“I don’t need anyone telling me what to do!”  How many times have you heard that statement?  Many who have said this probably held their independence very highly.  But we can allow this sentiment to go to extremes as we seen in our lesson on Sunday morning.  The period of time was after the death of Joshua and the Lord raised up one to deliver the sons of Israel from the hands of those who plundered them.  These persons were called Judges and they were responsible to God for Judging and leading the people of Israel.

What we need to realize from this book of the Bible is that two problems existed among God’s people and they were both clearly identified.  The first was that there was no king in Israel (17:6: 19:1 & 21:25) and because of this, the second problem came about in that many were doing what was right in their eyes.  Eight times in seven passages I read that Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. 

This is easier to do when we begin to do things as we see fit rather than what God desires.  Scripture teaches that man is incapable of directing his own steps (Jeremiah 10:23) but is not prevented from planning his them (Proverbs 16:9).  Where we get into trouble is when we decide our way is better than God’s way.  Then we are prone to “do evil in the sight of the Lord”.

One aspect of correcting this would have been for Israel to realize that they did indeed have a King.  Not an earthly king, but a heavenly King who was their Father.  He was a King who loved them tremendously and desired only the best for them.  In fact, His love was culminated in the sending of His Son so that we might be saved.  But that can only happen when we submit to our King.  Determine to serve Him in all possible ways, and to avoid the evil in this world.  Friends, this is a world full of snares and stumbling blocks, all positioned by the one who would keep us from spending eternity with our loving Father in heaven.  Let’s not fall into the same web of sin and evil that those in Judges did.  Accept God as your king and embrace His love and mercy rather than His wrath.

Copyright © 2003, Nolan P. Rutter