Used — Judges 16-18

Posted on April 4, 2011 by parklinscomb

What an interesting set of chapters our reading today is! The beginning of the story of Samson is more than just a Hebrew Hercules tale; it probably has more punch per verse than any other story in the book of Judges.

Samson’ parents were childless, so they prayed to the Lord that they might be granted a child. The Lord answers their prayer with a thrilling “yes”, but there’s a catch. Samson’s mother, in return for this child had to live as a Nazirite (Numbers 6:2ff) during pregnancy and raise her son Samson as a Nazirite, which meant, among other things, that he could never cut his hair — that’s why he had the long hair and why it mattered later. But why make this stipulation for an answer to prayer? The text doesn’t say, but we could speculate that perhaps it was an attempt to get his parents to be a bit more disciplined in child-rearing; perhaps it was important for Samson to have a similar discipline for God’s ideal for Samson. Regardless of the real reason, the end result we find is not exactly what God had hoped for — he appears to be a rather self-willed young man with rather weak-willed, enabling parents. Have you ever seen situations in which a childless couple are finally blessed with a baby, that they turned out to be poor parents? It sometimes happens, and it appears to have happened here.

But God uses the good and bad to His greater ends and there’s a really interesting inspired remark about Samson’s petulant demand for a Philistine bride, “However, his father and mother did not know that it was of the LORD, for He was seeking an occasion against the Philistines. Now at that time the Philistines were ruling over Israel” (Judges 14:4, NASB). Here’s an important principle that Paul illustrates pretty well to young Timothy, “Now in a large house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also vessels of wood and of earthenware, and some to honor and some to dishonor. Therefore, if a man cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.” 2 Timothy 2:20, 21, NASB. We all will be used by God. The evil Assyrian Shalmanezzar and the evil Babylonian Nebuchanezzar were used without even realizing it. Saul of Tarsus was used once as an evil man, and then as a righteous man. And you will be used — but you get the chance to choose HOW you’ll be used. How are you choosing? How are you living? Are you choosing to be a cooking pot or a potty? Samson could’ve chosen to be used in a godly and heroic way, but God still used him even in some sinful decisions. How will you be used today?

See you tomorrow, Lord willing.

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Rash words lead to tragedy — Judges 10-12

Posted on March 31, 2011 by parklinscomb

Rash words are so often regretted. Why do we ever say them? Maybe because we don’t give as much weight and gravity to words, or we mistakenly believe that we could handle the consequences of whatever we said. But their power to effect our lives and the lives of others is huge. Take the case of Jephthah, the main judge in the reading today.

Israel needed a savior desperately. Once again they had grown unfaithful — have you gotten the message about how important faithfulness is yet? — and God had allowed the Ammonites and others to invade successfully. Although Jephthah was an illegitimate son and had been on the outskirts of Israelite society (which explains some of his behavior) as what could be construed an outlaw or a “war lord”; he is the lone leader in Gilead with battle experience, and Israel approaches him to be their leader against the Ammonites. And wanting to prove himself, he does a reasonable job of trying to diplomatically resolve the conflict, but when that fails, he appeals to God with a rash vow for victory on the battlefield — a burnt offering of WHATEVER should come out of his house first to greet him on his return. As you have hopefully already read, the first thing is his daughter, his only child.

This rash vow, which was paid by Jephthah, has been the topic of many a discussion. We’re horrified to think that human sacrifice was made to God — and indeed it is. It could have happened as a real burnt offering sacrifice; Jephthah was living in a time in which everyman did what was right in his own eyes — there wasn’t much teaching of the Law going on in those days. But it is possible that his daughter might have been given to the service of the Tabernacle, too, since (for example) the citizens of Gibeon were under the ban, but not killed, instead given to the service of wood cutters and water bearers for the Tabernacle. Sadly, my opinion is that she was actually killed.

This has a couple of important lessons for us. First, don’t make rash vows or utter any sort of rash words. You can’t “reel” them back in later, when you’re sorry. How many marriages have been ruined by rash or hasty words — in either taking the marriage vows to begin with (and taking them too lightly) or destroying the marriage with rash, angry words? We will be judged by our words, the Scripture says — the rash ones, the swearing ones, the vows, the angry words, the insincere words, the lying words, the deceptive words, the angry words. The “for better or for worse” ones. Our blogging words and Facebook words, and ranting words The “I’ll pay the debt” ones. The “I have decided to follow Jesus” ones.

