When We Reject God
We are about to enter election season. Many people have cried out over the economic impact of policies and a war that has driven prices to record levels and created widespread financial hardship. In a period of crisis, we are often led to reevaluate the choices we have made in who we follow, that have gotten us into that predicament. In Judges 2:6–15, we find Israel transitioning from a period of blessing due to their obedience to God, and into a period of oppression and enemy attack because they moved away from God. And not only did they move away from God, but they began worshiping foreign gods. God would not allow that idolatrous worship of foreign gods to go unchecked and He allowed their enemies to overtake them. I pray that we understand the importance and benefit of a relationship with God that is obedient to Him and puts Him first. Amen.
After Joshua had dismissed the Israelites, they went to take possession of the land, each to their own inheritance. The people served the LORD throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had seen all the great things the LORD had done for Israel. (Judges 2:6-7)
Following on from Joshua 24 and Israel’s covenant renewal, the Israelites went back to their respective tribes’ inheritance and continued taking possession of the land. They served the Lord through the remaining lifetime of Joshua and the elders who knew the LORD.
Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of a hundred and ten. And they buried him in the land of his inheritance, at Timnath Heres in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash. (Judges 2:8-9)
Joshua lived to 110 years old and was buried in Ephraim, his tribe’s Promised Land inheritance. This begins the period of leadership on a regional level by Judges.
After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for Israel. Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD and served the Baals. They forsook the LORD, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They aroused the LORD’s anger because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. In his anger against Israel the LORD gave them into the hands of raiders who plundered them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist. Whenever Israel went out to fight, the hand of the LORD was against them to defeat them, just as he had sworn to them. They were in great distress. (Judges 2:10-15)
After the deaths of those who had witnessed God‘s miraculous acts on behalf of Israel, as they conquered the promised land, and had renewed their covenant with God, the next generation of Israelites began worshiping other gods. They forgot the covenant that Joshua had Israel to renew at Shechem. They worshiped the gods of those people that were around them in Canaan, and God‘s ire was aroused because of their unfaithfulness and disobedience. As a result, God not only did not work on their behalf, He gave their enemies success against them. God‘s actions were consistent with the curses He had promised to bring upon Israel if they chose to worship other gods.
Conclusion
The second chapter of the book of Judges speaks to the transition of Israel from the leadership of Joshua, which was a national form of leadership. He led them to obedience to God. Under a new regional form of leadership (Judges), Israel had widespread disregard of any continued obedience to God and they began worshiping foreign gods. That is a cycle of spiraling into sin that is repeated throughout the book of Judges. The people would disobey God, and move away from Him to foreign gods. They would be attacked and oppressed by their enemies. They would then cry out the God for relief, and God would send relief to them through the actions and leadership of various judges. Once the Israelites were relieved from the oppression of their enemies, they would worship God for a little while, but then start the cycle all over again of drifting toward idolatry and worshiping foreign gods.
It is a continuing cycle of worshiping other “gods” and then crying out to God when those other gods lead us into disaster, that we still see and experience in the behavior of people today. God is not pleased when we put other things ahead of Him. He is a jealous God, and He will have no other gods before Him. Things go best for us when we remember to do what the Israelites in the book of Judges continually forgot…. Get rid of those things that stand in the way of our relationship with God and make sure nothing causes us to abandon worshiping Him alone. Worshiping other things comes with consequences, and ultimately, those consequences could become eternal. Because rejecting God means rejecting his blessings, His grace and His offer of salvation!
Blessings, Rev. Glenn
