Faith Blog

OBEYING OR DISOBEYING

As we begin the Book of Judges, the tribes of Judah and Simeon join forces to fight against the Caananites and Perizzites in an effort to conquer the territories which the Lord had allotted to them. This act of obedience lead to a successful campaign.  Not long thereafter however, we see a list of the people groups/nations that were not driven out by the tribes of Israel (Judges 1:21-35).  The problem here is that Moses had specifically instructed the Israelites: “When the Lord your God hands these nations over to you and you conquer them, you must completely destroy them.  Make no treaties with them and show them no mercy” (Deut 7:2).   Instead, the Israelites “failed to drive out” some of the people, so the angel of the Lord had some bad news for them: “…Why have you disobeyed my command?  Since you have done this, I will no longer drive out the people living in your land.  They will be thorns in your sides, and their gods will be a constant temptation to you.” (Judges 2:2-3)

Joshua then dies at the age of 110. Various judges then rule over Israel; but the people who weren’t driven out eventually lead Israel astray, causing the Lord much anger.  And you know what happened:  The Israelites would be captured by their enemies and exiled from their promised land. 

As believer, we must learn to “drive out” those things in our life that cause us to be tempted and to disobey God’s Word. Failing to obey the Lord always comes with a heavy price.

The Psalmists understood God’s wrath but also His love and protection. Psalm 90 is a beautiful prayer that reminds us that God does not tolerate sin (vss 7-9), while Psalm 91 makes it clear that He still provides rest, rescue and refuge to those who love Him and trust Him.

Hallelujah!

DO YOU SING?

Psalms 89:1, New English Translation:

“I will sing continually about the LORD's faithful deeds; to future generations I will proclaim your faithfulness.”

I have a question for you. Do you sing? I didn’t ask “can you sing?” The question is, do you sing? It’s the doing part that we struggle with. In our passage for today the Psalmist tells us that he will continually sing! 

When he is happy, when he is sad. When he is winning and when he is losing. He will sing. How is that possible? Because he tells us that he is not singing about life. Life is full of ups and downs, peaks and valleys. He is singing about the faithfulness of Yĕhovah (the existing One) as expressed in His lovingkindness through His deeds, or efforts, on his behalf.

Wow! The Psalmist tells us that The one who exists outside of everything and has no other need for anyone or anything -the source of everything—cares for him out of His love for him. 

He also tells us that this Existing One is faithful in caring for him. In this passage I imagine the Psalmist as a middle aged man. Someone who has walked with the Lord for many years and has experienced God’s faithfulness over and over. Because he has personally experienced God’s faithfulness he can say with great certainty that he will make known God’s faithfulness in watching over, providing for, and loving of His children.

So as you start out this day, pause. Remember all of the times in your life when you were facing overwhelming difficulties and The Existing One walked with you and carried you through them. Now that’s a reason to sing!