I started reading Judges yesterday as part of the bible reading plan my church is doing. As I read how the Israelites rejected God and embraced paganism, I was struck by the mercy and love of God reflected toward Israel, the covenant people of Yahweh. Generation after generation rejected God and God every-time allowed them to taste the true nature of paganism – bondage. Of course, each generation cried to God for deliverance from their bondage, and God listened and answered by raising up a judge to deliver the people from their bondage. Wow! The love and grace of God is clearly on display in the Old Testament. If I was a god, I would have crushed the first generation that rejected my authority as a god. It is simply amazing that God even has relations with sinful humans who are almost always guaranteed to reject his loving kindness!
Today, we are a generation that has rejected God like every generation before us and traded the beauty of God for our pagan pursuits. God allows us to taste the true nature of our paganism, and we are forced to cryout to Yahweh for delieverence. God graciously has raised a judge to deliever us who were not his people from our bondage. The book of Judges illustrates the need of every generation for a perfect Judge. This Judge is Jesus the Christ. The OT judges were temporary and died with their generation, but the true Judge is permanent and lives to deliver every new generation from their bondage. May I look to the true Judge for deliverance from my bondage and point others to look to him as well. Thank you Jesus for being our Judge this year 2009.
