Today, we are headed to Valdosta, Georgia to be with sweet family in Him and be part of a PTP Spark conference with the good church at Forrest Park. I’m indebted to the family there on many counts, but especially for paving the way for so many Christians to get to go do mission work in Latin America. One of those people who have gone to countries in Latin America and found the evidence of much education and hard work produced from Forrest Park …is me! I’m thankful.
I’m also needing to put my mind and will into the book of Judges–to learn the awful pitfalls of people when “every man did that which was right in his own eyes.” My eyes are short sighted. I sometimes act and react based on what’s happening today and how I feel about that, instead of basing my decisions in eternity. My eyes are often wet with disappointment and pain and I need to look at this book and see the power of the amazing God I serve. My eyes are often needing to close and rest and renew and restore the zeal that Christianity requires. The book of Judges is a great place to realize (when we see those passages that say “the land had rest for ___ years”) that true rest comes to those who depend on the victorious power of God and submit to His will. Oh, I know that was speaking primarily of rest from war. But those battles have their spiritual application in the New Covenant, too. “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” May my eyes clearly see who the enemy really is.
There are so many parallels in the book of Judges to the society in which you and I work to be Christians. Like those people in a land of idolatry, it is easy for us to get comfortable in our culture and begin to blur the lines between the distinctive lifestyle to which we are called, and the affluent, but undiscerning manner of living that characterizes our communities. Through Judges, God calls us to see the importance of adhering to the commands He’s given because He is God and has commanded them, but also, because we are human and we need them! When God commands, He is saying “Help yourself to fulfillment and contentment!”
May your weekend be blessed. May it be all for Him.
