1/1/2010 10:12 AM
SPIRITUAL DIARY
My Worship Time Focus: He had chastened them
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Judges 6:1-6
Message of the verses: “1 ¶
Then the sons of Israel
did what was evil in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD gave them into the
hands of Midian seven years. 2 The power
of Midian prevailed against Israel.
Because of Midian the sons of Israel
made for themselves the dens which were in the mountains and the caves and the
strongholds. 3 For it was when Israel
had sown, that the Midianites would come up with the Amalekites and the sons of
the east and go against them. 4 So they
would camp against them and destroy the produce of the earth as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance in Israel as well as no sheep, ox, or
donkey. 5 For they would come up with
their livestock and their tents, they would come in like locusts for number,
both they and their camels were innumerable; and they came into the land to
devastate it. 6 So Israel was brought very low because of Midian,
and the sons of Israel
cried to the LORD.”
This
is the first SD of 2010, and it is also the first SD in the forth chapter of
Warren Wiersbe’s book “Be Available” which is a commentary on the book of
Judges. I am now looking at the sixth
chapter of the book of Judges, and it begins to tell the story of Gideon, and
Gideon is the fist judge in Israel
where his faults are written about in the book of Judges. There are more verses about Gideon than any
other judge in Israel,
with Samson coming in a close second.
The character of the judges continues to decline as I work my way
through this book, with the last judge, Samson being the most unspiritual of
all the judges in the book.
Gideon’s
life can be outlined in this fashion: 1.
A coward; 2. A conqueror; and 3. A compromiser.
The
first main point in this chapter of “Be Available” is a question of which all
four main points are given as a question.
“Does God really care about us” is the first question and I will look at
the first sub-point under that question in today’s SD.
As
mentioned in an earlier SD the book of judges is a book about the decline of
the spiritual condition in the nation of Israel. The second generation that came out of their
captivity in Egypt conquered the Promised Land and they had a high spiritual
condition, after all they saw the Lord bring the children of Israel out of
Egypt and the many miracles that it took to do this along with the giving of
the Law, and the construction of the Tabernacle and then the conquering of the
nations in the Promised Land, yet they too got comfortable in their new land
and did not drive out the remaining Canaanite people from their land and thus
the next generation began to worship the gods of the Canaanite, which made the
Lord jealous. “11 My son, do not reject the discipline of the
LORD Or loathe His reproof, 12 For whom
the LORD loves He reproves, Even as a father corrects the son in whom he
delights.” Proverbs 3:11-12.
In
the book of Hebrews, and the twelfth chapter the writer speaks about the
discipline of the Lord in verses 5-11.
It is the will of God that all of His children be conformed into the
image of the Lord Jesus Christ, “29 For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed
to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many
brethren, (Romans 8:29).
This
is what is going on in the lives of the children of Israel as written about in
the book of Judges, and even though there are upward movements in the spiritual
life of the children of Israel in the book of Judges, the over all movement is
downward and the book ends with this statement:
“In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right
in his own eyes.” This is a sad
commentary on the book of Judges.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I have often said that I just want to know
how and when and in what form is the Lord disciplining me in this life, and am
I using this discipline to be conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ?
My Steps of Faith for Today:
1. I
would like to take this space today in this, the very first SD of 2010 to make
some decisions that will make me more like the Lord Jesus Christ at the end of
this year.
2. I
want to rid this house of our cable TV in the form that we now have, and quit
wasting so much valuable time in watching the TV.
3. I
want to seek out a Christian counselor to work with me in the problem of lust.
4. I
want to meet at times this year with Bob Liston so we can use what the Bible
speaks of as iron sharpening iron.
5. I
would like to know earlier on in this year what a Biblical Church is about and
how it and the Pastor of it is to work.
6. I
want to do my devotions on a more regular basis this year.
7. I
want to listen to the entire Bible this year as I have it on my Ipod.
8. I
pray that God will give me the grace to accomplish these spiritual goals this
year!
1/1/2010 10:58 AM
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