AND AGAIN THEY DID EVIL IN THE SIGHT OF THE LORD

Proclamation

“And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of The Lord, and served Baalim and Ashtaroth and the gods of Syria, and … Zidon, and … Moab, and … Ammon, and … Philistines, and forsook The Lord and served not Him.  And the anger of The Lord was hot against Israel, and He sold them into the hands of the Philistines, and into the hands of the children of Ammon.”  Judges 10:6-7 (KJV)

 

Explanation

These are the words of God which were written by the prophet Samuel under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God.  After the death of Abimelech, The Lord God rose up Tola the son of Puah to judge and deliver Israel.  He led Israel for twenty-three years.  When he died he was followed by Jair of Gilead who led and judged Israel for twenty-two years before he died.  The Israelites again did evil in the sight of The Lord and He allowed the Philistines and the Ammonites to oppress them for eighteen years. (Judges 10:1-8)  Then The Israelites cried out to The Lord but He told them to cry out to the gods they were serving. (Judges 10:10-14)

  

Application

Sometimes it is possible to push good people to far and they will turn on you.  The Lord God is much more patient than any person but He has His limits as to how much He will take from His people.  This is an example of the fact that it is possible to cross the line and cause God to withhold blessing from us and allow us to suffer because of our actions.  When we turn away from God there is a price we will have to pay.  Just as disobedient children still belong to their parents when they do wrong, the relationship is not broken by the wrongdoing or the spanking that follows.  As believers we do not lose our salvation when we fall into sin, the relationship with God remains intact but we just damage the fellowship and lose the joy. (Psalm 51:12)  We need to ask God to blot out our sins, create in us a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within us. (Psalm 51:9-10)