Judges 2

 

The Angel came and warned them. The people wept and offered sacrifices, but didn't do what the angel said. They didn't get up and drive out the people the angel said were the problem. They felt bad but didn't do.  The question comes to my mind: What good did their weeping and sacrifices do? Nothing. It reminds me of the abusive spouse when drunk, apologizing later, but then drinking again. What would we tell someone in that relationship? Dump them. God does and doesn't. This reminds me of the warning James gives in the New Testament:

  James 2:14What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? 15Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

18But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”

Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. 19You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.

20You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? 21Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 23And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. 24You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.

25In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? 26As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

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Judges 1

 

When this chapter opens, Judah is being blessed by God, and they are having victories. They ask the tribe of Simeon to join them, but when we get to verse 19, they find they can’t get victory. It is recorded that they couldn’t overcome the iron chariots, which was true, but what we don’t see is them calling on God here or asking for more help from the other tribes. They started off good, but when things changed and it got harder, they quit. How human, let us learn from them and when victories stop to seek God and maybe even help from our brothers and sisters in Christ. 

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Love Unites, Hate Divides! (Maybe not)

Love is a powerful emotion and an even more powerful choice. We can overcome prejudice, weakness, and fear when we choose to love. The problem is, we can also twist love to mean something it isn't. In Greek, there were four words for love, whereas in English, love comes in only one word. To say it another way, the Greeks would disagree that love is love. 

This is just the top of the way people often look at love. One big idea that has been promoted is that love unites and hate divides. This sounds really great, but it falls short on real examination.  Looking at scripture and history, I could say just as easily that Hate unites and love divides. 

God is love, but it is clear that doesn't mean that he tolerates sin in his presence, a separation. Jesus showed love, but he too spoke of people being divided from God. Shockingly, Jesus also said in Matthew 10:34-36, “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, -- a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household." If that isn't division, I don't know what is. 

Often, people think that love means we don't correct or disagree. The Bible speaks of love motivating God to discipline us and tell us we need to change. Which, in the West, isn't called loving. However, even in The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli (a very un-Christian political theorist) says it's better to be feared than loved because someone can love you and not obey or even work against you because of that love. Love doesn't leave us as we are and it can divide. 

Hate, on the other hand, can divide, but it can also unite. Nothing unites people like a common enemy. WW2 brought together people who despised each other so they could fight against someone they hated. Even the "Love unites" (meaning, celebrate me even if it's a sin) groups are often united in hate against those who disagree with them. 

Jesus speaks of what seems to be a paradox in many people's minds. He says love your enemies, but also to choose Him over family, money, and power. He wants unity in his body according to Scripture, but also for us to be separate from the world without being separated from the world. The Scriptures say that hate towards people destroys and that human anger doesn't produce the righteousness of God. Yet, we are to hate the world's system and our own sin. If we want to define love as tolerance, then what the Bible says doesn't make sense, but when we see love as a choice to seek the best in ourselves and others, then it does. 

Let's define love and hate in God's way.

Jeremiah 10

 One of these things is not like the other. This phrase is often used to point out what should be an obvious difference in things. Jeremiah is saying, Look at the gods the nations around are worshiping. They are nothing but wood and metal that people create. They don't talk or have power. God, on the other hand, made the universe. He is uncreated. The obvious answer is, Why are you worshiping these things? Today, we in the West may not worship carved idols, but often we do worship or at least serve Idols we make with our own hands. We serve money, family, organizations, and countries that men have made, and they are just as foolish to worship as an idol made of wood.

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1 Corinthians 7

 

I read this chapter in a morning Worship service and was challenged once again about my relationship with God. The leader of the group pointed out that as we read this Scripture, we see that since marriage is a covenant relationship, our Spiritual life isn’t just us and Jesus. Our spouse is part of this. If marriage is what it should be, then our salvation is between ourselves and Jesus, but our life, including our spiritual life, is bound with this other person. We can’t say that our marriage is separate from our spiritual life because our spiritual life should be our life; there is no divide. 

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1 Corinthians 6

 Paul is confronting people who are saying My body is my own, I can do what I want with it, besides, it's going to be destroyed anyway. Paul makes it clear that our bodies aren't our own if we are Christians; they belong to God. The only way your body is your own, and therefore especially when you sin sexually, you are sinning against your own (God's) body. The more we discover about sex and sexually transmitted diseases, the more we have proof other than the Scriptures to point out that this is true. So what do we do with these bodies? Honor God with them, just as we are to honor God with every other area of our bodies. 

