After Abimelech’s death, God sent two judges, who led Israel
to follow god for another forty five years, but after the second one died
Israel turned away from God again, beginning to worship other gods, in judges
10:6. “And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD,
and served Baalim, and Ashtaroth, and the gods of Syria, and the gods of Zidon,
and the gods of Moab, and the gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of
the Philistines, and forsook the LORD, and served not him.”
Frustrated with their disobedience, God allowed the
Ammonites and Philistines to invade their land.
Initially the invasion was on the east side of the Jordan, but later
they invaded the west side as well, occupying the land for the next eighteen
years, according to Judges 10:7-9. “And the anger of the LORD was hot against
Israel, and he sold them into the hands of the Philistines, and into the hands
of the children of Ammon. And that year
they vexed and oppressed the children of Israel: eighteen years, all the
children of Israel that were on the other side Jordan in the land of the
Amorites, which is in Gilead. Moreover
the children of Ammon passed over Jordan to fight also against Judah, and
against Benjamin, and against the house of Ephraim; so that Israel was sore distressed.”
Finally, things got so bad the people cried out to God,
admitting they had sinned and asking for help, in Judges 10:10. “And
the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, saying, We have sinned against
thee, both because we have forsaken our God, and also served Baalim.”
Having delivered them so many times before, God decided to
let them experience the consequences of their behavior for a while longer and
refused to bail them out right away, according to Judges 10:11-14. “And
the LORD said unto the children of Israel, Did not I deliver you from the
Egyptians, and from the Amorites, from the children of Ammon, and from the
Philistines? The Zidonians also, and the
Amalekites, and the Maonites, did oppress you; and ye cried to me, and I
delivered you out of their hand. Yet ye
have forsaken me, and served other gods: wherefore I will deliver you no more. Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen;
let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation.” Obviously they preferred those other gods
to God, so they should just pray to them for help.
Many times, when people come to us for help, they just want
us to bail them out, but have no intention to make real changes in their
life. Until they make an effort to
correct their sin, we are wasting our time trying to help them, because they
will just go back and do it again. When
they sincerely want to get their life right, they will be willing to take action. Israel finally made such a commitment, in Judges
10:15-16. “And the children of Israel said unto the LORD, We have sinned: do thou
unto us whatsoever seemeth good unto thee; deliver us only, we pray thee, this
day. And they put away the strange gods
from among them, and served the LORD: and his soul was grieved for the misery
of Israel. ”
God knows our heart.
Sometimes he doesn’t answer our prayers until we actually commit
ourselves to obeying him, even when what we are praying for is something good. I he
gave us what we asked without that commitment, it is probable we will not
follow through and obey him, regardless ho much we promised to do so, and God
knows this.
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