Entitlement and Wrong Expectations

Synopsis     Judges 6:13-21     6/14/2018

An angel of the Lord visited Gideon. As they conversed, Gideon questioned the angel concerning God’s desire for Israel in the light of the Midianite oppression.

God responded through the angel by tasking Gideon to save the Israelite nation. God’s angel didn’t answer the question. Instead, he just gave an outrageous command. Gideon was incredulous and wondered how he, of all people, could do this because he considered himself insignificant. But God committed to being with Gideon and empowering him to succeed.

Gideon responded that he wanted a sign and then offered a sacrifice meal. He delivered the meal to the angel. The offering was consumed by a mysterious fire and then the messenger disappeared. And Gideon believed.

Entitlement and Wrong Expectations

Gideon was dubious with the angel of the Lord. He was aware of Israel’s history. But he couldn’t reconcile how the God who had saved Israel out of the slavery of Egypt would turn-around and allow the Midianites to oppress them.

In the end, Gideon was incapable of correctly interpreting his circumstances. He felt that God had let the people down and he doubted God’s intentions. Only when he began to see things from God’s perspective did his understanding and confidence grow.

Every Man’s Way is Right In His Own Eyes

How many times have I found myself muddling through – just getting by. My tendency is to think that things should be easier than the way they often work out. But, it rarely occurs to me to think that maybe something I’m doing could be contributing to my challenges.

I’m not really aware that I’ve done anything wrong so I’m generally pretty confident that I am right. And if I haven’t done anything explicitly wrong, then the problem is clearly someone else’s. So, when things get tough it’s easy for me to cast blame on whoever seems a likely candidate. Then it’s almost natural to slip into the comfortable role of victim.

The breakout from this pattern of thinking comes when I drop my own desires and my own agenda and look at the situation from God’s perspective. He’s sovereign God; the master of each and every situation. And all of the sudden, my experience of value changes and the motivation follows suite. Suddenly I no longer ask, “What’s in it for me”, and begin to say,

“I think God wants me to respond to what’s given in this way”

He said to them in reply, “[In the evening you say, ‘Tomorrow will be fair, for the sky is red’; and, in the morning, ‘Today will be stormy, for the sky is red and threatening.’ You know how to judge the appearance of the sky, but you cannot judge the signs of the times.] Matt 16:2-3 

The Total War of Midian

Synopsis     Judges 6:2-12     6/13/2018

Peace reigned for forty years after Deborah and Barak’s defeat of the Canaanites. However, Israel once again relapsed into idol worship. As a result, the Israelites gained a new enemy. This time Midian, Amalek and the Kedemites made an alliance to destroy Israel. Their plan was to come up into the mountains each summer in force and attack Israel after the planting. They systematically destroyed the crops. So, the Israelites were stuck in a cycle of crushing poverty. Their oppression extended from northern Israel all the way south to Gaza.

Israel cried out to the Lord God.

In the midst of this misery, God sent an angel to call Gideon, a man from the tribe of Manasseh, to save Israel. The angel spoke to Gideon assuring him that God was with him. The angel called Gideon a “mighty warrior” even though he was hiding in a winepress.

The Total War of Midian

The Midianites weren’t interested in tribute. And unlike previous oppressors, they weren’t interested in co-existence. The Midianites and their allies had woken up and rightly recognized that Israel was an existential threat. Israel’s presence in the Promised Land combined with God’s mandate that they drive out all other peoples and cultures and especially false gods, meant a fight to the death.

This Is a Fight to the Death

So, I want to enter into the possibility of my life. But I don’t want to die – I don’t want anything to change. I want it both ways. On the one hand, I want to do whatever I will. And on the other hand, I want to explode onto the scene in God’s purpose and power for my life.

The Israelites wanted to get along with their neighbors because fighting is hard and dangerous. But avoiding death never really works out. The apostle said, “Consequently, you too must think of yourselves as [being] dead to sin and living for God in Christ Jesus.” (Rom 6:11)

It takes courage and commitment and absolute faith to be willing to die – and then to rise again. To live a resurrected life. To live an eternal life. To flow in the Holy Spirit of God.

“The Lord is with you, you might warrior!” Judges  6:12

Celebrating the Power of Woman

Synopsis     Judges 5:21-6:1     6/12/2018

Deborah’s song concluded with a curse against those who refused to help the Israelite effort. The final section was a reflection on the role of women in the narrative.

The song celebrated Jael’s glory. She was a woman who recognized the situation for its potential and acted in accord with what she could see God doing. She worked in harmony with the very forces of nature to complete the defeat of the Canaanite general, Sisera.

