Words. Above all else, words make me desperate.
Whether I am convicted by reading and hearing them or anxious and nervous because I can't find the right ones when I'm writing, words are the thing that make me most desperate.
In those desperate moments, there is a rushing mix of emotions twirling about inside of me. The excitement and fear mix until they are intertwined and indistinguishable.
Desperation is a state that most of us attempt to avoid because it demonstrates that we are most assuredly not in control. We most recognize our need for God during these times and He is most prone to respond to our cries.
In Judges, Israel became desperate and the Lord could bear it no longer. He had to act on behalf of His people.
The book of Judges is the repeated story of Israel betraying God and the covenant they had made with Him by their continual chasing after the false gods of the surrounding nations. They worship idols. God places them under captivity. They repent. God sends a judge to free them. They worship God ... for awhile. Then the cycle begins again.
In Judges 10, the Israelites start worshipping every false god imaginable. The gods they were worshipping in Judges 10:6 reads like a dictionary list of ancient Near Eastern gods, all except the one true God. They had rejected Yahweh once again, so He handed them over to the Philistines.
As they had done through out their history, the Israelites cried out to God after experiencing sociopolitical oppression. They confessed their sin and asked God to save them, to which He responded by essentially telling them that they continue to rebel and He continues to save them, why don't they call out to all those other gods this time.
The Israelites respond in humility, recognizing that they have continually wronged Him and He has the right to do whatever He wants with them, but they just want to be delivered. Not only did they vocalize their repentance and desperation, they demonstrated it by getting rid of their idols and serving God.
It is at this point, when Yahweh acts. Judges 10:16 says that He could bear their misery no longer. Their desperation brought His action.
I won't (because I can't) attempt to explain exactly how God's actions are linked with man's, but it is an obvious pattern of Scripture that when man becomes desperate, God acts on His behalf.
We could look at this and say that oppression is what led God to act, but if you read the passage carefully, God doesn't intervene simply because they were oppressed. He told them to cry out to the gods they had been worshipping. No, their desperation (and God's resulting intervention) were brought about by their realization of their sinfulness. They knew they had fallen short of the covenant they had made with Yahweh.
So what makes you desperate?
I'm not talking about being so deep in sin that you finally look up to God. You don't need the former to do the latter. You don't need to be obviously sinful to recognize that you are in desperate need for God.
What makes you realize your great sin and your great Savior? What is it that makes you desperate? Changes in your life. Specific sermons. Conversations with a friend. Certain writers. Times of solitude. Ministry opportunities. Reading His word.
Find what makes you desperate and spend time there. Yes, it is challenging. It pushes you further than you ever thought you could go, than you ever wanted to go. But God's there.
It is in those desperate moments when God is there. When He responds. When He acts on our behalf. It is beyond absurd to think about God intervening in our lives, to think that He can bear our desperation no longer, that He loves us that much.
Be desperate, knowing that you sinned against a Being of infinite holiness, but are forgiven by a Father of endless love.
Find what makes you desperate and dwell in that desperation today.
Whether I am convicted by reading and hearing them or anxious and nervous because I can't find the right ones when I'm writing, words are the thing that make me most desperate.
In those desperate moments, there is a rushing mix of emotions twirling about inside of me. The excitement and fear mix until they are intertwined and indistinguishable.
Desperation is a state that most of us attempt to avoid because it demonstrates that we are most assuredly not in control. We most recognize our need for God during these times and He is most prone to respond to our cries.
In Judges, Israel became desperate and the Lord could bear it no longer. He had to act on behalf of His people.
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| Photo from morgueFile.com by Clarita |
In Judges 10, the Israelites start worshipping every false god imaginable. The gods they were worshipping in Judges 10:6 reads like a dictionary list of ancient Near Eastern gods, all except the one true God. They had rejected Yahweh once again, so He handed them over to the Philistines.
As they had done through out their history, the Israelites cried out to God after experiencing sociopolitical oppression. They confessed their sin and asked God to save them, to which He responded by essentially telling them that they continue to rebel and He continues to save them, why don't they call out to all those other gods this time.
The Israelites respond in humility, recognizing that they have continually wronged Him and He has the right to do whatever He wants with them, but they just want to be delivered. Not only did they vocalize their repentance and desperation, they demonstrated it by getting rid of their idols and serving God.
It is at this point, when Yahweh acts. Judges 10:16 says that He could bear their misery no longer. Their desperation brought His action.
I won't (because I can't) attempt to explain exactly how God's actions are linked with man's, but it is an obvious pattern of Scripture that when man becomes desperate, God acts on His behalf.
We could look at this and say that oppression is what led God to act, but if you read the passage carefully, God doesn't intervene simply because they were oppressed. He told them to cry out to the gods they had been worshipping. No, their desperation (and God's resulting intervention) were brought about by their realization of their sinfulness. They knew they had fallen short of the covenant they had made with Yahweh.
So what makes you desperate?
I'm not talking about being so deep in sin that you finally look up to God. You don't need the former to do the latter. You don't need to be obviously sinful to recognize that you are in desperate need for God.
What makes you realize your great sin and your great Savior? What is it that makes you desperate? Changes in your life. Specific sermons. Conversations with a friend. Certain writers. Times of solitude. Ministry opportunities. Reading His word.
Find what makes you desperate and spend time there. Yes, it is challenging. It pushes you further than you ever thought you could go, than you ever wanted to go. But God's there.
It is in those desperate moments when God is there. When He responds. When He acts on our behalf. It is beyond absurd to think about God intervening in our lives, to think that He can bear our desperation no longer, that He loves us that much.
Be desperate, knowing that you sinned against a Being of infinite holiness, but are forgiven by a Father of endless love.
Find what makes you desperate and dwell in that desperation today.
