by Cindy Arora
In those days there was no king in Israel.
Everyone did what was right in his own eyes (Judges 17:6, ESV).
Do you get depressed reading the book of Judges? I did.
Judges describes Israel’s dismal cycle of rebellion, oppression, and repentance — repeatedly. The Israelites would forget about God and His commandments. They would marry into the evil nations around them and do evil themselves. God would allow their enemies to oppress them until they turned their face to Him. Then God would raise up a judge to deliver His people. This happened time and time again because everyone did what was right in their own eyes.
The similarity to my own nation is the depressing part. It seems that my nation has forgotten God and His commandments. We have married the world’s ideas and values, and evil abounds. Everyone does what is right in their own eyes. I do see pockets of revival but no national repentance. Consequently, I generally close the book of Judges with a heavy heart.
But not today.
Today I am rejoicing in the example of the book of Judges. God himself left the evil nations around Israel to test them (3:1). That generation had not known war; they didn’t know how to fight. If they had looked back one generation, they could have seen that purity was paramount to victory (Joshua). Unfortunately, they had to learn that the hard way.
I see a parallel in our personal lives. God has left you and me in the midst of evil to test us as well. Will we follow God’s commands? Will we keep ourselves pure in a perverse generation? The spiritual battles are intense. If we don’t know how to fight, we will perish.
This is the lesson that the nation of Israel was learning and relearning in the book of Judges. How about you and me? Have we married the world by accepting their ideas and values? Have we forgotten God? If so, we need only to repent and cry out to God. He has already sent a deliverer to save us: Jesus Christ. No matter how many times we follow the world and forget God, our Deliverer is ready to rescue us, again. That is good news! Now, I am rejoicing over Israel’s dismal cycle of rebellion and repentance because I see in it the infinite mercy of our God. He delivers us time and again. Thank You, Jesus!
