Joshua 4 – 5
The first few chapters of Judges show Israel’s rebellion and God’s compassion time and time again. The Israelites are, well, quite like us.
They continually do evil in the sight of the Lord, they constantly turn away from him, or decide to turn back only to grumble away. They follow and worship false gods, which may not be pieces of stone in our culture but still very much applicable when we think of the things that consume us other than God. We constantly stumble, fail and grumble about our conditions.
Yet, the Lord’s unceasing mercy and compassion never changes.
In those days, God raised up judges, or leaders, to save the Israelites from their enemies. However, they chose not to listen to these judges and constantly turned back to their old ways. These old ways lead to destruction and the people would cry out to God for another deliverer to save them, only to fall back into their own ways until that judge died. A vicious cycle.
Years later, God would raise up another judge, to deliver, redeem and save the people of Israel and all nations to the ends of the earth. Jesus Christ was the righteous judge who came down from the stand to save us from our own destruction. He is the judge who paid our penalty. He is the judge who died but rose again. He is the judge who desires a living relationship with us! It cost Jesus everything and cost us nothing
What should our response be to this? As Deborah sings; Praise the Lord!