I'll
say it blunt and up front. Human beings just don't do well when they
are comfortable. I'm not saying that abject poverty or utter misery
are good things. What I am saying is that good times seem to bring
out undesirable things in people.
The
Book of Judges shows this over and over. It chronicles multiple
cycles of Israel getting comfortable, turning away from God, coming
under judgment, and then repenting and being delivered. It's tempting
to ask why they never learned, but each cycle played out over 2 or 3
generations. The lessons learned the hard way by one generation just
didn't get passed on to the next generation or to the one after that.
In
one sense, the Book of Judges is one of the more depressing books in
the Bible. In others, though, Judges shows us, mirror-like, important
things to know - things about ourselves, things about God. As I said
above, we humans tend to handle comfort and prosperity poorly. We
think we accomplished it. We think we are control of our corner of
the world. When we do what is “right in our own eyes”, we show
very clearly how poor our moral eyesight is (putting it nicely). When
we get into such a state, God allows – or even brings into our
lives – things that remind us, unpleasantly, that we are not gods –
our power is puny, we are not in control of much of anything, and we
receive the consequences of our moral blindness. Like I said, none of
that is pleasant. But,
God also loves us. And when we turn in repentance to Him, He accepts
us and brings restoration.
As
frustrating and depressing as the Book of Judges is, I sure am glad
it gives us that knowledge about God's character and how He acts!
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