And second, if you make a vow (promise, covenant, contract, etc.) keep your word. The Psalmist wrote, “Who may abide in Your holy tent…who swears to his own hurt and does not change” (Ps 15). Our words mean something, whether we want them to or not. God takes them seriously, and others do too. Would you be willing to follow through on a rash vow? You have to hand it to Jephthah, he kept his word to God, no matter how much it cost him. May his example, the tragedy of his rash vow and his willingness to keep it at great personal cost, make us weigh our own words more carefully.

See you tomorrow, Lord willing.

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Too many? — Judges 7-9

Posted on March 31, 2011 by parklinscomb

We began the story of Gideon yesterday — the guy who was hiding out from the Midianites, the guy who attacked the Baal altar at night, and the guy who asked for the sign of the fleece twice before he’d consider attacking the Midianites. Gideon is not your average heroic figure, and perhaps that’s the very reason that God chose him.

Even after Gideon gets courage enough to gather an army together to deal with the Midianites — an army, by the way, that was only about one-fourth or less the size of the Midianite army — God still makes a strange choice.

“The LORD said to Gideon, ‘The people who are with you are too many for Me to give Midian into their hands, for Israel would become boastful, saying, “My own power has delivered me.'”” Judges 7:2, NAS95.

So, they tell the army of 32,000 that everyone who’s afraid is welcome to go home — and 22,000 went home! But that was still too many for God’s taste. He gave Gideon a test of sorts having to do with the way the men got a drink of water from the spring of Harod (see picture).

After that test only 300 were left — 300 against 120,000 plus. But with God that’s more than enough for victory. Gideon and the 300 routed the Midianite army with God’s military strategy and miraculous power. If I may, for just a moment, make the observation that the quality of the men that Gideon had might be worth a closer look. Certainly, the victory was because of God, period. But look at who God wanted to go into this lopsided battle — those who had courage (who believed that God is a majority in any circumstances) and those who were vigilant (bringing the water up to their mouths to drink). Faithful courage and vigilance, there’s a combination for success no matter what the odds might be!

After the Midianite army had been routed, Gideon chased them across the Jordan and sought help from two Israelite cities that he had every right to expect help from, Succoth and Penuel — but they refused on fear that Gideon might not be successful. After Gideon’s victory, he returned and punished the leaders of those cities for not helping his army with bread and sustenance — and they deserved it. There’s a lesson here about the need to give assistance when God’s leaders ask for it. Sometimes it is for sustenance, but more often than not it is assistance. There is always much to do in a church for each other and for evangelism and a minister, or elders, or deacons often don’t have enough hours in a day to do it all. But what a difference in the church and in evangelistic outreach could be made, if the church membership would quickly and sincerely give the assistance that their leaders needed.

The last thing I’ll comment on today is simply the short memory that men tend to have about what God has done. Interestingly enough we don’t seem to have short memories for grudges and trivia, but when it comes to remembering what others have done for us, we seem to have a little bit of amnesia. This is what had happened in Gideon’s and God’s case; the people forgot them. This led Israel back to Baal worship and to disloyalty to Gideon for the risk he took against Midian and then the peace that he brought to Israel afterward. Don’t be short-memoried. One of the great benefits of thanking God in prayer is the reminder it gives us of how much he does for us all the time; and that reminder will draw us back to Him in love. Don’t be short-memoried; keep alive the memory of those who have served the Kingdom faithfully and follow their good deeds.

See you tomorrow, Lord willing.

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Deborah and Gideon — Judges 4-6

Posted on March 30, 2011 by parklinscomb

For those who are big on action/adventure stories, we’re in the heart of a lot of action and adventure among people of faith against great odds. Today the stories of Deborah and Gideon (or at least part of Gideon’s story).

Deborah is a real anomaly among the leaders of Israel, she’s a woman! She was a prophetess and a judge in Israel, and when the Canaanite king Jabin oppressed Israel she (as a woman) sent for a man named Barak, possibly at God’s command, to lead Israel into battle. As far as we know, Barak didn’t necessarily have any military experience, and we certainly know that he was over-cautious, insisting that Deborah come with him as he met the army of Jabin, featuring plenty of iron chariots, and led by a general named Sisera. It is, in fact, this over-cautious behavior (did he suspect — maybe because she was a woman — that she was “talking through her hat” about this proposed military engagement?) that causes him to lose the real glory in the defeat of Sisera. In any logical approach to this battle, it was clear the Israelites were likely to have their heads handed to them; but Barak was lacking in faith in God, who is able to march an army around a walled city and throw its walls down flat!

