There is a great deal happening in this chapter, three times Israel does what is evil in the sight of the Lord, and three times God raises up a judge to deliver the people when they cry out to Him.
“and the Lord strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done what was evil in the sight of the Lord. He… went and defeated Israel… And the people of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years. Then the people of Israel cried out to the Lord, and the Lord raised up for them a deliverer, Ehud… a left-handed man. And Ehud came to [Eglon] as he was sitting alone in his cool roof chamber. And Ehud said, ‘I have a message from God for you.’ … And Ehud reached with his left hand, took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly. Then the people of Israel went down with [Ehud] from the hill country, and he was their leader. And they killed at that time about 10,000 of the Moabites, all strong, able-bodied men; not a man escaped.” (v12-15,20-21,27b,29 abr)
It seems we are a predictable people, and we see this same pattern throughout scripture:
– we have a right relationship with God
– we sin against God (we are initially born into sin)
– there are consequences
– we cry out to God
– God delivers us
– we return to a right relationship with God
And then the pattern repeats itself, over and over again. I’m not sure about others, but I myself still behave in this way sometimes. Thankfully, God makes it simple for us to return to Him and wipe the slate clean.
“…God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 Jn 1:5b, 7, 9)
Of course the goal is to be more Christlike over time, to sin less by following Jesus more. “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? …just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” (Rom 6:1-2, 4b)
In our current global state of public events being cancelled, and self-quarantine behaviors, I believe now is the perfect time to focus inward on our relationships with God. I’m not implying the world is ending, as some may be implying. What I’m saying is there are fewer distractions and more reasons to stay home, so we may as well take advantage of some alone time with God.
My challenge today is to build some spiritual practices into our lives, and build our relationships with God, in the hope that we will have far shorter periods of sin, and far longer periods of right relationship with God. Israel progressed in the wrong direction, each time they rebelled was a longer period with a greater punishment – let’s learn from their mistakes.
Father God, our Lord in Heaven, King of Israel, great and mighty is Your name. We praise You for Your grace, mercy and deliverance. You do not forsake us forever, even though we deserve it. Thank you for Jesus’ death and resurrection, that made the forgiveness of sin possible. We confess our sin and ask You to please have mercy on us, as we seek to follow Your ways. Father please continue teaching us to love You more, to be more obedient, and to honor You more and more in word and deed. May we learn to serve You more and more, and sin less and less. All honor, praise and glory be to You, our Savior and King, forever and ever, amen.
~ Conqueror in Training