Birthdays! Spring Break! Whew! I had lots of catching up to do!
Battles! Marriages! Killings! Rapes! Whew! Who ever thought the Bible was boring?
So what's up for these poor women? Just throw 'em out to the sex perverts! Gotta be married and have babies to be worth anything to these men! Boy, it was a different world from ours! But I still look for the messages! Like how to influence others by hanging in there. By knowing the laws enough to use them in your favor. Naomi really knew how to fix the situation once she got out of her funk. I love that she was able to "rise above" again even though I know how sad and lonely she must have been.
And women could have power--look at Deborah and how she influenced many leaders into battle and beyond. She knew the law and used it for Israel's favor. Jael was no wimp either! She knew how to use the opportunities that were given to her. According to the law, her house should have been a safe house, but....
And all the trouble seems to have been caused by straying away from God and His laws. How much easier would life be if we could all just learn that lesson? Know His laws and live within them. In fact, use them for your favor. That is what the leaders of Israel did. Funny that all the kings and judges were worshiping some kind of god. Makes you wonder if those worshiping in a different way have "a bible" that tells the stories differently. They were praying to their gods to save them, too! Like in war today! I'm glad I'm not in charge and have to decide who deserves to win!
I loved Jotham's story of which tree should be in charge. It seemed all the trees had important jobs and were too busy doing important things to be king, until the thorn bush was asked. The thorn bush wasn't doing anything important and got all puffed up at being asked. He even pushed it to the limit saying if they didn't make him king he would retaliate. Funny thoughts come to mind with our presidential election being around the corner. I wonder which candidate used to be a thorn bush and which candidates were actually busy doing important works!
And I don't won't to go before mentioning Samson. Quite the character! Again, it seems his life would have been easier if he had walked a little closer to God--if He had been a true Nazirite and followed the law a little closer. He didn't seem like the sharpest crayon in the box, did he? How many times did he give in to women? How many times did his wife ask him the same question? But in the end, when he called out to God, when he broke the pattern, God responded and loved him.
I guess that is the main lesson after all---no matter how much we mess up, God really does love us. No matter how dumb we act, God really does love us. No matter how much we complain and disobey Him, God really does love us. No matter how often we break His law and stray from His guidance, He really does love us. I guess that is why the bible has stories where the characters say the same thing over and over again--"Samson, tell me how you can be captured?"and do the same things over and over again--"and they destroyed every man, woman, and child in the village and took their idols and worshiped them", and "they destroyed all the idols and vowed to worship God alone. And they had forty years of peace." Because that is probably the way God hears us--saying the same thing over and over again, and making the same mistakes over and over again--but He really still loves us! It's amazing, isn't it? Just when I want to judge the Israelites, I see how like them I am!
So, thank you, God! I am so grateful that you really love us! over and over again! AMEN!
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