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Psalm 68

 This psalm pictures God in triumph over all. However, we see in verse 18 a scripture that Paul repeats in Ephesians 4. In ancient times, when a king was victorious, he would give gifts to those who served him faithfully. David and Paul both see that God will, and in Paul's case, has done this. This Psalm gives a promise, but I'm sure that David could never have imagined the gifts that Jesus would give. These gifts of the Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Pastor, and Teacher are given not as rewards to bring pleasure or fun but as tools to help us become all God wants us to be. It reminds me of the gifts Father Christmas gave the Pevensie children in CS Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia. God knows what we need and gives it to his people, and rarely what we may like but would diminish us.

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Psalm 67

This psalm tells us that God blesses us so that the world may fear Him. This sounds a little strange, but if we remember that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, then this is actually a gift. God blesses us, and seeing the power of God in action can bring fear. We see this in Joshua and see two different results. God blessed Israel and protected them, causing Rehab to help the spies and turn to the God of Israel, but the others feared and locked up the city or fought against Israel. The gift is there, what we do with it is up to us, will we or others let it draw them to God or drive them away? 

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Joshua 24

"Choose whom you will serve" is a command repeated in the Scriptures. Joshua makes it very clear to me that you can't serve God and something else. The problem was that Israel did this often. Jesus in the New Testament said you can't serve two masters. Joshua makes it clear that God drove out those who worshiped false gods before, so he is saying that gods can't save you, and eventually God's judgment will fall. The only real choice is to choose God, but it isn't easy, but nothing worthy in life is. To quote from Teddy Roosevelt:  “Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty… I have never in my life envied a human being who led an easy life. I have envied a great many people who led difficult lives and led them well.”

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Jeremiah 9

 If we are going to boast, God says it should be because we know Him, the God of kindness, justice, and righteousness. I find these three things listed here interesting because they are shown in Jesus. Jesus showed kindness and mercy, but he also called for righteous living and showed God's justice in both word and deed. Ultimately, we see all three on the cross. 

The last thing in the chapter, I note, is that God says he will bring judgment on those who are only circumcised in the flesh and not the heart. Most spouses want more than just their partner to wear a ring, and God wants more than an outward sign. Here is a reminder that it is what is on the inside that matters. We just can't look good on the outside or have the right outward appearance (circumcision, church membership, ethic group, etc). 

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1 Corinthians 5

 Paul, as he ends this chapter, says something that many struggle with. Paul says not to associate or even eat (probably the love feast) with someone who is immoral, greedy, an idolater, a slanderer, a drunkard, or a swindler. The caveat is that these are people who are in the church. This is doing the opposite of what Paul said they were doing earlier, and that was having pride in the sin. Those who aren't Christians we aren't in judgment over, but if they want to claim Christianity and live in sin, according to Paul, we are to say No, thank you to any action which may give that person the feeling that they are okay living that way. In the West, at least, we would like to focus on the sexual sins, but that is one of six; if we are going to hold to the one, we have to keep to them all. 

The one that really stands out now is avoiding those who are slanderers (loídoros – reproach (reviling); used of injuring another's reputation by denigrating, abusive insults*). We live in the West with a culture that is filled with people who insult each other and celebrate them. We speak the truth, but as Christians, we should not attack reputations or be demeaning. This means that name-calling is not right. We shouldn't be calling people bigots, ___pobias, extremists, etc. I understand that Paul does speak of groups as being like dogs, but I don't see Paul using slander to attack a specific person. We need to guard our tongues, which is very scriptural. 

* https://biblehub.com/greek/3060.htm

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1 Corinthians 4

 "I don't think I've done anything wrong, so who are you to say otherwise?" I have heard this and things very similar from people to excuse behavior that is clearly regarded as sin in the Bible. Considering Paul's words, "My conscience is clear, but that does not vindicate me," it is clear that our conscience can not be our guide. Our conscience can lie. It is the Lord who judges me." Paul warns in 1 Timothy 4:2 that some people's "consciences have been seared as with a hot iron." Paul, in this verse, ends with who the ultimate judge is: "It is the Lord who judges me." God is our ultimate judge, too, and if we want to see what the standards are, it would be wise to listen to his word, the Bible.

