THE LORD SENT JUDGES TO DELIVER THEM

PROCLAMATION

“And when the children of Israel cried unto The Lord, The Lord raised up a deliverer to the children of Israel, who delivered them, even Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother.  The spirit of The Lord came upon him, and he judged Israel, and went out to war; And The Lord delivered … king of Mesopotamia into his hand …”  Judges 3:9-10 (KJV)

 

EXPLANATION

These are the words of God which were written under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God by the Prophet Samuel.  This new generation of Israelites, the children of those that Joshua led, did not know The Lord.  The generation that Joshua led to victory after victory did not drive out the Canaanites who were living among them. (Judges 1:27-36)  They not only lived with them but they married their daughters and they gave their own daughters to them to marry.  They also served their god, Baal. (Judges 3:5-6)  They did evil in the sight of The Lord and aroused His anger towards them.  He allowed their surrounding enemies to defeat, raid, and plunder them and take them into captivity for eight years. (Judges 3:7-8)  When they were in great distress, The Lord raised up a judge, Othniel, to save them from their enemies. (Judges 3:9-11)  But when the judge died, the Israelites returned to their evil ways and The Lord allowed Eglon king of Moab to attack and capture Israel.  They stayed in captivity subject to the king of Moab for eighteen years. (Judges 3:11-14)  Again they cried out unto The Lord, and He gave them another judge to be their deliverer, Ehud son of Gera the Benjamite.  Ehud killed king Eglon and led the Israelites against the Moabites and defeated them. (Judges 3:15-30) 

 

APPLICATION

Unfortunately as believers we mess up, we fall back into sin and it interrupts our fellowship and our communication with The Lord God.  Only after bad things begin to happen to us do we call upon The Lord in prayer.  We confess our sins and He forgives us and makes a way out of our bad situation for us.  We are thankful for a while, and then we fall back into our sinful ways again.  However, The Lord God is a good God.  If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9) 

  

PRAYING AND PRAISING GOD CAN CHANGE THINGS

Proclamation:

“About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.  Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken.  At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose.”  Acts 16:25-26 (NIV)

Explanation:

Paul went to Macedonia in response to a vision he had. (Acts 16:9-10)  There he met Lydia, a wealthy woman who worshiped God.  He baptized her, and he and Silas stayed at her house. (Acts 16:13-15)  One day, on their way to the place of prayer, they met a female salve who had a spirit within her by which she predicted the future.  Her owners earned a great deal of money from her fortune-telling.  For many days she followed them around shouting, “These men are servants of The most High God …” and annoyed Paul so that he called the spirit out of her. (Acts 16:16-18)  This upset her owners who lost their hope of making more money through her.  So they had Paul and Silas arrested.  Because of the charges which they brought against them, they were stripped, beaten, severely flogged, thrown into prison and put in the stocks. (Acts 16:19-24)  While in prison the prayed and praised God and suddenly their chains fell off and the prison doors flew open.  They did not leave the prison and after the jailer saw what had happened, he led them out of the prison and brought them to his house. (Acts 16:27- 34)

Application:

We are encouraged to always pray (Luke 18:1) and His praise should always be on our lips. (Psalm 34:1)  However, when things have gone from bad to worse, and life has gotten us down, and it seems that there is no way out, it is hard to be positive.  That is the time when we should pray and praise The Lord anyhow.  The Lord God can make a way out of no way.  It takes some pretty strong faith to praise Him when things are not going the way that we had planned and are much worse than we ever expected.  Remember, we cannot have a testimony without first going through a test.  Trust in The Lord.