Friday, January 12, 2018

Forgetting to Remember - Part 2

Friday, January 12, 2018
Then the Lord raised up judges to rescue the Israelites from their attackers.  Yet Israel did not listen to the judges but prostituted themselves by worshiping other gods.  How quickly they turned away from the path of their ancestors, who had walked in obedience to the Lord’s commands.  Whenever the Lord raised up a judge over Israel, he was with that judge and rescued the people from their enemies throughout the judge’s lifetime.  For the Lord took pity on his people, who were burdened by oppression and suffering.  But when the judge died, the people returned to their corrupt ways, behaving worse than those who had lived before them.  They went after other gods, serving and worshiping them.  And they refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways.  So the Lord burned with anger against Israel.  He said, “Because these people have violated my covenant, which I made with their ancestors, and have ignored my commands, I will no longer drive out the nations that Joshua left unconquered when he died.  I did this to test Israel—to see whether or not they would follow the ways of the Lord as their ancestors did.”  That is why the Lord left those nations in place.  He did not quickly drive them out or allow Joshua to conquer them all.  
Judges 2:16-23(NLT)
A ten year old boy checked out the Baptist churches and was really impressed when he saw, for the first time, a baptism by immersion.  He was greatly interested in it, and the next morning proceeded to baptize the family’s three cats in the bathtub.   The kitten bore it very well, and so did the young cat, but the old family cat was a rebel; it struggled with the boy, clawed and scratched at him, and finally got away.  With considerable effort he caught it again and proceeded with the ceremony. 
But she acted worse than ever, tore at him, spit, and scratched his hands and face.  This was not going as well as the worship service down at the Baptist Church.  Finally, after barely getting her fur splattered with water, the budding evangelist let go of the ornery old cat.  As she ran away he hollered in disgust:  "Fine…BE a Methodist." 
Every time I read God’s account of the human family (us) in Scripture (and it is US even though we try to distance ourselves and say it was THEM)…I have that baptizing a cat image…stubborn, stubborn, and stubborn! 
But the verse that really grabs me in this particular passage is:
But when the judge died, the people returned to their corrupt ways, behaving worse than those who had lived before them.  They went after other gods, serving and worshiping them.  And they refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways.  Judges 2:19(NLT)
Every time God put a leader in front of the people, a leader that had the sense to point God’s people to the one true God, they followed.  But when that leader passed off the scene they went back to being stubborn and evil. 
The writer of Proverbs had a commentary on this kind of behavior:
As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his foolishness.  Proverbs 26:11(NLT)
It’s hard to miss the message in this; when we refuse to let go of our stubborn ways, we refuse to actually BE God’s children, no matter how much we may SAY we belong to Him.

For You Today

It would be a good practice to look back regularly…like every day…over all the ways God has rescued and blessed you.  And then go live like a blessed child of God.
You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road…have a blessed day!

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[1] Title Image: Pixabay.com

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