If you don’t know I have joined forces with a buddy of mine, Jason Weaver (that should scare some of you if you know us both) in reading the Bible in 90 days. I may have talked to you, or you may have seen me tweet about this endeavor, but if not…..now you know. So, as apart of that journey we have been reading the book of Judges this week.
Throughout the book of judges….there is one very frequent phrase.
The Israelites again did things that the Lord saw as evil.
This phrase is a part of a pattern. The Israelites do what they feel is right and did things that the Lord saw as evil, then the Lord allows a country or people group to overthrow the Israelites and rule over them, the Israelites beg for help from the Lord, the Lord helps and they are saved for a period of time until they decide to once again do what THEY feel is right.
It’s a vicious cycle.
Over, and over they choose to do what they feel is right.
In Deuteronomy 8:5, The Lord says through Moses this:
Know then in your heart that Lord your God has been disciplining you just as a father disciplines his children.
There are a lot of rules in the Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and even Deuteronomy. Rules according to Moses that God has put in place not for grins and giggles, but for the betterment of the people. It’s like parents always say:
I’m doing this for your own good.
Who knew that this phrase was biblical? That is was from the heart of God?
God knows that we are going to mess up from time to time, and knows especially that when we do what we feel is right then we are headed for a path that is not so good. Does that mean that we don’t know right from wrong?
Well of course not!
But our heavenly father knows us. After he made us and the psalmist even says that he knows what we are going to do before we even think about doing it. I wonder if we followed the diet rules that are layed out in Leviticus how heathly we would be? I wonder what would happen if we truly honored our father and mother at all times? I wonder if we really loved as God loves all the time?
How much different would this world look like?
How different would our relationships look?
God loves us so much that He desires for us to live an abundant life. He must because throughout the Old Testament God sends prophet after prophet to help the Israelites. He continually saves them and he is still doing that saving work today.
What would our lives look like if we truly looked at the Ten Commandments as more than rules and regulations? What if we looked at them as steps to an abundant life?
It really is for our own good.