By Pastor John Mateos Ong
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In the book of Judges, Israelites have forsaken the Lord again. They have served Baal and the Ashtoreths and followed and worshiped various gods of people. And because of this, the Lord gave the Israelites into the hands of the enemies, whenever Israel went out to fight the hand of the Lord was against them.
We are all aware that the Lord is helping us, but sometimes we forgot everything He did for us when we are in a great situation—worst, we tend to turn our backs on Him. There are also times when we are again in distress we blame everything to Him or that’s when we only come back again to seek Him.
Israel was in great suffering; then the Lord raised up Judges who saved them in the hands of the enemies. Israel called for the Lord, and the Lord made Othniel the first judge. He defeated the King of Mesopotamia and there was peace in Israel for 40 years.
Israel seeks the Lord again, and He helped them. If we see it, the story had a happy ending, but why is there 12 judges if the first judge brought Israel peace and back to the Lord. This is because Israel had sinned again. This is a cycle that people cannot seem to get out from. When we’re in success, we forget the Lord and when we suffer, we return to Him but then again we will commit a sin again until it repeats itself.
The power of the Lord came upon us when we give 100%. But sometimes we only give 50% of our trust in Him yet we expect to experience His 100%. Let’s reflect on this and ask ourselves, do we already give our hundred percent for the Lord r do we still have rooms inside us that are still locked for Him to enter? Are we bargaining our sins with the Lord? Are we still not ready to surrender every evil act we hide?
Application:
Lamentations 3:22-23 “Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassion never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”
God’s love for us is unending, it never stops, it never ceases. No matter how much you sin as long as you call on Him, He will embrace you in His arms. His great love for us is not a license for us to commit sin all the time but this is a license that whenever we commit sin but decided to return to Him, we are welcome.