Finally, Deborah contrasted Jael’s glory with the anxiety and grief of Sisera’s mother, who waited helplessly at her home for his return.

Celebrating the Power of Woman

The scriptures are full of remarkable women who radically shaped the world in which they lived. As long as she lived, Sarah was a full and exclusive partner to Abraham. Rachel and Leah were placed in the most impossible circumstances imaginable by their own father. And yet their children formed the first authentic community in history.

Through her wisdom and courage, Tamar was the principle instrument that God used to bring Judah to an awareness of his own sin and need for repentance. Miriam saved her brother Moses as a little girl. Though she knew her own moral failures, she supported Moses in his most desperate hours. These were just some of the ancient heroes.

And Deborah, who took her place in the line of faithful women, shaped the circumstances of her age. She was the arbiter of God’s voice to the Chosen People. She was courageous and wise and through her life, pointed to the unique contribution that only women can play in a successful culture.

Entering Into the Possibility of Your Life

All the things your life might be – all the things your life will be. You are capable of so much and you will achieve so much. We rightly talk about gender complementarity but the deeper issue for you, is just you.

Who you are in Christ. Your essence. Your purpose. Your possibility.

And like everyone else, though perhaps in a different way, the greatest hope for all that God intends for you is this choice that only you can make. The choice to enter, or not, into your freedom.

“And coming to her, he said, “Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you.” Luke 1:28

Cosmological Battle for the Chosen People

Synopsis     Judges 5:9-20     6/11/2018

Deborah’s Song continued. These verses celebrated the Israelite leadership and the valiant  men from Issachar and Zebulun who fought against the Canaanites. Her song also challenged the Reubenites for their refusal to fight.

The song pointed out the way nature worked in harmony with Israel’s battle plan. The “stars fought” against Sisera and the Canaanite army.

Cosmological Battle for the Chosen People

The verses of the song revealed the cosmological underpinnings of the battle. All of nature, it seemed, worked on behalf of the Israelite’s success. This battle that was playing out on Mount Tabor and in the Jezreel Valley. But for the prophetess Deborah, what was happening reflected a larger battle between good and evil that transcended the earthly reality of combat.

For her, the victory was also foretold. It was predestined like the motion of the stars.

You Have Been Predestined For Glory

You are predestined for glory! If you’re in relationship with God, you can count on this.

But it’s more than that – what we really mean is: you can’t lose. Let’s face it, people are forever saying they want to be successful and yet they struggle. They have goals and aspirations. Careers, hobbies, relationships. Some achieve, some don’t. But with God, if you’re committed, you can’t lose. Christ followership is the most certain path to success anyone could hope for.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t fail at life. A single act of contrition a half-century before you pass out of life isn’t entering into the plan. It isn’t entering into the relationship. It isn’t following.

Barak nearly missed his opportunity. If Deborah had been easily offended, the story might read entirely different. Someone else would have had to lead the Israelites against Canaan. The victory was assured. But Barak still had to enter into his destiny.

I still have to enter into my destiny.

The most serious thing anyone could ever hope to achieve is relationship with God. It’s promised. So, if I try then I can’t fail.

So I’ll commit – I will serve the Lord.

“For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he might be the firstborn among many brothers” Rom 8:29

Trusting God Before the Battle

Synopsis     Judges 4:21-5:8     6/10/2108

Jael killed Sisera with a tent peg and a mallet. When Barak came to the tent looking for information concerning Sisera, Jael showed him Sisera’s dead body.

Deborah sang a song to the Lord concerning the Israelite victory over the Canaanites. In it, she recounted how the rain had flooded the roads making the chariots worthless. The song also mentioned how the Israelites had won the battle even though none of the soldiers kept actual weapons.

Professional Army versus God’s Guerillas

The professional army of the Canaanites, who dominated the lowlands, was defeated by an Israelite army made of mountain people who lacked basic military equipment and weapons. The victory was facilitated through flooding rains that appear to have swept away resources and bogged down the chariots in mud – rendering them a useless liability.

In the time of Joshua, God specifically forbade the Israelites from keeping captured military hardware – especially chariots. He seemed less interested in the Israelite’s military prowess and more interested in their capacity for faith.

Trusting God Before the Battle

We live in a world where power projection is a basic strategic capacity. A nation that cannot project power upon other nations, has the terms of more powerful nations imposed on it. This is the basic premise of most foreign policy. This is the universal fear of most nations.

