April 3, 2006 - Judges 19-21 and Luke 7:31-50
Every time I get to read the end of the book of Judges, I am amazed at the condition of God's people. I should not be so amazed since I have read it many times, and because I know the effects of sin, but it always happens. I think we naturally want to think the best of people. However, sin destroys even the best people. Sin disorients us to God, so that we are able to do the most unthinkable actions. That is what we see in this passage, and that is what we see around us today.
Chapter 19 begins with a Levite who has a concubine. We know something is terribly wrong, just from this one fact. However, it gets worse and worse. He likes to party with his concubine's father, and he is prejudiced against the Jebusites, so that he won't even go into their city at dark. I think it is safe to say that this is the picture of one of the better people in Israel at the time, but he is very far from God. He goes to Gibeah to spend the night, but perverted men there want to have rape him. Instead, he gives them his concubine. They rape her, and she dies. He is outraged, so he cuts her into 12 pieces, and sends her body to the tribes of Israel to call them to action. They respond by making war against the tribe of Benjamin and almost wiping them out, so that they have to devise a way of providing wives for the few men who are left, so that the tribe is not eliminated. Do you believe me when I say that sin makes you stupid? There were no winners and losers, because they were all losers. They were all so disoriented to God that they continually made wrong choices. The thing that struck me this morning was their lack of foresight. They did not think about wiping out Benjamin until after it was almost done. They did not think about providing wives, until after they made their vow not to give them wives from their daughters. Sin caused them to miss the will of God at every turn. It always has this effect on people. We must do whatever it takes not to get disoriented to God, and once we are in that condition, we must return to God, as quickly as possible.
Luke 7 gives us two more examples of people being disoriented to God. The Jews of Jesus' day did not accept John, the Baptist, because he did not eat bread and drink wine like they did. Then, they did not accept Jesus, because they thought he ate and drank too much. In both cases they missed God's messengers, because they were disoriented to God. Then, the Pharisee who had Jesus to his home thought he was so righteous. He looked down on the woman who cried and washed Jesus' feet. He knew the Bible pretty well, but he did not understand the message of the Bible about loving God and forgiveness. His life was filled with legalism, but he thought he was right and everyone else was wrong. Jesus set him straight, and Jesus will set us straight if we will listen to Him and to His Word. Let Him reorient your life to Him today, before sin causes you to think or to do the wrong thing.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Ruth 1-4 and Luke 8:1-25.
Chapter 19 begins with a Levite who has a concubine. We know something is terribly wrong, just from this one fact. However, it gets worse and worse. He likes to party with his concubine's father, and he is prejudiced against the Jebusites, so that he won't even go into their city at dark. I think it is safe to say that this is the picture of one of the better people in Israel at the time, but he is very far from God. He goes to Gibeah to spend the night, but perverted men there want to have rape him. Instead, he gives them his concubine. They rape her, and she dies. He is outraged, so he cuts her into 12 pieces, and sends her body to the tribes of Israel to call them to action. They respond by making war against the tribe of Benjamin and almost wiping them out, so that they have to devise a way of providing wives for the few men who are left, so that the tribe is not eliminated. Do you believe me when I say that sin makes you stupid? There were no winners and losers, because they were all losers. They were all so disoriented to God that they continually made wrong choices. The thing that struck me this morning was their lack of foresight. They did not think about wiping out Benjamin until after it was almost done. They did not think about providing wives, until after they made their vow not to give them wives from their daughters. Sin caused them to miss the will of God at every turn. It always has this effect on people. We must do whatever it takes not to get disoriented to God, and once we are in that condition, we must return to God, as quickly as possible.
Luke 7 gives us two more examples of people being disoriented to God. The Jews of Jesus' day did not accept John, the Baptist, because he did not eat bread and drink wine like they did. Then, they did not accept Jesus, because they thought he ate and drank too much. In both cases they missed God's messengers, because they were disoriented to God. Then, the Pharisee who had Jesus to his home thought he was so righteous. He looked down on the woman who cried and washed Jesus' feet. He knew the Bible pretty well, but he did not understand the message of the Bible about loving God and forgiveness. His life was filled with legalism, but he thought he was right and everyone else was wrong. Jesus set him straight, and Jesus will set us straight if we will listen to Him and to His Word. Let Him reorient your life to Him today, before sin causes you to think or to do the wrong thing.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Ruth 1-4 and Luke 8:1-25.