Judges 10:7-9
“And the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He sold them into the hands of the Philistines, and into the hands of the sons of Ammon. And they afflicted and oppressed the sons of Israel that year; for eighteen years they oppressed all the sons of Israel who were beyond the Jordan, in Gilead in the land of the Amorites. And the sons of Ammon crossed the Jordan to fight also against Judah, Benjamin, and the house of Ephraim, so that Israel was in great difficulty.”
It is the tendency of people to stray from God. More than that we want to be the boss of our lives. This shuts God out. This goes against God’s created order. He made us to have fellowship with Him.
He created this good world for us to enjoy. It is good even though one doesn’t serve God. However He will cut off blessing to get that one’s attention. That’s what He did with Israel in this passage. He gives plenty of warnings prior to the takeover. They apparently went unheeded.
He will do the same with us. If we stop following Him, He will make our paths difficult. This is all an attempt to get our attention so we will return to Him. I Corinthians 5:5 gives an extreme example of this, “hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the Day of the Lord”. This individual was living a lifestyle far outside of the scriptures. Handing him over to Satan was excommunicating him from the church. This is quite a disruption. In a sense that is what God did with Israel.
A walking christian gets nudges from the Holy Spirit all the time. Go here, go there, do this, don’t do that. It’s not constant, but every so often. We might be completely unaware of some of this. Sometimes it is against our will. We pray about it and ask His help. We have to beware as sometimes we will harden our hearts and disobey. This is miserable.
When we do this we lose our peace. Colossians 3:15 says, “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, for to this you were called as members of one body. And be thankful.” If we disobey we aren’t letting the peace of Christ rule. We are bucking His lordship. So, we lose His peace. Misery.
I used to be guilt ridden by His promptings. I had to learn about His love and grace. Here’s what I John 5:3 says, “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.” This is so good. Walking with Him is restful. My years of guilt were not of Him. Thank You for freeing me from that.
Lord, help us to obey You. Thank You that following You is good. Thank You for Your rest. Thank You for You.