Becoming A Man Truly

03.27.12

Judges 2.17 17 Yet they did not listen to their judges, for they played the harlot after other gods and bowed themselves down to them. They turned aside quickly from the way in which their fathers had walked in obeying the commandments of the LORD; they did not do as their fathers. NASB

I think Judges is the saddest book in the Bible. I think it’s sad because it displays the decline of a nation which had so much promise and fell so quickly. Now there are a couple clues that help us to understand what happened. One is: “…and there arose another generation after them who did not know the LORD, nor yet the work which He had done for Israel.” (Joshua 2.10b NASB) The other is: “Now these are the nations which the LORD left, to test Israel by them (that is, all who had not experienced any of the wars of Canaan; only in order that the generations of the sons of Israel might be taught war, those who had not experienced it formerly).” (Judges 3.1-2 NASB)

In our lives we are faced with many things that teach us where our heart really is. Sometimes it is pain; sometimes it is pleasure. Sometimes it’s scarcity and at other times it’s abundance. The question is what do these things do to us and how do we respond when they do what they do?

This morning I awoke with this thought: I am truly a man when I am most vulnerable and have only God to come to my aid. That is when I am a man. I am not a man when I am in control of my destiny (God must chuckle when He perceives we actually think that). He must chuckle a lot! I am a man when I trust in the Lord and maintain my unshakable faith in His care and provision. But there are two things that must be in place for me to truly be a man. First, I must know the Lord personally; and second, I must be experienced in war.

The Book of Judges is the account of the apostasy of Israel after Joshua and his generation died. The apostasy happened because the survivors didn’t know the Lord and didn’t know how to fight. If you don’t know how to fight when the bully comes then you are at his mercy. If your sufficiency isn’t in the Lord when the bottom falls out then your only other option is to depend on yourself. That’s what happened to them and what happens to us. So, we must know the Lord and know how to fight.

The key to success then is to know that the Lord is on my side always no matter the pain or disappointment; the prosperity or pleasure. When I accept that, then I know I am being schooled in how to fight. But I must accept that the Lord is always on my side. And part of the fight is learning to accept that. I am only a man truly when I learn to keep my eyes fixed on the Lord and my heart in His realm no matter is going on around me.

And when I finally realize that and eagerly accept it, then my saddest days become my gladdest days knowing that the Lord is truly helping me to become all He’s created me to be. I then become a man truly: walking humbly and obediently at His side.