Judges 3:4
“They were left to test Israel by them, to find out if they would obey the commandments of the LORD, which He had commanded their fathers through Moses.”
As we go through judges we see the people falling away from following the Lord. God would withdraw His hand of favor and one of these nations would pester them and in some cases take them captive. They would cry out to God and He would raise up a judge and he would deliver them. They would return to God and follow Him. Unfortunately a decade would pass and they would adopt the idols of the people and fall away from following God. The whole process would start over.
This applies to us. I Corinthians 10:11 says, “Now these things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come.”
There are things in our lives that are there to test us. Vices come to mind. God blesses us with freedom, but when we follow Him from afar, like Peter, we get into trouble. We may have a difficult person in our lives. They should drive us back to God.
When we stay close to God He gives us patience. We know the difficulties are out there. He gives us the fruit of the Spirit to aid us.
The idea is to stay close to God. To use an analogy, the christian was is like walking down a path in the jungle. The path is wide enough that we could stay in the center and be safe. However if we are on the left or right, we’ve got branches that hit us. There are nuisances that can bite or sting. They won’t kill us, but hinder us. We are susceptible when we are on the extremes. Stay in the safe zones.
This reminds me of Hebrews 12:1, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off every encumbrance and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with endurance the race set out for us.” Be serious about following the Lord. Stay on the center of the path. Lay aside every weight or hindrance.
There are things out there that will test us. Know them and stay away from them. Stay close to God. He will assist us. He will keep us from temptation. Thank You, Lord.