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Psalm 66

I find it interesting that the psalmist says that God kept them from slipping before saying that God took them through hard times. Yes, they faced hard times, but God gave them the power to overcome. I’m reminded of the Scripture that says God will not give us something we can’t overcome (with his help)but always offers a way of escape. The problem is we don’t always take the way of escape, and then we fail. We can’t blame God because there is a way out so that we don’t sin if we faithfully follow his commands. The question we have to ask ourselves is, are we willing to take those ways, or are we like Augustine, who confessed that when he prayed Lord, take this part of him said, not yet.  

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Joshua 23

 Joshua warns Israel not to turn away from God to the right or to the left. In today's world, the idea of the right and left carries a certain political thought that wasn't intended in Joshua's speech. The idea is that any way you go away from God will be wrong. That does translate into our politics, but more than that, it is true in every other area of our lives. It doesn't matter if it's a politically right or left issue, the issue is where God stands on it, and do that. It doesn't matter if your parents. neighbors, or the influencer on YouTube or Instagram, does it or says something about it, what does God say? 

Secondly, Joshua is warning them that God is giving them this land because the people there were bad, but Israel shouldn't think that God won't do the same to them if they go the way those nations did. The image that came to my mind was an Airplane. An Airplane works on specific principles, and as long as you follow them, you fly, put if you don't, then you will crash. God isn't being mean; he is saying you have to fly right (live your life right), or you will crash. 

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Joshua 22

 

There's trouble, and it looks like civil war trouble, so who do we send as an emissary? This is an important role, and I would assume someone who isn't a hot head but resolute. The person they send is someone who has dealt with rebellion before, Phinehas, son of Eleazar, the priest. This is the guy who ran a spear through two people while they were worshiping a pagan fertility god (Numbers 25). On first thought, you might think this is absolutely the wrong guy to send, but even if his actions before seem like he could be rash, he wasn't. He was the perfect man; he clearly laid out the concerns about what they thought they were seeing, but also listened (I feel like I need to say more because too often people say they are listening but aren't, they are only waiting to talk again). Now comes the second reason Phinehas was the right man because once learning the truth, he carried the message of what was really happening back to the rest of Israel. With his reputation, no one was going to doubt him when he said that the tribes on the eastern side of Israel were in disobedience to God.  

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Jeremiah 8

 

Proverbs says a righteous man will fall seven times and get up, but here we see God complaining that the people aren’t getting up. God says the people are clinging to deceit. To me, this shows that it isn’t that they are believing a lie; they are holding on to it when there is proof they are wrong. God says they are like this because they have rejected Him. That is the way it is when you choose to reject truth; you have to hold on to the lie because sooner or later, all lies get found out. The people here see it came out and are holding on anyway. 

God goes on speaking about the scribes having lying pens who work falsely. They know what they are doing is lie, but they do it anyway. This gets my attention because, as a writer, I wonder how many people write lies, know they are lies, and then lie about it. I’m afraid more than we want to admit.  

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1 Corinthians 3

Children are cute. Adults acting childish, not so much.

 As we read Corinthians, we see that the people of Corinth may have had a high opinion of themselves. They were bragging about who they followed, bragging that they had spiritual gifts (tongues) and other issues. However, Paul says that they are actually carnal/worldly and no better than infants. Ouch. We will read later that the people repented and seemed to do better, but here they are not as great as they thought they were. For us today, we need to examine our hearts and actions not by our thinking but through what the Bible says. It is also good to make sure we have Paul in our lives who can tell us, "Grow Up!"

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Joshua 21

 

In verse 12, we are given an example that commentators believe was used to explain how the ownership of the towns given to the Levites was handled. In chapter 14, we read that Caleb was given the city of Hebron as his reward for faithful service. Now this town is being given to the Levites. We first see that the town and the pasturelands close to the town belonged to the Levites, but the rest of the area beyond this specifically defined area belonged to Caleb and his descendants. For those who have cities inside a larger county or district, you might get a picture of what is happening. The city has its own government, and the surrounding area has its own.  

The second thing I notice is that Calab, nor any of the tribes, complained that the Levites were given cities in their lands. The leader of the tribes gladly gave the city what God commanded. We also see that here again, lots were cast to see who got what, so there could be no accusation of favoritism or partiality.  

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Psalm 65

This psalm says that God makes the sun rise and the sun set shout for joy. This figurative language shows the majesty of God, but there is something that can encourage us today. For many, they see the sun rise as a time of dread because of the challenges they face, and the sun set as a time of regret for the failures they have made. God, in his power, can change that for us, and they can truly bring joy.  

