Who decides our blessings? - 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 11:23-24,

"Now since the Lord, the God of Israel, has driven the Amorites out
before his people Israel, what right have you to take it over? Will
you not take what your god Chemosh gives you? Likewise, whatever the
Lord our God has given us, we will possess."

This is the closing argument provided by Jepahthah in his message to
the king of Ammon who had called his army to camp at Gilead to attack
Israel. Ammon's grievance was that Israel had taken land from the
Ammonites when they came out of Egypt. Jephthah's response was that
God gave Israel the land from the Amorites because they had opposed
them when leaving Egypt. We are told the king of Ammon paid no
attention to the message and war ensued. In Judges 11:32 we read,
"Then Jephthah went over to fight the Ammonites, and the Lord gave
them into his hands. He devastated twenty towns from Aroer to the
vicinity of Minnith, as far as Abel Keramim. Thus Israel subdued
Ammon."

I note two important points in Jephthah's closing argument. The first
is that Jephthah acknowledged it was the Lord who had provided the
original victory of Israel over the Amorites resulting in their
possession of the land "from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the
desert to the Jordan." Verse 22. This is an important point for us. We
live in a day where the notion that the Lord has brought about or
provided our nation with success, blessings, prosperity, freedom or
any other advantage we may enjoy is vehemently denied and a thought
that is recoiled from. Just how long does a nation think it might
enjoy what the Lord has provided when it denies and are hostile toward
the one who provided? This is a serious issue today that transcends
politics and religion. This is an issue that may find its expression
in political campaigns, op-ed pieces, Sunday morning sermons and
fodder for pundits but it is being fought out in a spiritual theater
of intense warfare for the hearts and lives of all people.

A second point is that Jephthah declares, "Whatever the Lord our God
has given us, we will possess." When the Lord gives a nation
something, there is a responsibility not only to recognize the giver,
but to approach the possession of it with careful stewardship. Again,
this is another important point for us today. We also live in a day
where we question the validity and appropriateness of what the Lord
has given us as a nation. Consider the arrogance and conceit inherent
in such a thing! Ruthless, overbearing and misguided anti-colonial and
social justice sentiments demand we relinquish what God has
legitimately given us as a nation. If the Lord has blessed us with
something, who are we to reject it? What is his to give is not to be
rejected when he gives it. To do so would be to question God's
fairness, God's justice. To do so would be antithetical to his
purposes and his agenda. Again, the rejection of what God gives a
nation ultimately points to an intense conflict in the spiritual realm
where the hearts and lives of people are at stake. The big picture of
this life's purpose is that God is building his kingdom. Over and over
in the pages of Scripture we read of the acts of God to accomplish
this end.

We live in a day when all trace of God is to be erased from the public
square. No free exchange of ideas are tolerated when speaking up for
the things of God. We live in a day when man questions what God gives
to substitute what fits his own desires. We live in a day when men
feel they know better when it comes to the disposition of life,
liberty and property. Rejecting God's determination of what is an
abomination and replacing it with his own determination of what is
fair and just is pursued in our day.

Just how far will a nation get as our Creator looks on? I refer us to
Jephthah's insights, a man who learned a thing or two after Israel had
had the tar beat out of it by God himself.

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