Discovering Peace By means of Humility within the Guide of Judges

I hate being misplaced and shedding my means. It leaves me disoriented, and truthfully, it may be a very scary feeling to not know the place you’re. At this time, we have now trendy instruments like smartphones that give us maps and instructions at our fingertips. However earlier than that expertise was out there, one of the very important instruments that folks used to maintain from getting misplaced was a compass.

A compass exhibits us which course we must always go and retains us from going the place we must always not. God’s Phrase is a sort of compass. It factors us to the place Jesus is and divulges once we begin to falter, or get distracted, or are getting into a course that may take us away from him. But a compass is just good if we use it. If we fail to maintain our concentrate on it, we are going to lose our means.

What Occurs When You Lose Your Compass

Within the e-book of Judges, we uncover this taking place to the Israelites. Within the days of Moses and Joshua, the individuals stored their concentrate on God—their “compass”—and skilled peace. They lived in security, safety, and stability . . . continuously being reminded that the God who had saved them from Egypt would shield them now. This was a peace that got here from humility.

Map of the land of Israel during the time of the book of Judges

However then the Israelites misplaced their concentrate on God. They did evil in his sight and worshiped the pagan gods of the peoples round them. This angered the Lord, and “he bought them to the enemies round them, and so they might not resist their enemies” (Judges 2:14). When the individuals of Israel misplaced their humility, additionally they misplaced their peace.

‘Everybody Did No matter Appeared Proper’

The creator of Judges steadily reminded his readers that the occasions of his e-book occurred when “there was no king in Israel” and “everybody did no matter appeared proper to him” (Judges 17:6). I need this assertion to be an anchor in our minds as we work by means of this research. Issues fell into this state of affairs as a result of the Israelites had rejected their sovereign King, the Lord God, and selected to do what they thought proper in their very own eyes.

Joshua’s Problem to the Israelites — and to Us

Earlier than Joshua died, he had challenged the Israelites: “If it doesn’t please you to worship the Lord, select for yourselves right this moment: Which is able to you worship—the gods your ancestors worshiped past the Euphrates River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you’re dwelling? As for me and my household, we are going to worship the Lord” (Joshua 24:15). We learn that at the moment, the individuals promised to comply with the Lord. However finally, they did not preserve their phrase.

The query Joshua requested the Israelites is identical query God is asking us right this moment: “The place will your allegiance be? Will it’s to counterfeit helpers that present no assist in any respect? Or will you bend your knee in humility to me, the King of the cosmos, who created you?” Jesus is the King of heaven and earth, the Creator of the cosmos. Once we reject him, we’re exhibiting delight. However once we acknowledge our want of a King and concentrate on him, we’re rooted in humility.

Humility . . . that’s what we unpack in my Bible research on Judges, Discovering Peace By means of Humility. Humility is probably not what we anticipated, however it’s what we have to expertise the peace all of us lengthy for.