There is a tendency to believe that God can be managed. Rather than seeking to do as He pleases, the temptation exists to manipulate God into doing what we want. Such was the case with the Israelites and the Ark of the Covenant. The Israelites believed that they could manipulate God into winning the battle against the Philistines by merely taking the ... [Continue Reading]
Parents and Children (1 Samuel 1-3)
Parents have the primary responsibility for the spiritual health of their children. I can't remember just how many times I have had parents tell me that they wanted to allow their kids to make their own faith decisions. While that sounds nice, the truth is that parents are responsible for the faith decisions of their children - to a point. I ... [Continue Reading]
Beauty from the Broken (Ruth)
I really appreciate the book of Ruth because it's a story of things gone wrong that are made right. To begin with, the lack of obedience by the Israelites led to famine, and Elimelech was forced to move his family to find food. And his sons took wives from foreigners - a practice that was forbidden by God. When the boys died, however, Ruth chose to ... [Continue Reading]
How Far? (Judges 20-21)
How far do you have to go before reality sets in? That's really the question that I want to ask the Israelites during the time of the Judges. Thankfully, there was a breaking point. God finally got their attention as they realized the utter depravity of the Tribe of Benjamin in the violation and murder of the woman. The tragedy is that it ... [Continue Reading]
Kingless (Judges 18-19)
As the book of Judges draws to a close, the emphasis on a lack of a king becomes more and more apparent and tragic. The truth is that God wanted to be Israel's king - and the lack of a king really signified a lack of God. A lack of of God led to all kinds of corruption then just as it does now. I don't mean to get on a soapbox here, nor do I ... [Continue Reading]
A Slow Departure (Judges 16-17)
The story of Samson is truly a depressing one from the standpoint that a person who was destined for so much greatness forfeited it all because he let his life be consumed with the wrong thing. He was so consumed, in fact, that he didn't even notice the various warning signs along the path. It's not as though Delilah was particularly discreet about what her intentions ... [Continue Reading]
Character Matters (Judges 14-15)
It's hard to look at Samson as a real hero because of his severe character flaws. From the beginning, he battled temptation to walk away from the path that the Lord was leading him on, and he gave up the very thing that set him apart from others for his future life of serving the Lord: being a Nazirite. Samson displayed great strength when he killed the ... [Continue Reading]
From the Start (Judges 12-13)
The beginning of Samson’s life was nothing short of miraculous. Zorah and Manoah were unable to conceive until an angel of the Lord came to visit Manoah and to bring her news that she would bear a child. The boy Samson was destined for greatness: his life was full of promise. The problem, as we’ll soon see is that, though he was destined for greatness, ... [Continue Reading]
You Can Run, but You Can’t Hide (Judges 9)
The story of Abimelech is really a story of a person being found out in his sins. Life experience teaches us that we can't keep our sins hidden forever, and though we may get away with them in the short term, there will be consequences in the long term. Abimelech thought he was sitting pretty in his position as leader of Israel, but his sins found him ... [Continue Reading]
Against All Odds (Judges 7-8)
The thing I love about the story of Gideon is the length to which God went to prove to Gideon that his army had nothing to do with the defeat of the Midianites. To the contrary, God wanted to show Gideon that He was the victor in the battle and that, in Gideon’s weakness, God’s strength is made perfect. The victory was proof that God’s hand was on the nation ... [Continue Reading]
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