D. The Superficial Response of the People (Judges 2:4-5)

And it came about when the angel of the LORD spoke these words to all the sons of Israel, that the people lifted up their voices and wept. So they named that place Bochim; and there they sacrificed to the LORD (Judges 2:4-5).

Is this ‘lifted up their voices and wept’ good or bad? Is the offering they offered in verse 5 good or bad? Generally, we would think that it is good. I think, however, that it is bad. It is bad because it is superficial. The Lord brought warnings into their lives. He alerted them about what was really happening among them. “What is this you have done?” The key in discerning this is to see whether their situation really changed. It is okay to cry about it all. But in the end, did they change?  To change is to obey. To be sad without change is stubborn rebellion. It reflects a deep smug confidence that their way is better than God’s way.

911 was a crisis that called our country to prayer.  We see that God lifted a shield of protection from our country because of our sins. But did we turn from our sins? We prayed, but in the end, did the church repent? It did not. The same was true with the hurricane Katrina. Did we repent from the blatant immorality? No. One of the first things that did again in New Orleans is to plan one of their immoral parties. Our prayers are a sham. They show how phony we can be. The church should have led the way for the nation through repentance and then prayed. As it was, we have spent billions on defense and are still insecure and anxious. Personally, we do the same thing. We face hardships, but we keep on going on. If we paused and asked the Lord, He would tell us to do certain things. But we don’t want to. We turn to our religion for comfort but will never find it.

We have everything backwards. This is true with our lives too. When you know something needs to change in your marriage, do you actually make the changes? You know as a husband you should spend time around the home fixing up things, but do you? It is one small way to obey the Lord by loving our wives.

God has told the wives not to keep nagging at the husband regarding the things he said he would do. But does the wife nag? Should we expect to see God’s grace? No. God removes the grace and tension arises. Do what God wants and then you will see good changes occur. God has given us a set of principles and rules to help provide and maintain wonderful relationships. When we fail to obey, we are in fact insisting that our way is better. God allows us to have our own way, but we will pay the consequences.

Some might say that the Lord seems rather unforgiving here. I do not agree. The Lord will forgive if we repent, but that means real change in how we handle things. It seems from the Lord’s seems like His rebuke in verse 3 “I will not drive them out...” meant that the Israelites would just have to live under the harsh treatment, but this is not so. The covenant still stood firm. All they need to do is repent from their waywardness and start doing what is right, and they would return to His favor.

The whole point of this section is to provoke the people into obedience. God wants us to obey so that He can bless us more. He wants us to have better personal relationships, pure and holy lives, great marriages, lost saved and effective service. He wants to send messages of His love through your lives to people spread about in all parts of the world. But if you or I are not living out obedience to His commands, He knows the end message will be not what He wants passed on.

This truth might bring tears to your lives, but does it bring repentance? Verse 11 is the first of many verses scattered throughout Judges that reminds us of the devastating effects of sin. These unconscious affixations to our own sin bring on with regular predictability the problems that will increase in our lives around us. The bad part is that things will get worse if we don’t change. I mean, if we just go to church more or pray more, it is not enough. We must change.

Some might say that the Lord seems rather unforgiving here. I do not agree. The Lord will forgive if we repent, but that means real change in how we handle things. It seems from the Lord’s seems like His rebuke in verse 3 “I will not drive them out...” meant that the Israelites would just have to live under the harsh treatment, but this is not so. The covenant still stood firm. All they need to do is repent from their waywardness and start doing what is right, and they would return to His favor.

The whole point of this section is to provoke the people into obedience. God wants us to obey so that He can bless us more. He wants us to have better personal relationships, pure and holy lives, great marriages, lost saved and effective service. He wants to send messages of His love through your lives to people spread about in all parts of the world. But if you or I are not living out obedience to His commands, He knows the end message will be not what He wants passed on. This would be like passing pollutants on through a river that everyone drinks.

This truth might bring tears to your lives, but does it bring repentance? Verse 11 is the first of many verses scattered throughout Judges that reminds us of the devastating effects of sin. These unconscious affixations to our own sin bring on with regular predictability the problems that will increase in our lives around us. The bad part is that things will get worse if we don’t change. I mean, if we just go to church more or pray more, it is not enough. We must change.

One story in Joshua reminds us of how religious  behavior really doesn’t solve things. In fact, it tends to disguise the real problem. Joshua hadn’t asked the Lord about fighting Ai. They felt horrible that they were defeated. Joshua had joined the other elders in this all day expression of grief. Notice what the Lord said to them.

Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the LORD until the evening, both he and the elders of Israel; and they put dust on their heads. And Joshua said, “Alas, O Lord GOD, why didst Thou ever bring this people over the Jordan, only to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? If only we had been willing to dwell beyond the Jordan! “O Lord, what can I say since Israel has turned their back before their enemies? “For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it, and they will surround us and cut off our name from the earth. And what wilt Thou do for Thy great name?” So the LORD said to Joshua, “Rise up! Why is it that you have fallen on your face? “Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them. And they have even taken some of the things under the ban and have both stolen and deceived. Moreover, they have also put them among their own things. Therefore the sons of Israel cannot stand before their enemies; they turn their backs before their enemies, for they have become accursed. I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy the things under the ban from your midst (Joshua 7:6-12).

We can be remorse about our sin, but that doesn’t change our behavior. God clearly identified the problem of battle, “Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed My covenant which I have commanded them.” Our willingness to change our behavior leads to life. In a true sense, it is our life that shows the truth of our lips.

We must ask, “What is the New Covenant that we have bound ourselves under? What does the Lord demand from us?” It is only in this way that we will see the Lord’s gracious hand upon our lives as we discern and obey. Let’s review what we have learned.

Review & Summary

We can fairly well predict our futures if we are honest with ourselves. The basis for this predictability rests in the Lord’s unchanging nature and His oath to work according to the covenant that we are under. His responses to us are so regular and consistent that they become like fixed laws like gravity.

Behind everything are two things:

(1) God desires to bless His people (In His goodness He made a covenant with us) and

(2) God is quite willing and able to help us out of any mess and situation. No problem is too great for God to help.

The potential for any person to grow into a great man or woman of God is there. It does not depend on who we are but who we want to be. Because we are in a binding agreement together with the Lord, we are not able to do anything we want. God has set the parameters. It is through these parameters that the blessings of God will come into our lives. The Book of Judges shows us how it all works out. We must seek the Lord and His ways. Otherwise, we will regularly discover that people and situations will arise that will force us into all sorts of uncomfortable problems. Let’s look at four summary principles:

2:1) God’s promises are fixed. We can always find His help for restoration. 2:2)  We need to keep our commitment to the Lord. Toleration despises standards; faithfulness requires them. 2:3)  Consequences always follow our disobedience. We must connect our disobedience with our personal problems. 2:4-5)   People often use religious acts as a substitute.

Hoping or trying to change is not obedience. Repentance is obedience.

Because we are in a binding agreement together with the Lord, we are not able to do anything we want. God has set the parameters. It is through these parameters that the blessings of God will come into our lives. The Book of Judges shows us how it all works out. We must seek the Lord and His ways. Otherwise, we will regularly discover that people and situations will arise that will force us into all sorts of uncomfortable problems.

Haggai 1 serves as a great study for this. Just note what problems came into their lives when they did not prioritize what God wanted.

Then the word of the LORD came by Haggai the prophet saying, “Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses while this house lies desolate?” Now therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts, “Consider your ways! “You have sown much, but harvest little; you eat, but there is not enough to be satisfied; you drink, but there is not enough to become drunk; you put on clothing, but no one is warm enough; and he who earns, earns wages to put into a purse with holes.” Thus says the LORD of hosts, “Consider your ways! “Go up to the mountains, bring wood and rebuild the temple, that I may be pleased with it and be glorified,” says the LORD. “You look for much, but behold, it comes to little; when you bring it home, I blow it away. Why?” declares the LORD of hosts, “Because of My house which lies desolate, while each of you runs to his own house. “Therefore, because of you the sky has withheld its dew, and the earth has withheld its produce. “And I called for a drought on the land, on the mountains, on the grain, on the new wine, on the oil, on what the ground produces, on men, on cattle, and on all the labor of your hands.” (Haggai 1:3-11).

We, of course, do not know the future. But we can pretty much map out our lives if we are honest with ourselves. If you want to be blessed above others, seek the Lord with all your heart. Always set your heart at obeying Him rather than disobeying Him. Check out the things that you are doing. Do they fully please the Lord? Be open about willing to change your life to conform it to what the Lord wants. This is the blessed life.

But if you want to be aggravated and felt troubled all your lives, just ignore taking a clear look into your lives. Just go on the way you are going. Tolerate the worldly mindset that you have. This is the natural path. The default. Don’t make any serious changes and you can guarantee that you will feel the pains of life in the days ahead.

Although this passage looks like a scolding, it is really a call from God into His goodness. It is a window of opportunity. God stepped into the lives of the Israelites and gave them a picture of where they are at. They can, if they really want, change. They can shape their future for good.

In a similar way, God is speaking today. What problems are you facing today? Is it possible that the Lord has allowed them into your lives because you have tolerated things that do not please Him? May we not just have a religious response but a life change. If we have the spirit of Joshua, everything will work out. Yes, the details of this path of blessing might not be obvious, but we can trust Him. And in the end affirm, He has never broken His covenant with you.

The one who despises the word will be in debt to it,

But the one who fears the commandment will be rewarded (Proverbs 13:13).

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