Judges Through Gideon

The Original 300

So, I’m reading Judges now and have made it through Chapter 9 and Gideon and Deborah. It’s crazy. Time and time again, the Israelites “forget” about God and instead worship other gods and when things go poorly for them, they cry out to God and He comes to their rescue in the form of a judge who conquers their oppressor and they turn back to God and have a period of peace. Until, you know, they turn away again and the pattern begins again.

All I can think of is that nothing ever changes. Don’t we do the same thing? Be honest. We pursue our personal desires until they, in effect, become our personal gods whether they are careers, or even loved ones and just plain stuff. Then, when our lives go south, we cry out to God and, at least sometimes, He bails us out. And then we start all over again.

But, getting back to the text, I also can’t help but think that God is making a point in all this. By ourselves, we fail miserably just as He tells us we will. Thank God for Jesus or else there would be no hope for any of us.