PLEASE READ THIS FIRST: Judges 9-10
What do you sense the Lord saying to you in this passage?
“And the Lord could bear Israel’s misery no longer.” (Judges 10:16)
The authors are inspired to write from their perspective.
As they see it, God stirs up the animosity against Abimelek (9:23)
As they see it, God finally can’t take their misery anymore (10:16).
God is not human like us, with limited patience or endurance.
But God does become human like us, to bear our misery for us.
What these stories reveal is God’s heart and desire for humanity.
God does not want anyone to suffer, yet suffering continues.
Our misery is the result of our actions, not God’s.
Without God, life in this world becomes miserable and unbearable.
For us, and for God… and so God keeps on stepping into help!
The point is not that God punishes with misery until he can’t take it.
God does not want to endure our misery, God wants to end it.
In Jesus, the Lord DOES bear our misery, to save us from it!
For God so loved there world that he sent Jesus…
PRAYER
Lord, you became human like us, to bear our misery with, like and for us. Help us not to see you as punisher, but as our loving Saviour and Lord.
The sordid tales of retribution and killing just turns me off. I can understand why God is ready to give up on Israel! Yet again and again God listens to the cries of ‘his’ people – because I’m sure of his covenant promise to Abraham – and rescues them! Where are the Levites and the services at the tabernacle – I’m sure there was a small stream of faithfulness somewhere. But it is also a picture of my up and down walk of life – Lord don’t give up on me. Thank you for taking me through the valleys in my life!
Once again the people went their own way doing what they desired and worshipped other gods. Without God there is no life. True living is living for Jesus Who takes away our pain, our selfish desires to be ‘king of our castles.’ When the people turned to God and recognized the error of their ways, getting rid of the foreign gods to serve the Lord God Who would hear their cries and deliver them. I too need a Deliverer, a Sviour to take away my sins and make me right with God to serve Him only.
1 Man of sorrows what a name
for the Son of God, who came
ruined sinners to reclaim:
Hallelujah, what a Savior!
2 Bearing shame and scoffing rude,
in my place condemned he stood,
sealed my pardon with his blood:
Hallelujah, what a Savior!
3 Guilty, helpless, lost were we;
blameless Lamb of God was he,
sacrificed to set us free:
Hallelujah, what a Savior!