundant life in the here and now, not just the hereafter. But abundant life does not mean wealth, health, a lack of troubles or a sin-free life on

This is our fifth episode on 1 John, chapter five, verses 6-12 and it’s entitled, “The Blood.” Sometimes, as modern believers, we see the sacrificial system ordained by God in the Old Testament as somewhat barbaric. We have a difficult time understanding why God would require the deaths of so many innocent animals. The very idea of blood atonement is hard for us to comprehend. And there are many today, who view the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross as the work of a bloodthirsty and vengeful God. They cannot comprehend how God the Father would willingly call for the death of His own Son. It seems to be anything but loving. And yet, the Scriptures tell us that Jesus Christ’s death was an expression of the love of God for mankind. Reconciling God’s wrath against sin and His love for man is not easy. Fully appreciating the grace and mercy as evidenced by His Son’s sacrificial death is made difficult by all the talk of God’s anger against sin and the need for a payment to satisfy His just and holy requirements. But