April 3, 2025 -Actions Speak Louder Than Words

JUDGES 9:22-11:28

Chronological Bible Readings

Judges 10:6 Again the Israelites did evil in the Lord’s sight. They served the images of Baal and Ashtoreth, and the gods of Aram, Sidon, Moab, Ammon, and Philistia. They abandoned the Lord and no longer served him at all. 7 So the Lord burned with anger against Israel, and he turned them over to the Philistines and the Ammonites, 8 who began to oppress them that year. For eighteen years they oppressed all the Israelites east of the Jordan River in the land of the Amorites (that is, in Gilead).

18 years of oppression and they continued in their sinful practices. They worshiped gods who had done nothing for them. These gods were useless. I wonder why they would not think to turn to God sooner. Why would they continue to suffer in their sinful state when God has revealed Himself to them time after time. Why would it take 18 years to turn back to Him? Then I think about life. How easy it is to get busy and caught up in the culture and the plans of this world. How easy it is to focus on the struggle instead of the solution. How difficult it is to see other options when everything and everyone around you is telling you that what you are doing is right. We will always look to something or someone for help, support, answers and direction. If it is not to God, then it will be to something or someone else. Once we stop looking to God for help, support, answers and direction we will start to believe we can do things on our own or that there is something or someone else around us who can save us.

Judges 10:9 The Ammonites also crossed to the west side of the Jordan and attacked Judah, Benjamin, and Ephraim. The Israelites were in great distress. 10 Finally, they cried out to the Lord for help, saying, “We have sinned against you because we have abandoned you as our God and have served the images of Baal.”

Eventually when all those people and things that we turn to fail us and we are overrun by the enemies attacks hopefully we remember the God who created us. The God who has saved His people again and again when they called out to Him. Over and over again God's people including us turn from Him doing things our own way.

Judges 10:11 The Lord replied, “Did I not rescue you from the Egyptians, the Amorites, the Ammonites, the Philistines, 12 the Sidonians, the Amalekites, and the Maonites? When they oppressed you, you cried out to me for help, and I rescued you. 13 Yet you have abandoned me and served other gods. So I will not rescue you anymore. 14 Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen! Let them rescue you in your hour of distress!”

There comes a time when we need to learn a lesson. A time when it is best for God to say I want you to see what you have been worshiping all this time. You finally call out to me because you know what I can do because you have seen it. You have heard the stories from the beginning of time of what I have done and what I can do. You have seen with your own eyes what I can do. So now experience and learn the truth about these "gods" that you have been worshiping. For us the "gods" would be whatever things it is that keeps our trust and focus. All the things that we turn to in order to help us through a difficult time or to help us make decisions. I could list off a really long list but each person needs to turn to God and ask Him to help them to identify those things in their life. Don't wait for God to teach you a lesson by allowing you to experience the truth about those false gods. When God said "cry out to the gods you have chosen! Let them rescue you in your hour of distress!" I don't think it was only out of anger. It is about love and a desire for His people to learn the truth and to see and understand what happens if you tell God you don't want Him in your life. We like the Israelites turn our back on Him and live like we don't want Him in our lives but we keep Him on reserve for when we need bailed out. Here He is showing His people what it really looks like to not have Him as a fallback plan. He is doing it out of love for them after all I think his burning anger comes from His love. At least as a parent I can understand that kind of love. When a young person who is doing something destructive and tells a parent "Leave me alone.", "I don't need you", "I know what I am doing." and they walk away. The most loving yet painful thing to do is to let them walk away. Let them find out for themselves what happens when they get what they say they want. It can be difficult to let them live in those consequences because unlike God we don't know how it all plays out in the end but we can trust in His sovereignty and follow His example and do it anyway.

Judges 10:15 But the Israelites pleaded with the Lord and said, “We have sinned. Punish us as you see fit, only rescue us today from our enemies.” 16 Then the Israelites put aside their foreign gods and served the Lord. And he was grieved by their misery.

The Israelites needed to do more than just call out to God. Action speaks louder than words. They pleaded but those words meant nothing. They had to turn from all those false Gods and turn to the Lord. They had to take a step toward Him. We can say that we want to grow our relationship with God. That we trust Him. That we love Him and will obey Him. But without turning from all those things that we really are trusting in, following and listening to He will allow us to continue to suffer the consequences of that sin. He sees our misery and it grieves Him but He won't fix it just because we say we need Him. Our actions have to support what we say.