The lesson here, as in so many other similar stories is that we need to proceed in faith! Remember what God has done in the past and rely on Him to lead to victory again.

The story of Gideon will, in the end, be much like the story of Deborah and Barak. Gideon was reasonably faithless, insisting that God give him signs before each of the things he did. Before he tore down the altar of Baal, he needed the sign of the miraculous fire on the altar. Before he would think of attacking the Midianites he needed not one but two signs (the fleece thing), before he would act. In fact, despite the 2 signs of fleece, God gave him one more sign later, on the night before a battle against the Midianites. How much reassurance can you need? Apparently, we humans have an almost bottomless need for reassurance. This is probably the reason for the multitude of stories about God’s people facing overwhelming odds only to emerge victorious because of God’s power. But still we often hesitate.

Let me make note of one more thing, too, before I close. Before Gideon could attack and conquer the invading Midianites, he needed to tear down the Baal. This is an important principle that shouldn’t be overlooked in the larger story of defeating 120,000 Midianites with just 300 Israelites. God provides the victory after we’ve provided the repentance. Gideon knew that and it’s why his first act was to take the huge risk of taking down the local Baal — even if it was under cover of darkness). You can’t expect God to bless, while you are still living in your sin.

See you tomorrow, Lord willing.

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A sad cycle — Judges 1-3

Posted on March 29, 2011 by parklinscomb

We’re now entering into a new period of Israel’s history, the judges; and with it, a sad, cycle that lasted for 400 years:

  • unfaithfulness,
  • punishment (at the hands of enemies),
  • repentance,
  • the rise of a “judge”,
  • the defeat of enemies,
  • a short time of faithfulness,
  • and returning back to unfaithfulness.

Keep it in mind as we read through this book.

And the reason why this cycle occurred is simple, one generation wasn’t successfully passing down the faith, the commands, and the importance. One passage that comes to mind is Deuteronomy 6:6, 7 that, if followed, might have stopped these cycles …

““These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.”

Did you notice 2:10?

“All that generation also were gathered to their fathers; and there arose another generation after them who did not know the LORD, nor yet the work which He had done for Israel.”

My comment here will be simple and straightforward. No matter how faithful one generation might be, the next generation is always a risk to fall away. Every generation has the obligation to make strong efforts at passing on the faith; as helpful as a good example is, it must be accompanied by teaching.

Let me expand on this last point. There are those who’ll believe and practice an “example-only” (or “example-mainly”) style of parenting their children. They’re good people, but this means of leading children to discipleship is less than really effective. There are also those who are “teaching-only” (or “mainly”), the do-as-I-say-do-not-as-I-do crowd. They are even less effective that the “example-only” school of parenting — indeed, they are often more effective in producing rebellion against what their parents are teaching. The most effective mode of parenting and passing on faith is a strong combination of both teaching and example. There are not, of course, any guarantees about what a child will do — each of us has a free will — but the chances of raising faithful children rise substantially with this combination of both teaching and example.

See you tomorrow, Lord willing.

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Will you stay faithful? — Joshua 22-24

Posted on March 28, 2011 by parklinscomb

Well, somehow we’ve managed to plow through the first six books of the Bible now. Today’s reading is the final three chapters in the book of Joshua, and the theme of the three boils down to a call for faithfulness.

The two and a half tribes of the east of Jordan, who had volunteered to take the eastern land (because it was so good for raising livestock), had crossed the Jordan to help the rest of Israel subdue the land of Canaan. And now that the land was subdued, Joshua was ready to give them leave to return to their east-bank lands. But before they actually crossed the river, they decided to build an altar — a look-alike to the Lord’s altar at Shiloh. Their intent was merely to leave behind a “witness” of their claim to be a legitimate part of Israel and the right to worship with their brothers at the Tabernacle (later the Temple). Their “witness”, however, was taken the wrong way by the rest of Israel, who thought that they were building a rival altar to the altar at Shiloh — something that was forbidden (Deut. 12:5,6,13,14). Why should they care?

