Sunday 30 Sep 2012

Sunday Reading: Judges 6:1-6

Key Verse: Judges 6:4
4  And they encamped against them, and destroyed the increase of the earth, till thou come unto Gaza, and left no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep, nor ox, nor ass.

Devotion:
When we look back on the  life of the Israelites we may think about what they have done and wonder how they ever turned away from God when we see the things that happened to them. We may wonder how they could ignore a God who did such amazing miracles and supplied their every need. Or, if we are in that sort of mood, we could look at what was happening to them at times and ask why such terrible things were allowed to happen to them?

All we really need do is to compare life back then with life now and we will see just how Just our God is. When we conspire to work against Him then we will find that He will do things to stop us working against Him. When we get up and do things for Him then we see how He supports us and guides us. The same can be said for people back then as well; all throughout history the same has continued to be true – God continues to uphold righteousness and to punish sin… because He is just!

Under Deborah and Barak the Israelites tended to listen to God and found that they were able to live a goodly life. But when they started back worshipping other gods and idols they quickly found that God would not tolerate it – especially after several warnings. The Israelites were now hiding from the enemy, trying to hide food from them too because of the robbing and looting. Everything was being taken away from them because they were turning their backs on their God!

Eventually they did the right thing. They cried out to God. That is what God has demanded from the beginning, that man acknowledges that He is the Creator, the one who has made everything for us, the one who wants to continue supplying everything for us, the one we need to depend on for everything. When they did cry out to Him, they had to be reminded of all the things that God had done for them so that they would keep that knowledge with them and learn from it. The same is true for us now because we do still need to remember all that God has done for us from the beginning of time. There may not be any way we can remember it all, but remembering that God is the only God and that He is the Holy and Just one that chose us to love is core to our living with Him and depending on Him.

Points to Ponder:
Do you always acknowledge God?

Do you expect Him to acknowledge you when you ignore Him?