Friday, January 23, 2009

The People did what seemed right in their own eyes

What a fresh word I received last night during Thursday Night Amplified... I have to thank God for his goodness and the illumination he gives to his word... I believe that ALL scripture is used to teach, admonish, instruct and encourage us Christians, and sometimes when I read a passage I think "What in the world does this mean" or "Why would God allow this to be in the Bible." So it was with the scripture passage last night...

I'll try to be brief but it's so good, I have to share it with you... We're in Judges 17-21...

Right off the bat, the story opens with a women who has cursed the person that has stolen 1100 pieces of silver from her... Her son heard her curse and he came to her and said, It was me, I stole the money... Here it is...

Now this is how I received this... God is the woman here... He has spoken to us through his word that we are cursed in our sin.... For the wages of sin is death... Romans 6:23

We are the son... We can come to him and admit we are sinners and that we have done wrong... "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:9

Now the story goes a little cock-eyed here... She takes some of the money and dedicates it to the Lord by making an IDOL with it...

What's wrong with this picture?

Do we take what is a gift from God, which in this case is forgiveness, and make it into an idol? Do we have right intentions, but wrong motives? Is church an idol for you... Something that takes up space in your life but doesn't really live in your heart?

Well, this story just prefaces the story that we were actually studying last night... This verse sets the tone for the following mindset in Israel at this time...

Judges 17 Verse 6 In those days Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes.


Jump ahead to Judges 19... It's an AWFUL story about a concubine who was beaten and raped and killed in an Israelite town by a bunch of renegade Benjamites... She belonged to a man who didn't even love her much less care that she was attacked, but because this injustice was done TO HIM through something he owned, he blew the thing right out of proportion...

Yes it was bad what happened to this woman, but people, please, when an injustice is done to us don't we do the exact same thing he did... We take that injustice home with us, we chop it up into 12 little pieces, then we send it out to all of our friends or people we influence and call for battle 'Just LOOK what so and so did to ME" we cry and cry over and over to as many people who will listen to us...

WOW what a word I received, and I have to refer you to the scriptures yourself to read the whole story... It's Judges 19-21...
Some things just need to be left at the threshold, dead, and done with...

But instead we pick them up and carrying around the dead weight of our past grievances... Let's leave them on the doorstep of God's grace and mercy.. and let GOD be our avenger... Let God handle the injustice... Let God help us through the pain and loss of whatever was taken from us through the injustice...

This was an eye-opener for me... I hope it changes your life as well...
Go bury some dead weight today!
Lea Anne

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