Such a rival altar to the altar at Shiloh didn’t just threaten to bring down punishment upon the eastern tribes, but upon all of Israel; God had often caused all of Israel to suffer punishment for the sin of some (e.g., the sin of Peor and the sin of Achan). And the western tribes were determined to avoid trouble with their God, so they sent a delegation led by Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest to “call them on the carpet” about this perceived sin. However, when the eastern tribes explained themselves, that they altar was only an attempt to make ties between the eastern and western tribes more permanent, the western tribes were satisfied.

Now, although God has made it plain that the one who sins will be punished for sin, unfaithfulness should still be a cause for concern to all of God’s people. Unfaithfulness in the life of one, often becomes unfaithfulness in the lives of two or three, and the snowball continues to gain momentum and size until the whole church is effected. That’s the point of withdrawal of fellowship and other disciplinary action in the church.

In the last two chapters, Joshua makes an appeal and throws out a challenge — sort of draws a line in the sand for Israel.

“If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” Joshua 24:15, NAS95.

“As for me and my house,” he said. That’s where faithfulness starts, that’s where the initial responsibility lies — the home. Parents can’t guarantee faithfulness in their children – everyone has their own free will — but they can oftentimes try harder than they sometimes do: talking of the Lord, patterning the Christian life in the eyes of their children, taking their children along with them in godly works, encouraging them, providing them evidences and teachings, and giving them the needed corrections and incentives to do right. Other things can help — Bible school, VBS, Christian camping, youth ministers, mentors and more — but the main responsibility of religious faithfulness is with parents.

See you tomorrow, Lord willing.

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All the promises came true — Joshua 19-21

Posted on March 27, 2011 by parklinscomb

Again, much of today’s reading is about geography and how Canaan —its lands and cities — was divided up among the tribes of Israel. But there’s this really neat observation that’s made in the last verse of chapter 21: “Not one of the good promises which the LORD had made to the house of Israel failed; all came to pass.” Joshua 21:45, NAS95.

God is just that way. When He makes a promise it really does come to pass; He makes it so. No one was able to ultimately stand before Israel with Joshua at their helm. Even the “defeat” at Ai was only a temporary set back, until Achan’s sin was taken care of. And so it will be for us.

“Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, “FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG; WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED.” But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:33-39, NAS95.

We need to take these promises to heart and bank on them. When God makes a promise, it’s better than gold, better than any guarantee in writing you’ll ever receive. The only “x-factor” is — us. So believe, step out in faith, obey, follow through; we can’t lose with the Lord backing us!

See you tomorrow, Lord willing.

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Following through — Joshua 16-18

Posted on March 26, 2011 by parklinscomb

This section of Joshua is primarily about apportioning the land that Israel had subdued through Joshua’s campaign. One thing, however, that you see cropping us here again and again is the failure of the various tribes to completely drive out the Canaanites. Now granted, God told them that they wouldn’t drive them all out immediately, because the land was too large for them to completely occupy. But the writer of the book of Joshua, writing after a number of years later, noted that the Canaanites lived among the Israelites “to this day” as forced laborers. Bottom line, the Israelites grew weary of war and the “mop up” operations that would have guaranteed their fidelity to God in their beliefs and religious practices and guaranteed all the blessings that God had promised them. Instead, they opted for peaceful coexistence, possibly “celebrating diversity”, and guaranteed themselves the curses God promised them for faithlessness and idolatry.

Are there things for us to learn here? We must be careful to carry through God’s commands all the way. Partially observed commands won’t cut it; such obedience only fools us and doesn’t satisfy the Lord. And it’s not like full obedience is really just about satisfying some supposed OCD thing that God might have. It’s about blessing for ourselves. A little bit of poison or pollution or disease is enough to make us sick or kill us; so also a little sin, a little bit of a slack hand in obedience, a little bit of compromise, a little neglect of His commands is enough to have its negative effect on our own souls, the church, the community, our children, and the future. Following through to completion is important, refusing to compromise is important, and vigilance is important.

See you tomorrow, Lord willing.

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Mad-dogs don’t retire — Joshua 13-15

Posted on March 25, 2011 by parklinscomb

A substantial portion of today’s reading is about the allotment of the land that Israel had conquered to this point. And by the way, when I say conquered, I don’t mean that they had completely wiped out the entire population of Canaan. They had essentially subdued Canaan by taking out its cities and kings; there would be no more serious military resistance. What was left to do is sometimes called “mop-up” in military circles. Now it may not be of interest to you at this point to read through and understand the details of this portion of Scripture with a map, but do it sometime. It can help us understand some of the stuff that happens later on — like, for example, why Dan moves north to claim land. It can also raise a few questions, like “Why does Judah seem to claim Jerusalem later, when it appears to fall directly in Benjamin’s territory?”

