Judges 1-3

All the Days of the Judge

Link to full passage on Bible Gateway

We serve a God who is fully committed to His people. Our God has proclaimed, "I will never break my covenant with you." And He has said, "I will never leave nor forsake you." Our God is always faithful and His mercies endure forever. On the other hand, the people of God have not always kept their covenant with Him. Time and again, they left God and forsook Him for other gods. Why? Why couldn't the children of Israel heed and obey God? When they did they were abundantly blessed. They lived in peace and they prospered. Why were they so inclined to go astray? The book of Judges describes how the cultures of the other nations would constantly influence the children of Israel to choose other gods and other ways over the God of their fathers and His ways. Thus when they turned away from God, they became entangled in sin and oppressed by their enemies. When things got really bad for them, the children of Israel would cry out to God and He would provide a deliverer. But it was always just a temporary fix, because of their inclination to go astray. The same could be said of so many today, for culture is a powerful influence. And so are the desires of our flesh.  Like the children of Israel, we find ourselves in desperate need of a deliverer. Praise God that He has indeed provided us a deliverer -- our Savior Jesus the Messiah!  God sent Jesus to deliver us from our sins and our curses, our infirmities and diseases. And because we have also been given the gift of the Holy Spirit, our delivery from sin is permanent. God's Holy Spirit changes our hearts so that we will walk in righteousness and not in sin. Dear Father, thank you for Your Son. Thank You, that You sent Him to deliver us. How helpless and hopeless we would be without Him! And thank You for the gift of Your Spirit so that we might heed and obey Your words and ways.  How blessed we are that we worship a God who is committed to keeping His covenant with His people, a God who is ever faithful and merciful, a God who will never leave or forsake us.