Judges 2.10 10 And all that generation also were gathered
to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not
know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel. (ESV)
The Book of Judges is one of the hardest books in
Scripture for me to understand – I suppose there isn't that much to understand,
Israel abandoned the Lord and subsequently cycled through many years of defeat
and deliverance under the leadership of various judges. I also look at the Book
of Judges as the beginning of the end for Israel: their future (as described in
Scripture) will be peppered with defeat and deliverance for the next thirteen
hundred years…
I suppose the better verse for me today is not Judges 2.10,
but 2.1 where the angel of the Lord said: “I brought you up from Egypt and
brought you into the land that I swore to give to your fathers. I said, ‘I will
never break my covenant with you..." That gives me hope for the rest of the book is not pretty.
Today I’m glad the Lord has said, “I will never break my covenant with you..." If He won’t ever
break His covenant with Israel, He won’t ever break His promises to me. God always
keeps His word.
My life is probably best described as cycling through
defeat and deliverance. There’ve been times when I’ve failed miserably, and
times when the Lord has shown up in a big way to rescue my sorry a##. Part of
it is age and experience – that being,
age often sheds a perspective on experience that helps me understand the why’s,
the what’s, and the what if’s. Age illuminates purpose and meaning – not always
but certainly sometimes.
One of the first thoughts in my mind as I read today was:
what would have happened to Israel in the
Book of Judges had they had the spiritual gifts described in 1 Corinthians 12?
But they didn't because those were reserved for us later.
These days, I live in days of reckoning. I reckon my life
is coming closer to its close, and I’m learning I am not as invincible as I
once used to reckon. My need for God is only increasing, not diminishing. And
like much of my experience in life, I am trying to use what time I have left to
make up for what time I have wasted. So, I cannot afford to minimize the presence
of the Lord in my life, or in my reckoning.
I can avoid some of the mistakes and missteps of ancient Israel:
I can pass along my faith to the next generation and stick like glue to my
Redeemer and celebrate my deliverance every day. I can rest on His promises and
correctly and effectively use the gifts He has given to help others as this
world grinds to a halt. My Only Hope is Him!
The beginning of the end may not be as daunting as it sounds
– what matters is not the end per se, but how it ends; and in Christ, with
Christ, it ends well. The story of human history and my place therein, begins
and ends in Christ, and the advent of His glorious Kingdom where soon I’ll stand
forever where covenants and promises made are never broken…
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