Joshua 20 - Judges 16

I'm going to go about this backwards this week because it's what I found in the beginning of the week that continues to stick in my heart. (Plus I'm just goofy like that.)

Judges is full of fascinating people. Some I liked, some I wanted to know more about and some I did not care for at all. (I am not a big Samson fan.) My heart ached for Jephthah as his little daughter ran out to greet him (Judges 11:34). And yet, they were both faithful to his promise to the Lord. I wonder if God became frustrated with Gideon as he continued to request proof of His Will. (and I might have seen myself a time or two asking, "are you sure? really sure?") One other thing that caught my eye was the story of Gideon's ephod and how "it became a snare to Gideon and his family." (Judges 8:27) I'm not entirely sure why Gideon had the ephod made. Maybe as a remembrance for what he'd accomplished? Regardless, something that he intended as harmless became a stumbling block. Huh. Makes me want to examine some of the things in my life a little more closely. I wonder if he knew it was a snare, and yet like I often do, rationalized hanging on to it. (This old thing? It's harmless.)

I found Barak's refusal to go to war without Deborah interesting. He said, "If you go with me, I will go; but if you don't go with me, I won't go." (Judges 4:8) How many times do I put my faith in a leader rather than my God?

I was continually amazed that the Israelites made such poor, harmful choices. "They refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways." (Judges 2:19) "another generation grew up, who knew neither the LORD nor what He had done for Israel." (Judges 2:10) I found myself wondering how they could be...to put it bluntly...so stupid. Ray Stedman in Adventuring through the Bible has an answer of sorts for me. He says, "We read this story and we think, How foolish these Israelites were not to obey the commandment of God? But don't we do exactly the same? Don't we settle for less than complete victory over our sins and bad habits? don't we say, "well, yes, I do have a problem with anger (or gossip , or swearing, or impure thoughts, or alcohol, or tobacco), but it's just one little bad habit! I mean, we all need one small vise, don't we? No! God says that it is these little things that we accommodate ourselves to and compromise with that eventually defeat us and destroy us! We cannot afford to settle for anything less than complete victory!" (p144) Huh. It reminds me of the illustration about yeast. A small amount of yeast added in the mix will permeate (or taint) the entire batch of dough, so much so that you can no longer tell what part started out "yeast-less."

All of which brings me back to the beginning of the week. I saw these words repeated twice and they spoke to my heart. Checking back, the same phrase is used four times in Deuteronomy. The phrase? Hold fast to Him. Kind of sums it all up doesn't it? If we hold fast to Him, we will have complete victory. It's hard to hold fast to Him while dragging our ephods (and sins) along with us. The phrase "hold fast" conjures up a picture in my mind of a child's hands clinging so tightly to a parent that there is no doubt that they won't be separated. That's what I need to remember in the days ahead. Whether my day is calm and peaceful or harried and hurtful. May you "love the LORD your God, walk in all His ways, obey His commands, hold fast to Him and serve Him with all your heart and all your soul" this upcoming Easter week. (Joshua 22:5)