But what I really wanted to dwell on for a while is faithful, old Caleb — “Mad-dog”. That’s actually what his name means. Joshua and Caleb are the only two original men, 20 years old or older, who were part of the Exodus and also crossed over to Canaan. They were the only two of the twelve spies who counseled Israel to attack Canaan on God’s command, in spite of its fortified cities and giants (Numbers 13). He was 40 years old when he spied out the land, and he is now 85 years old as Israel is dividing up the land. He’s old, he’s retirement age, but look at his request!

“Now then, give me this hill country about which the LORD spoke on that day, for you heard on that day that Anakim were there, with great fortified cities; perhaps the LORD will be with me, and I will drive them out as the LORD has spoken.” Joshua 14:12, NAS95.

Paraphrased: “Give me the toughest challenge in the region. Give me the very city that was so frightening to the other 12 spies. With God’s help, there’s nothing we can’t do.” So Joshua blessed him and gave Hebron, the city of the Anakim (the giants, Goliath was one of them who’d fled to Gath), to Caleb for an inheritance. He wasn’t looking for easy; he wasn’t looking for retirement; he was still “Mad-dog” to the bone. He was 85; but Caleb was still looking for a challenge, looking to make a difference, going for the gold! And not just in a secular way — I’d like to climb Kilimanjaro and do a few other edgy “bucket list” things before I die — Caleb was about serving the Lord with his last drop of energy — going out with his boots on. And his feisty faith conquered Hebron and all its giants!

May God grant us all the same spirit, the same focus, the same faith, the same fight as “Mad-dog” Caleb! As the saying goes, “May his tribe increase!”

See you tomorrow, Lord willing.

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The Real Longest Day — Joshua 10-12

Posted on March 24, 2011 by parklinscomb

Today’s reading includes one of the more controversial miracles of the Bible, the day the sun stood still. Why so controversial?

Well, those who discount the possibility of the miraculous look at the miracle of the sun standing still in the sky as one so complicated with regard to physics that it — well, just couldn’t have happened. Consider, for example, the momentum of everything on earth (trees, people, oceans, etc.), if it suddenly were to stop in its rotation; and that’s just one of many difficulties. They are difficulties, however, only if you’re human; not if you’re God. As in many other objections to the miracles of the Bible, the doubters’ gods are too small. The God who creates the universe out of nothing, on the other hand, has no problem suspending as many laws of physics as He needs to, in order to accomplish His will.

Interestingly enough, there actually are other witnesses of the sun’s standing still scattered across the globe. Mr. Harry Rimmer, a creationist of the mid-20th century, summarized some of these traditions as follows:

In the ancient Chinese writings there is a legend of a long day. The Incas of Peru and the Aztecs of Mexico have a like record, and there is a Babylonian and a Persian legend of a day that was miraculously extended. Another section of China contributes an account of the day that was miraculously prolonged, in the reign of Emperor Yeo. Herodotus recounts that the priests of Egypt showed him their temple records, and that there he read a strange account of a day that was twice the natural length.

All this is said to merely point out that the one and only true and living God is powerful beyond our imaginations or ability to grasp. We really need to stop trying to judge God’s ability by man’s ability or what we have observed in this world. God is much, much greater and is limited only by His own holy choices.

This should make us reflect upon the real power of prayer. Of course, there are those who are disappointed pray-ers, who have asked the Lord and have not received what they asked for. I’ll not get into the details of why God sometimes decides to answer us with a “No”, but reading James 4 will help answer a few questions, if you have those kind. But notice what Joshua did — Joshua took God at His word; he took courage as God commanded; he acted strongly upon God’s will; and in the case of his attack on the kings of southern Canaan, he prayed in faith to the Lord and then immediately, with no reservations, pressed the attack as if would happen. How many prayers do we “kill” by walking by sight — failing to do our part by taking the first step.

The rest of the reading for today, of course, is the rest of the conquest of Canaan, defeating the northern kings of Canaan who had allied themselves in hopes of defeating Israel and her God. No one could stand before Israel.

God, grant us the faith, the courage, and the strength of obedience that we see in the heroic story of Joshua! With You on our side, Lord, no one can stand before us either.

See you tomorrow, Lord willing.

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