Now in those days Israel had no king. Judges 18:1
This statement is repeated several times throughout the last part of the book of Judges, and each times it's followed by an example of people living in rebellion.
- Micah set up a shrine for the idol his mother had made for him. He installed one of his son's as his personal priest. Later, when a Levite came along looking for a place to live, Micah set him up as his personal priest.
- The tribe of Dan stole Micah's idol and took his priest. They set up the carved image and worshiped it.
- The people of the town of Gibeah wanted to have sex with a visiting man spending the night in the town. Instead, the man gave them his concubine and they abused her all night, and she died. This led to war against the tribe of Benjamin.
- The Israelites killed all the men of Jabesh-gilead to provide wives for the men of Benjamin. They also encouraged the men of Benjamin to kidnap women from another area to be their wives.
The book of Judges ends with this sentence: In those days Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes.
Are you doing what seems right in your own eyes or what is right in God's eyes? The sad fact is that Israel did have a king. God intended to be their king, but the people didn't acknowledge him. Are you acknowledging God as your king?
Worship your King today by surrendering completely to Him.
Many blessings,
It was a sad time back then and it is about the same today. People are worshipping other gods besides our King. God's heart must be breaking. This is why God's people need to be out trying to help these people. God wants us to bring people to Him not take them away. It is sad to say but some churches are running people away instead of taking care of them. Thanks for the reminder.
ReplyDeletePeople worship so many things. Tv, computers, games, celebrities, the list goes on and on. We are no better than the Isrealites were at that time. I want to worship the one true God. He is my Lord, my Savior and my Rock. Great post LIsa!
ReplyDeleteI hate that it is so easy to 'worship' things. We don't even realize we are doing it. As Jenifer said, we are NO better than the Isrealites...I pray that God will help ME to see the things in my life that I worship and cause me to change my ways. I only want to worship the One True God and nothing else!
ReplyDeleteThings haven't changed much, have they?! I love the verse in Ecclesiastes that says "there is nothing new under the sun" because it's so true. We have SO many things to worship that we don't even realize we're doing it... I don't want to get caught up in worldly things... I want God to be THE One! Awesome post!
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