During the life of Joshua, the land was assigned to the tribes of Israel, but there were still battles to be fought. Judges 1:8 was sort of a surprise to me. I didn't realize that Jerusalem was an established city before the tribe of Judah moved in. In fact, the notes in my Bible indicate that they did not fully conquer the city until the reign of David. I guess I always thought Jerusalem was the City of God, founded by God's chosen people. This sheds light on why there is still so much dispute today over who should control Jerusalem.
Over and over in Judges 1, it states that the tribes did not drive out the people but subjected them to forced labor. Ha. Joshua predicted correctly that they would not be able to fully serve the LORD. When we obey God in one part of our lives but not in others, we cannot give Him ALL our worship. Our allegiances are divided. While the Israelites thought they could control the Canaanites, they ended up allowing their sons to marry foreign wives. And like many families I know, the wives' beliefs were stronger than the husbands'. This led to Israel's worship of other gods.
Judges 2:1-3 sums it all up. "1 The angel of the LORD went up from Gilgal to Bokim and said, "I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land that I swore to give to your forefathers. I said, 'I will never break my covenant with you, 2 and you shall not make a covenant with the people of this land, but you shall break down their altars.' Yet you have disobeyed me. Why have you done this? 3 Now therefore I tell you that I will not drive them out before you; they will be thorns in your sides and their gods will be a snare to you."
Judges 2:10-11 "After that whole generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation grew up, who knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for Israel. Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD and served the Baals." My husband Trent preached on these verses recently, after the Wednesday night Bible study group had finished their study of Bruce Wilkinson's Three Chairs. The idea of that study is that people in the first chair know God, the people in the second chair know of God, and people in chair three know not God. Trent reminded me this morning that people sitting in the second chair do not teach their children to know God. Therefore, their children end up in chair three, knowing nothing about the stories of how God worked in the lives of their parents and ancestors.
I'm getting chill bumps seeing how God's Word continually ties all together. Our study of Joshua brought up the idea of what it would look like in our lives today to set up memorial stones so that our children will hear the stories of our faith. Here in Judges we see why this is so critical. I've been thinking about this a lot over the past several months because I have one child who reads the Bible on a regular basis without being reminded. I have another child who responds to my reminders with heavy sighs and eye rolls. How do I encourage this child to fall in love with God's Word without being a nag?
God showed me a couple of things to try yesterday when we visited the P. Graham Dunn Gallery in Dalton, OH. You have to go see the beautiful Christian wood carvings at their website! www.pgrahamdunn.com One of our children fell in love with the laser-carved plaques of hymns, and the other was intrigued with the Ten Commandments plaques. While I am going to need to ask God to provide some funding, I really believe He is leading us to cover our walls with Scripture. Trent and I really loved the vinyl wall decor. They are transfers of Bible verses that apply directly to the wall.
The other thing God showed me was kinda fun. As we drove up the driveway to the gallery, there were flags with the fruits of the Spirit listed on them. As a family, we read Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-Control. Then I asked the kids if they knew where to find these in the Bible. They guessed several times but did not get it right. Then the challenge was on! I told them I would pay a small monetary reward to the one who could find it first. We were in the car without our Bibles; so when we returned to the hotel, the child who sighs and rolls the eyes looked up the fruits of the Spirit in the concordance of the Bible and was the first to find it. Five dollar bill in hand, there were high fives all around! I'm thinking we'll be doing lots more Bible trivia challenges in the near future.
Okay, well, I planned to get through Joshua 4 today, but God's Word is so full of wisdom! I think this is enough to digest for now.
In my Bible notes the theme of Judges is defeat and deliverance. There is a fourfold cycle of rebellion, retribution, repentance and restoration in Israel's history that repeats itself over and over. I just heard on the radio yesterday that they are measuring the priests in Jerusalem and preparing for the rebuilding of the temple in anticipation of the Messiah. The reporter on KLOVE said that they have not prepared the priestly clothes as required in the Old testament in more than 2000 years. The cycle still continues and I wonder if it close to time for Christ's return?
ReplyDeleteWow, thank you Dana. I love the ideas about making our Christian life evident, powerful, fun and enjoyable to the kids. I think of things like Jesus' praying hands at my grandmother's house. I don't know what became of those things when she died but I sure hope one of my uncles or cousins have them.
The girls recently went to VBS and all of the decorations are given away to the kids, so all of the stuff the girls won is now plastered all over their room.
We memorialize all kinds of things throughout the community but where is Christ? Can you imagine a display somewhere around town with the fruits of the Spirit or the Ten Commandments? What a controversy that could be!
Whew, I'm panting to try to keep up!!
ReplyDeleteWow! That's interesting stuff, Melinda. It is both exciting and scary to think that the temple could be rebuilt in our life time. I am convicted that I do not tell everyone I see that Christ's return could happen today. Satan's best tactic is to silence the Christians. He doesn't have to make us bad; he just keeps us busy with unimportant things.
ReplyDeleteI think back to when we cleaned out my grandmother's house, and I wanted to look through her Christmas decorations because I collect nativity sets. I was disappointed because all she had was santa claus decor. I kept some, of course, because I remembered playing with them when I was a little girl. However, it helped me realize that I want to leave behind a legacy of Christian celebrations.
I'm glad your girls had fun at their VBS and that they wanted to put their crafts on the walls instead of in the trash. Good for them!
You might be right about the controversy. However, why are we afraid to try? Has anyone actually said to us face-to-face, "You cannot post Christian beliefs in our city"? Has anyone actually told you not to bring your Bible to work, or not to pray over your lunch in a public setting? If not, then why don't we? It was so refreshing to drive through Amish country in Ohio, and see businesses boldly proclaim Christ. Almost no one is open on Sundays. Scripture is displayed on store walls. The state seal of Ohio says "With God All Things Are Possible!"
Where can we shine Christ's light today?
I think it's interesting that you brought up about writing Scriptures on our walls. That part on my ceiling that separates the living room and the dining room I am going to paint Deut. 6:5-8. I don't know if I'll be able to fit all of it, but I'm going to try it. I have been writing Scripture on cards and taking them every where I go the last couple months. It really has helped me keep my perspective about some things. How I wish I could remember them and not have to have the cards. I have tried and tried to memorize, but I can't seem to keep it memorized for any long period of time. That Alzheimer sure is getting worse! :) And, Amy, I left panting some time ago with trying to keep caught up. Besides, if I try to hurry through all of this, then I'm sure I'll miss things. I'm still sure I miss a lot. Dana had told me to just skip over all of it and start with where she is now. But I told her I didn't want to miss all of the inbetween either. So, I'm just taking my time.
ReplyDeleteI like to write scriptures on cards and tape them up on the walls of mhy house. I have a friend who writes them out on the inside of cereal boxes and puts them up everywhere and gives them away to people. I also collect nativity sets. I am always in awe of the sight of a nativity, and even as a child I loved to pick up and hold the baby Jesus.
ReplyDeleteI have always wanted to put a lighted cross on the roof of my house. I wonder if God is using this study to prompt me to get it built and put up. My cross and my nativities are my stones of remembrance