Lesson #1,
from the Book of Judges
The LORD had chosen Joshua to succeed Moses as the leader of Israel. In Deuteronomy 3:26-29 we read that God was angry with Moses, and he had been denied the right to enter the Promised Land. We aren’t told what the actual reason for the anger was, but it may have been Moses’ decision to listen to 10 of the spies he had sent to scope out the Land before entering, instead of listening to the LORD. It was only Joshua and Caleb who believed that God’s presence was all that the nation needed to succeed in their new home.
Moses had been a faithful servant for many years, but this one failure to trust was very possibly his downfall. And the next leader, Joshua, would be filled with wisdom and strength to become God’s man in the new nation. (Deuteronomy 34:1-9)
Why is this story so important for us today? In Romans 13:1-7, we read that God has established all authority, and that all who are in authority are God’s servants. It would seem that all who serve in leadership positions, whether in government, or business, or community organizations, or especially in the church, are not the ultimate authority – the LORD is over even them. So every leader should be following God’s desires and commands, and everyone else should be following the leadership of God’s servants! And all will be held accountable for their individual faithful, or unfaithful, service.
Moses followed, Joshua followed, and each of the Judges who were faithful followed. So what is there to learn about faithful service from these leaders? That is what this series is intended to consider! So for the next several weeks, we will be examining the lessons that we can learn from the book of Judges.
Read Judges 2:6-10
Obedience to God was of vital importance for the people of Israel. Throughout the ages, we read that when they obeyed, life went well for them, but when they failed to follow, the result was never pleasant. Failure, of course, wasn’t always followed closely with a negative consequence, but in time, it always has. God gives everyone a chance to repent from their disobedient ways, but unfortunately, few do.
During the time of Joshua’s leadership, there was generally faithful living by the people of Israel. They weren’t perfect, but for the most part, the vast majority had been witnesses to all that their faithful God had done for them, and they did the best they could to follow as their LORD God Jehovah expected them to. But as our passage explains, and as the leadership began to pass away from this life, the new generations had only stories to lean on, but no actual witnesses to Jehovah’s support and blessings that had come to rest upon the nation.
If you have ever wondered just how important our testimony may be for others, now you know! God’s work within our lives isn’t always as obvious as we might expect it to be. When the LORD’s presence isn’t so apparent, and without a solid faith to support us, trust in God can easily begin to slip. And when our faith begins to deteriorate, the change in us will be seen by others, and they may begin to doubt as well.
Read Judges 2:11-15
And wherever there is a void in faith, evil will always become a destructive flood. This is reminiscent of Israel’s time in Egypt. We remember that Joseph, following his difficulties with betrayal after betrayal, he rose to prominence in the nation, and became a favorite with Pharoah. He even brought his family to this land where he had become an honored leader.
The family of Israel lived a good life for years, until the nation’s leadership no longer remembered what Joseph had done to feed the nation during a terrible famine. It was then that “evil” entered the picture, and Israel was turned into slaves instead of honored relatives of Joseph. Egyptian leadership had forgotten all that they owed to Joseph’s family. (Exodus 1:1-14)
Relationships are always built upon knowledge – knowledge of who each other is, knowledge of what the other has accomplished and what it means for you, knowledge that not only makes the relationship worthwhile, but also important and special. After about 400 years, the current Pharaoh had never learned how important and special the efforts and memory of Joseph was for Egypt.
And this is what had happened to Israel – they had forgotten how important God was to them individually, as well as for their nation. And even more important is the fact that the most basic foundation of faith is a firm relationship with God. And without the inherent love and trust of God in their, and in our, lives, evil will always have full reign over us.
Read Judges 2:16-19
The LORD again brought mercy to His people and sent new leaders to show them the way of God. He gave the Judges wisdom and truth to lead the nation in Godly ways, and was their guide and advisor during their tenure of office. Why would God be so generous to such a rebellious crowd like Israel? God’s love knows no bounds, and His compassion has no equal. But it appears that even though the people followed each of the Judges, their hearts just weren’t in it! Judges weren’t with the people as a permanent and successive office. As the tenure of each expired, the LORD gave the nation another chance to follow his way obediently, and each time, they not only reverted to the old ways, but scripture tells us that they became even more “corrupt”!
God’s intent with the establishment of Judges was not only that they would lead the nation and administer His laws, but that they would be examples to the nation of what Godliness in this life is all about. The problem, though, with using humans as examples of what God desires for our life, is that humans are just as imperfect as the subjects of their leadership are! As good as our leaders try to be, we are never as good as the LORD would have us be, and never as good as the people think we should be!
And even if we listen to the Godly lessons of our leaders, the pull that evil has on our lives is still so strong that we very easily submit to the easier, more familiar, and much more rational way of earth, which is exactly what Israel did.
Read Judges 2:20-23
In these few verses, it almost seems as though God gives up on Israel, and in His anger, decides to use others to punish the errant nation. However, God is not a vindictive God, and as far as I know, He never gives up on us! He does test us from time to time, though, to see if we have learned His lessons. At least He has in my own life, and I seem to learn as much from the tests as I do from the teachings themselves.
What these 4 verses tell me is that when we refuse to follow the way of our Almighty God, there comes a time when He will step back, and let us try life our own way. And again, whenever I am allowed to go my own way, it never seems to work out very well! I guess that is part of God’s testing, which just goes to prove that the test is more for the student to learn from, than it is for the teacher to grade us on!
So what are the lessons that Judges brings to us today? Here are some, and you may have even learned a few others:
1. We are all teachers – whether it is of God’s word and will, or the way that earth would have us go. And this life will be the proof of which we are advocating for. So we should always be a witness for Godliness, and not of anything else.
2. We need to constantly work to improve the relationship that we have with the LORD and His ways, and not work to bring His ways into line with our own!
3. A Godly leader is not only a guide and administrator, but more importantly, must be an example of what a faithful follower of Christ should be about.
4. And finally, we must always do our best on the tests that come our way, and never think that we get to grade God’s divine exam, or even that He grades on a curve! There is only one Judge for our life, and there are only 2 test grades – Pass or Fail.
May we never fail our glorious LORD.