Joshua 20

 Joshua completed the battles he was to fight in chapter 11, but now God is reminding him that there was another task that needed completing. The cities of refuge need to be set up. We aren't told if this was an oversight on Joshua's part or if this had to wait until the tribes received their inheritances. I lean toward the latter, but studying in the future may change my mind at a later date. Whichever it is, God is telling Joshua that they need to be set up. This seems right, because later another person with the same name, whom we know as Jesus, will, by his work, create a place of refuge for all. 

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Joshua 19

 

As the distribution of the lands is completed, we are reminded that this was done by lot under the eye of  "Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun and the heads of the tribal clans of Israel." There could be no accusation of preference or backroom (or behind-the-tent here) deals. God made sure that everyone knew that what was given was fair and that no partiality was given. God had given the deeds to the property, now it was up to the tribes to take what they had been given and finish removing the remaining enemies and settle the land. 

If you have been saved, now it's up to you to use what God has given you. 

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Jeremiah 7

 

Jerusalem, God says, will become like Shiloh. What happened there? The people were then living in disobedience and thinking that the ark of God would protect them and give them victory; they took the ark from Shiloh. The place that was supposed to hold the ark, the representation of God's presence, was left without it. To make it worse, the Philistines won the battle and took the ark as a spoil of war. It was one of the darkest days in Israel. The line of leadership was broken with Eli and his children dead, and as far as they knew, God was no longer with them. God is saying to Jerusalem, I did this before, I'll do it again. You will lose the presence of God in your midst. Spoiler alert: they did. 

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Joshua 18

Beginning in Joshua 13, Joshua is starting to push the tribes to take the land, which is what they were already supposed to do. Joshua's job was complete, but now, when he is old, he has to try and push Israel to where God wants them to be. They have entered the promised land and taken what Joshua gave them, victory over, but nothing much beyond. This is how many people live their Christian life today. They take the victory that Jesus has given them, but do nothing with it. They don't grow, they don't mature, and they don't deal with the things that may lead them into sin. If they don't, they may find themselves being as victorious in the Christian life as Israel was in the book of Judges: failures.

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1 Corinthians 2

 “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived” the things God has prepared for those who love him—

I have heard this preached with the idea that the wonders of heaven are greater than we can imagine. There is a problem with using this text to prove this; it's the next verse. "These are the things God has revealed to us by His Spirit," verse ten begins. So whatever these mysteries are, God has shown them to his people. In context, we see Paul is talking about the salvation found in Jesus's death on the cross and resurrection. Only the mind of God could come up with a plan that could bring about not just salvation but the transformation of lives. A plan that gives us the Spirit of God and the mind of Christ. It was God's plan. Others may say there are others like it in history, but they aren't like what God really did. 

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Psalms 64

God will be victorious. First, it can be in direct actions (verse 7), and second, by using their own words/actions against them (verse 8). The second way is the way we typically see God work in the world today, but there is coming a day when God will take direct action. We may think that we wish that day would come quickly, but remember that when God comes, all will be revealed, even our shortcomings. I want the time to try to do what I can for God and let him clean me and help me grow. The promise is that God will bring judgment, and he will do what is right. 

When God uses our actions/words against us, it allows us to see the error of our ways and repent. So though it may be judgment, it is also a mercy if we respond correctly. This is the wonder of God: he tries to use even our sin to draw us to him. 

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Joshua 17

"Makir was the ancestor of the Gileadites, who had received Gilead and Bashan because the Makirites were great soldiers" (Verse 1b NIV).

Some translations say that Makir was a "man of war" instead of a great soldier, but why is that important? I looked it up in several commentaries, and it seems that the area that they were taking would require a great soldier to take and keep. The descendants seemed to carry this ability with them. This to me is a reminder that there are times God truly gives a greater challenge to ones who should be able to complete it. To say it another way, if God gives you great power, he expects great responsibility. 

Joshua 16

 

"So Ephraim and Manasseh, the sons of Joseph, received their inheritance" Verse 4a.

All the other tribes represent one of Jacob's sons, except Ephraim and Manasseh. The tradition of the day said that the oldest child received a double portion in the inheritance. Joseph wasn't the oldest child, but either because Rueben had disgraced his family or because Joseph was the oldest of child of Jacob's favorite wife, we see Joseph, as it were, getting this blessing in the form of his two sons becoming the head of their own tribe with the eleven others. Yes, this means there are thirteen tribes, but only twelve received an inheritance of land. This chapter shares what Ephriam received and their disobedience. 

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