Lessons from the Old Testament

I have been reading the OT for a bit and am in the book of Judges. Moses has died, as well as his successor, Joshua. The Israelites asked the Lord for guidance when fighting the Canaanites, the first people they were to fight without a leader. God told them how to fight and what to do. They didn’t comply completely with is directions which lead them into worshiping and serving idols. In the upcoming chapters- which were actual living years to these folks, we see the result of this disobedience (more on that another day) but a KEY set of verses jumped out at me:
JUDGES CHAPTER 2: 10 After that (the death of Joshua) the whole generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation grew up, who knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for Israel. 11 Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD and served the Baals. 12 They forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They provoked the LORD to anger 13 because they forsook him and served Baal…

Key words: did evil, forsook, followed, provoked

Because of this God handed them over to raiders who plundered and sold them and…”they were in great distress”. Are you in distress? Then consider their story and see if it looks like, well..you…or me…any of us.

How many times in our own lives do we forsake what the Lord is plainly telling us? DO any of these look familiar?
· He says NO to something we want to buy, and we do it anyway.
· He says ‘Be my hands and give to that person’, and we withhold because “I worked hard for that”!
· He says I miss your fellowship and you say, ‘Yeah but I’m too busy with this new job you provided to me’.
· He says do this in my name and you think…not glamorous enough?...somebody else should do it? …fill in the blank...

God, may you find me on my knees with an open heart and open hands. You, O God are the One that I worship!