Why then has all this happened to us?

Posted on February 11, 2014 by jimtheyouthguy

Then Gideon said to him, “O my lord, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, . . . .” (Jdg 6:13 NAS77)

Life happens.  Bad things happen.  They happen for lots of different reasons – most of which we will never know or understand.  Why does God necessarily take the blame?

I know I don’t always like the circumstances.  But I also know that God has never walked away from me.

I’m not smart enough to understand everything that is going on.  My senses are not keen enough to collect all the necessary information to make an expert assessment.  I have been wrong often.  Yet I still get it right more often than I can take credit for.  Even with minimal information I can make reasonably good judgements.  Occasionally I understand things I didn’t even know.

I have no doubt the Lord is with me.  This is just too much for me without Him.

Did you notice, the Angel of the Lord never answers the questions … … … Overtones of Job there!

Posted in Faith | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

And the people …

Posted on February 11, 2014 by jimtheyouthguy

And the people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who survived Joshua, who had seen all the great work of the LORD which He had done for Israel. (Jdg 2:7 NAS77)

As long as there was someone around who had seen first hand what God had done, they were faithful.  If someone could say, “This is what I saw God do . . .”, they were good.  If mom or dad can give a first hand account, well that’s good enough for me.  I don’t know about grandpa.

We’re always one generation away from losing our faith.

Better pile up some more rocks.

Posted in Faith | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

But it came abo…

Posted on February 10, 2014 by jimtheyouthguy

But it came about when the judge died, that they would turn back and act more corruptly than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them and bow down to them; they did not abandon their practices or their stubborn ways. (Jdg 2:19 NAS77)

It’s easy to laugh at the fools that continually return to their folly and say, “Boy, I’d never do that.”  Look at how they blew it time and time again.  I mean, how stupid can you get?  How many times can mess up the same way?  God keeps bailing them out and then they go right back to it.  What’s wrong with them?

And then I look at me . . .

Posted in Faith | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

“Now therefore,…

Posted on February 10, 2014 by jimtheyouthguy

“Now therefore, put away the foreign gods which are in your midst, and incline your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel.” (Jos 24:23 NAS77)

We are used to the quote a few verses ahead of this one.  We have it on posters, quilts, pillows, framed pictures, tattoos, and plaques

Choose you this day whom you will serve.

As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

It sounds so spiritual and all, but I wonder; do we ever consider what it is we are pledging?  What does it mean to serve the Lord?

I believe the answer begins with Joshua 24:23.  God is interested in being one of many loyalties.  He isn’t even interested in being the biggest or most important.  He expects to be our only.

Now the problem nowadays is that we don’t think we have any other God’s.  I mean, when was the last time you saw an Ashera pole in someone’s yard?  Seen any shines in you neighbors back yard lately?  Got a family altar?  Nope, no little statues of Eagle-headed gods here!

Our god is whatever has our attention.

Maybe it is our comfort so the idol is our car and home.  If it is financial security, our idol can be a fully vested 401k plan and a balance portfolio of stocks and insurances.  How about fame and our 4327 facebook friends?

See it’s tricky.  It’s easy to spot someone else’s god, but can we spot our own.  What are the gods in your midst?

Posted in Faith | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment