Judges 12-15

...after Samson drank, his strength returned, and he revived. That is why he named it En-hakkore (Spring of the One Who Cried Out), which is in Lehi to this day. (15:19b)

Is there something you have yet to cry out to God for? He often allows us to be immersed in overwhelming circumstances to teach us to cry out to Him, so that we might learn how truly attentive He is to our lives, how desperately He longs for us to find a place of intimacy with Him. Cry out to Him, trust Him, call to Him...He answers!

Pastor Fred

Judges 11

This one story stumps me every time. The story of Jephthah and his daughter gives me pause every time I read it, and still there is no more clarity for me than when I read it years ago for the first time. Some say that he really didn't offer her as a burnt offering but rather she was required to live celibate her entire life, yet there is no evidence that was a practice for Judaism in the period of history. Others argue that he did in fact offer her as a burnt sacrifice, even though this was strictly forbidden by God. The text clearly states that he kept his vow and his vow was quite clear...a burnt offering.

For me, I hope there always remains mysteries in God's Word. It has the opposite effect on me as as opposed to some others. For, me, I find great peace in such mysteries. The moment that in my humanity the mysteries of His divinity disappear, I am less secure. Not that I will not long for the revelation of every mystery given for me to find in this life as is the example the Apostle Paul gives us, but that even if I were to obtain every mystery possible in my humanity, the scale will still remain unmoved in the balance that remains in His undiscovered divinity...leaving for us an eternity of discovery, a revelation that moved Paul to declare that to live is Christ but to die is gain!

Pastor Fred

Judges 9-10

Treachery always awaits a life being lived in open disobedience to God...so much of the story of Israel is given to us so that we do not have to walk down their path. I say "open disobedience" because there is a Biblical principle that He only holds us responsible for the truth we possess. That is why I like to use the phrase, "calling people to live up to the truth that they know."

Where are we not living up to the truth we know? May we never stop asking ourselves that penetrating question. Personal examination keeps us off the road to treachery!

Pastor Fred

Judges 8

In verses 22-27 we find a convicting story of a man who withstood the temptation of prestige, power, and wealth. Gideon would not be their king. How would we do under such pressure, with such an opportunity before us, knowing it was not our destiny...but would we relent?

And yet, in his greatest stand, we see he soon succumbed to the relentless forcers of darkness. God told Cain to beware, that sin was always crouching at the door and that he must master it. Peter tells us in 1 Peter 5:8-9 that Satan is roaming to devour. Sin, temptation, it is relentless. One victory does not deter it. As we see with Gideon, he withstood only to fall.

May it not be so with us! We will not relent! James promises us that if we submit ourselves to God and resist the Devil, he must flee from us! It is always our choice ultimately...do not relent! Whose gift will you accept, heaven's or hell's?

Pastor Fred

Judges 7

I always say the wrong 300 got all the notoriety! Hey, all the Spartans died in the end...Gideon didn't loose one soldier among his 300! Leonidas, step aside!

Pastor Fred

Judges 6

What has God put in our lives to teach us how to war spiritually (Judges 3); yet, we have let it become our master?

Paul writes in Ephesians 6:11-13 that we do not battle against this physical realm but rather the spiritual realm and that we should be well spiritually armed/prepared. And if we ever feel ill equipped, we should remember Romans 16:20, "The God of peace will soon crush Satan beneath your feet, the grace of our Lord Jesus be with you."

And then, God comes in our fear and buoys us further still, speaking to us as He did to Gideon, "...mighty warrior." He always calls us to what we are to be.

Pastor Fred

Judges 4-5

Judges 4:3 reads, "Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord, because Jabin had 900 iron chariots, and he harshly oppressed them 20 years."

Judges 5:31 reads, "Lord, may all your enemies perish as Sisera did. But may those who love Him be like the rising of the sun in its strength. And the land was peaceful 40 years."

Oppression or peace, our choice.

Pastor Fred