In America, this translates into a huge commitment of resources to maintain a large standing military with the most technologically advanced weapons systems in the world. I don’t think most Americans don’t really like spending so much money on the military. But the fear is that if we don’t then we, and our allies, will be exploited by other nations. The hundred years old motto of Teddy Roosevelt still resounds; “Speak softly but carry a big stick.” Which is, of course, another way of saying, “I trust the stick”. That’s what a professional army does for a ruler.

But God calls me to total vulnerability. He calls me to remain weak and unpolished and even, somewhat unprepared – at least in the ways of defending my faith. He wants to show me a vast and powerful army swept away in a flood that only He could do.

But I can’t have it both ways. I can’t desire to be in control and insist on forcing my own agenda and simultaneously anticipate the wonders that only He can do. I have to choose.

Trusting and knowing that God’s power is made perfect in weakness, the Way of Givenness is a willingness to receive what has been given.

“For the holy Spirit will teach you at that moment what you should say.” Luke 12:12 

Sisera, Exhaustion, Stress and Sleep

Synopsis     Judges 4:11-20     6/9/2018 

Heber the Kenite was a descendent of Moses’ father-in-law. Coincidently, he and his wife Jael lived in tents in the northern part of Israel.

Israel was oppressed by Jabin and his general, Sisera. Barak and Deborah were Israelite leaders working in northern Israel to form an army of men from the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali. They attacked Sisera at Mount Tabor. Despite the Canaanites having over 900 iron chariots, the Israelite army routed them. In order to save himself from the defeat, Jabin abandoned his chariot and ran on foot.

He approached Heber’s tent seeking protection from Jael. She gave him milk to drink and he fell asleep.

Sisera and a Hiding Place

Exhausted from battle, Sisera asked for water. But Jael gave him milk. Jael didn’t know that milk contains tryptophan, but she did know that milk soothes babies to sleep. She wanted him to sleep. And he was too exhausted to refuse the milk.

And so, Sisera went to sleep.

Exhaustion, Stress and Sleep

That’s the moment of greatest vulnerability – when I’m tired. My thinking isn’t as clear. My concern for the potential of danger is less acute. It’s then that, all of the sudden, I’m presented with a temptation.

Not doing something you know is wrong requires mental effort. This is more than a personal observation, it’s a scientific fact. Reflective thought takes a remarkable amount of energy that is distributed through discreet regions of the brain. And exhaustion, stress, and certain chemicals like alcohol, depress the functioning of those regions.

So, sleep when it’s time to sleep. When you wake, pray and stay awake.

“What I say to you, I say to all: ‘Watch!’” Mark 13:35

Thinking and Knowing God’s Voice

Synopsis     Judges 3:31-4:10     6/7/2018

After Ehud, Shamgar judged Israel. This man slew 600 Philistines with an oxgoad (cattle prod). But the Israelites again failed the covenant. So God brought the Canaanite king Jabin. Like other foreign kings, Jabin oppressed Israel.

A prophetess named Deborah, from Ephraim, received a word from the Lord. She summoned a man named Barak from northern Israel, from the tribe of Naphtali. Deborah instructed Barak to raise and army of 10,000 men from Naphtali and Zebulun and attack Jabin.

Barak’s Response to Deborah

Curiously Barak responded, “If you come with me, I’ll go [attack Jabin’s army].” It seems like Barak wasn’t afraid of the fight. But he received Deborah’s words with caution. His concern was that her prophecy was suspect. His response was reasoned. He probably thought something like; “It’s easy enough to say what someone else should do. But she has no skin in the outcome. She won’t come unless she believes her prophecy truly is the word of God.” Thus the demand that she accompany the army.

Deborah readily agreed to come with the army. But because of his response, she further prophesied that Barak’s glory would be eclipsed by that of a woman. Because he doubted and only reluctantly accepted her prophecy, he tarnished the glory of his military achievement.

In the absence of knowing God’s voice as it had been spoken through Deborah, Barak did the only thing he could have done; he used his reason. There was nothing wrong with that. And his reason served him well – even in this circumstance. But Deborah’s challenge implies he could have done better. He could have recognized God’s voice in the words she spoke to him.

Thinking and Knowing God’s Voice

It’s possible to know God’s voice. That’s a tenant of our tradition. Francis of Assisi heard in a new way certain words spoken in the midst of the daily mass readings. Somehow, he recognized that God was speaking to him, personally, through those words. And it changed everything for him.

So, fearful as I am, I can likewise make myself available to hear God speak into my life. Probably it starts with prayer. But it ends with listening.

“My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” John 10:27

The Way of Ehud, The Way of Givenness

Synopsis     Judges 3:19-30     6/7/2018

Ehud was a respected Israelite from the tribe of Benjamin. The Moabites had allied with the Amorites and subjugated Israel after having gained control of the area around Jericho and Gilgal. Part of this subjugation was that Israel had to pay a certain amount of money every year to Eglon. They used to call this “tribute”.

