Judges 18; Jeremiah 32; Psalms 1–2; Acts 22
Leadership is important. While a few people are so closely connected to God and can get specifics for everyday life from Him, most of us need others to keep us informed and offer courses of action that considers all the variables. I listen to my hubby as he helps groups of people plan their projects. His experience brings issues to the table that they say, “Oh, we never thought of that” and had they left those considerations out of their plans, it would be disastrous.
In reading Judges, many chapters begin with: “In those days, there was no king in Israel.” In other words, everyone lived by personal whim. Today’s comment sums up their situation: “The levels of covenantal faithlessness in the religious realm are multiplied by increased violence, tribal selfishness, personal aspirations of power, ingratitude, crude threats, and massive superstition. It is not uncommon for these sins to grow together.”
That description is too contemporary to miss. While we have leaders, even they are floundering in the myriad of decisions to be made, partly because of the constant troubles hitting us, everything from increased violence, tribal selfishness, aspirations of power and all the above, and mostly from not seeking the will of God.
In the days of the Judges, God raised up leaders who turned things around, but the problems became so bad that the book ends with: “Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”
I fear for our continent and for most of the rest of the world, yet the way the Lord worked with His people in the Old Testament gives me hope. For instance, prior to their capture and exile to Babylon, God told Jeremiah to buy some land because the bottom line was that after seventy years in captivity, He would bring them home and restore their fortunes. When Jeremiah asked for understanding, God told him:
“Behold, I will gather them from all the countries to which I drove them in my anger and my wrath and in great indignation. I will bring them back to this place, and I will make them dwell in safety. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their own good and the good of their children after them. I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me. I will rejoice in doing them good, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, with all my heart and all my soul . . . Just as I have brought all this great disaster upon this people, so I will bring upon them all the good that I promise them.” (Jeremiah 32:37–42)
God is the same today. He hates sin. He gave us a Savior and the privilege of escaping eternal wrath. He gives us a new heart so we do not turn away — because along with that goodness He also disciplines us so we know what we have done and that He means business. Life as a Christian on this earth is supposed to be holy, righteous and obedient. By straying from our course, we can expect Him to do what it takes to bring us back.
The psalmist says that God’s people will prosper. Even though the leaders in this world set themselves against Him, He laughs! He will “terrify them in Hs fury” and tells them to “Serve the Lord with fear” as He encourages His people to take refuge in Him.
Paul was one of those leaders who started out set against Jesus Christ and His people. He didn’t realize what he was doing until confronted by the resurrected Christ. At that, the scales fell from his eyes and his life was changed. Reading his testimony in Acts 22 encourages me to pray for other leaders, both in the religious world and political leaders. They also need an encounter with the living Christ and their lives transformed. Too long has our society lived as if we have no leaders and as if it is perfectly okay to do what is right in our own eyes.
APPLY: I’m stirred once more to pray for revival, that God would touch His people with a fresh anointing from the Holy Spirit and fill our hearts with awe of Him and a deep awareness and hatred of our sin and how far short we fall. I know this must be for my own life too. Without it, the peace of God will elude us and our nations will crumble.
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