STRUGGLE WITH SOVEREIGNTY

So, I'm taking this Judges Bible study course and enjoying it, immensely. I just wanted to share some of the things I'm learning, for those that are interested. If you're looking for fab. pictures of the Alps or something, this is not the post for you, maybe later. Check in another day.

I use to read the book of Judges with half of my conscience turned off. I saw all of this killing and slaughter, anger and revenge, and could not, for the life of me, reconcile it to God's character, i.e. merciful, gracious, long suffering, etc. So, don't ask me how, but I use to read Judges with my eyes shut. You'll have to assume that I'm figuratively speaking.

One of the first things I learned during this course, was that God was justified in wanting to clear out the Philistines, or the inhabitants of the promised land, (though Israel never obeyed Him in doing that). Not just because they were "in the way," but because they had arrived at the fullest extent of evil. In fact, God gave them a period of about 40 years (Moses ringing a bell?) to do just that. I thought all of this wandering around was for the sole purpose of punishing Israel, but it turns out God is a multi-tasker. There was a delay for the benefit of the "Gentiles" as well. I use to chalk it up as, "God must know what He is doing by killing all of these people, no need to think anymore, He just wanted the land..."

As you travel through the book of Judges, you notice the decline of Israel. First, they tolerated the "Gentiles", which they weren't suppose to do, and then repented and were delivered. Then they intermarried with the "Gentiles", repented and were delivered. Then they started worshipping Baal, repented and were delivered (you get the idea, though the order of events may not be in perfect order). Before you know it, they are so intermixed, that toward the end of Judges they don't even realize they're oppressed. They are so hardened they never call out to God for help. God sends a deliverer, anyway! You can see, where my viewpoint has changed, these were a bunch of harlots that forgot God, completely. Before, I couldn't look at God while reading this book, and now I'm just filled with awe with how merciful He is.

Getting to this "deliverer" I am referring to. Samson is a controversial character, to say the least. This guy was a walking lustball. Seemed like everything he did had to do with building himself up, yet he is in Hebrews 11. Some might be just as shocked to see their name as MPV of the year on a chess club billboard. Huh? That's right, Hall of Faith=Samson. "What do you mean? The guy, was suppose to be a Nazarrite, but he killed animals and didn't clean himself, pulled honey out of dead things, murdered a whole lot of people for his own purposes, slept with, who knows? how many women, and he is in the hall of faith?" You know what that tells me? It doesn't take a whole lot of faith to be saved (as my teacher reassured us). Mustered seeds are coming to mind. You know what else? God has a purpose, and He is going to carry it out and He'll use anybody, even me! His character has nothing to do with my character and His ways are not my ways. This doesn't, in any way, justify sin. You can see the results of Samson's sin, just look in his eyes, oh wait, they're not there.

All told, it teaches me to be a little more careful with how I chalk people up. Something that was reiterated in class today was that we might be surprise with who we see in heaven. Things aren't so black and white as we would like to make them. If we are looking for comfort in "black and white" we are going to find out God is way outside of that box. I hope you get to check out Judges soon, it's a cool book so far, but I'm not done yet! Wow!