Ehud determined to end the reign of Eglon and the subjugation of Israel. He had a two-edged dagger made and hid it on his body. After having paid the annual tribute payment, he deceived the king into a private audience and assassinated him there.

The Determination of Ehud

Ehud didn’t make the decision to kill Eglon simply because he hated his tyranny. Paying the annual tribute was killing average Israelites.

So, Ehud determined to act. The sense is that he probably didn’t tell his plans to any of the other Israelites who were helping to deliver the annual tribute payment for fear of being tipped off. His mission was singular. He knew king Eglon could not resist hearing a private message from God. Ehud knew that every ancient king lived in perpetual anxiety that some rival might plan assassination. With his left-handedness, he took advantage of the knowledge that the king could not have known.

The Lesson of Ehud

There’s that well-worn but ever spoken question; “What do you want to do when you grow up?” If you’re fortunate to know, really know what you want from life, it’s no problem. But if it’s ever unclear, the question is just a reminder that you’re not sure. Maybe the extent of an average ambition is no more that to get along from day-to-day. Maybe it’s a matter of admitting a mistake – “I should have done something else”.

But when a person encounters something that is intuitively valuable everything changes. It’s no longer even a question of ambition. It’s a matter of what must be. Or maybe a better way of saying it is: Realizing what already is.

Knowing my purpose puts everything else in clearer perspective. Acting on what I know and intuitively value makes anything possible.

“Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will act. And make your righteousness shine like the dawn, your justice like noonday” Psa 37:5-6

Falling Asleep to Reality

Synopsis     Judges 3:7-18     6/5/2018

The children of Israel served the Baals and Ashterahs. God allowed Cushan-rishathaim, king of Naharaim to rule over the Israelites for eight years. Then, after the Israel cried out to the Lord, He raised up Othniel to lead Israel. Othniel led the Israelites to victory and there was peace for forty years.

Then the Israelites again forgot the Lord and worshipped other gods. God allowed Eglon, king of Moab to rule over Israel for eighteen years.

Othniel the Nephew of Caleb

This Othniel was the same as the one who captured Kiriath-sephar and won Caleb’s daughter Achsah as his bride.

Falling Asleep to Reality

Eighteen years seems like a long time to struggle under the tyranny of a foreign ruler. As an American, it’s a little hard to imagine how the resistance under Othniel took so long to form.

But a little life experience tells me that eighteen years isn’t that long for a community to remain asleep. Smart as I like to think I am, it sometimes takes a while for me to make the connection between my behavior and my outcomes.

Paying attention means measuring performance. Even if that means no more than a daily examination of conscience, build processes that make cause and effect more obvious.

“All the sentinels of Israel are blind, they are without knowledge; They are all mute dogs, unable to bark;    Dreaming, reclining, loving their sleep.” Isa 56:10

The Permanent Unholy

Synopsis     Judges 2:19-3:6     6/4/2018

The pattern of behavior for the Israelites was to repent in the time of a righteous judge, but to fall away from God after the righteous judge died.

The author notes that God left the peoples of Canaan in place for two reasons. First, because the Israelites consistently broke faith with God in violating the covenant. Second, having a remnant of the nations remain in the land caused subsequent Israelite generations to learn warfare. Both of these constituted a “testing”. So, even after the initial conquest of the Promised Land, there remained a remnant of Philistines, Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.

The author also observed how the Israelites began to give their daughters in marriage to the young men of the nations they were meant to displace. And vice versa, they began taking the daughters of those people as wives for their sons.

The Permanent Unholy

There’s that expression that people like to say: You don’t just marry a woman, you marry her entire family. The same is true, of course, for women – they end up marrying the family of their partner.

This was the problem identified in scripture. The giving and taking of daughters in marriage brought the Israelites exposure to the very system of gods that destined the Canaanites to destruction.

 

It’s not solely about marriage, it’s about becoming entangled in a culture that is at odds with God’s core values. We live in a plural culture that embraces a panoply of fraudulent values. When I accept the notion that truth is relative, I have tied myself to something that can’t work in an authentic community. Or when I accept that good and right are merely a matter of personal preference, I have married myself to an idea that limits the potential that God built into my life.

There is Creation. There is a God of Creation. The God of Creation is Purposeful. I have Purpose. I have Potential. I will live out my Potential or fail.

“Do not be yoked with those who are different, with unbelievers.^* For what partnership do righteousness and lawlessness have? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness?” 2 Cor 6:14