Going round and round with the Lord - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him and what came to my mind and heart in Judges 6:6,

"Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the Lord
for help."

The occurrence of the Midianites impoverishing Israel was brought on
by the Lord himself. He made it happen and it was a result of Israel
turning its back, yet again, on him. In verse 1 we read, "Again the
Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and for seven years he
gave them into the hands of the Midianites."

The question for me is why. Why this cycle is repeated so often in
Israel's history? Could not the Lord fashion out of Israel a people
that would follow him, be true to him and live in his blessings and
bountiful provision? How much nicer might it be to read an account of
a people chosen by the Lord who lived in a way that honored him and
experienced his wonderful blessings! When it comes to reading Israel's
history, rather than having an uplifting and inspirational story, we
have recorded for us cycles of sinful Israel turning its back on the
Lord, then experiencing hardship from the Lord, then crying out to the
Lord for deliverance, and the Lord, in his compassion, then bringing
Israel relief. Then the cycle begins all over again with Israel, yet
again, turning its back on the Lord once the hardship is removed.

Of course, the answer to that is the world we live in doesn't provide
for a people who will be true to the Lord - and it is not just Israel.
It is all mankind. The entire world lives in sinful rebellion against
its Creator. In its pursuit of sin, it has a compunction to turn from
the Lord. It matters not the people of Israel were chosen by God due
to the faith of the nation's patriarchs. The truth is we all have
sinful hearts, Jews and Gentiles alike.

This involvement of the Lord in Israel's history is a message for us
all. That message is that we, as humans, are fallen with a sinful
nature and no matter how many efforts we may make at "reforming"
ourselves, at attempting to live up to rules and laws, we simply are
in a hopeless sinful condition. We need to be saved - saved from God's
own judgment of us for our sinful condition. Saved from our proclivity
to sin, saved from ourselves. The Lord wants us to know this so that
we might reach out to him for the salvation he offers.

In Romans 8:20-21 we read why the Lord brought misery upon Israel and
why he does so to all mankind. "The creation was subjected to
frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who
subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from
its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the
children of God." This is a message for us all. The Lord uses the
futility and hardships in life to draw us to him, that we might reach
out to him and so be saved. He does not want to see us slip from a
life of comfort and ease into the lake of fire his own sense of
justice requires.

Jesus died for our sins. He has made payment that we might escape
God's judgment. God wants us to know of our sinful condition and
experiencing the frustration of our condition, reach out to him and
the forgiveness he provides. All he asks is that we trust in him.

The accounts in Israel's history of this are numerous. My apologies to
all, as there are thick-headed skulls like mine who need to hear it
over and again, as it is in God's grace to make sure I get this very
important message!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to
hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com