{"id":27214,"date":"2023-07-18T22:00:31","date_gmt":"2023-07-19T05:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/judges-1_1-15-copy\/"},"modified":"2023-07-04T22:44:27","modified_gmt":"2023-07-05T05:44:27","slug":"judges-1_16-26","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/judges-1_16-26\/","title":{"rendered":"When You\u2019re In The Valley, Keep the Mountaintop in View"},"content":{"rendered":"

Judges 1:16-26 \u00a0 <\/strong>Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Judges 1:16-26.\u00a0 Let’s go!<\/p>\n

Judges 1:16-18 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n16\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The descendants of Moses’ father-in-law, the Kenite, went up from the City of Palms with the men of Judah to live among the people of the Desert of Judah in the Negev near Arad.
\n17\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then the men of Judah went with the Simeonites their brothers and attacked the Canaanites living in Zephath, and they totally destroyed the city. Therefore it was called Hormah\u00a0[which means Destruction].
\n18\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The men of Judah also took Gaza, Ashkelon and Ekron–each city with its territory.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 16-18:\u00a0 Let\u2019s address the elephant in the room:\u00a0 How could God endorse the destruction by Israel of other nations?\u00a0 Skeptics may object, \u201cIsn\u2019t this just another example of how the Christian God is a cruel, bigoted, and racist, choosing one nation while destroying other nations?\u201d\u00a0 Keep in mind what the Bible teaches: that God is a perfect, just and holy God who cannot stand wickedness, evil and injustice.\u00a0 For centuries God had tolerated the evil, idolatrous and immoral behaviour of the nations that occupied the Promised Land.\u00a0 Despite giving these nations centuries to repent, these nations deliberately sinned against God over and over again without repenting and had tested God\u2019s patience long enough.\u00a0\u00a0After waiting a long period of time for these nations to turn to Him but to no avail, God finally chose to punish them for their sin, ousting them out of the Promised Land.\u00a0\u00a0Later on, when the Israelites took over the Promised Land and then devolved into idolatry and persistent rebellion against God, God treated the Israelites the same way, ousting them out of the land.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0God patiently waits for us to repent of our pride and others sins and to turn to Him.\u00a0\u00a0But He will not wait forever.\u00a0\u00a0We need to turn to God while we still can.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Judges 1:19 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n19\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The\u00a0LORD\u00a0was with the men of Judah. They took possession of the hill country, but they were unable to drive the people from the plains, because they had iron chariots.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse 19:\u00a0 These verses describe more of Judah\u2019s successes in conquering territory in the Promised Land.\u00a0 Notice in verse 19 that the tribe of Judah was successful in the mountains (\u201cthe hill country\u201d), but they were not so successful in the valley (\u201cthe plains\u201d).\u00a0 The reason is \u201cbecause they [their enemies] had iron chariots\u201d (v19).\u00a0 In other words, the tribe of Judah became intimidated when they saw the weapons that their enemies were using.\u00a0 They became more focused on the obstacle in front of them than on the God who could help them overcome the obstacle.<\/p>\n

Similarly, you and I will experience times on the mountaintop with God and times in the valley.\u00a0\u00a0The key to being victorious in the valley is to keep the mountaintop in view even while you\u2019re in the valley.\u00a0 How?\u00a0 By remembering what you saw on the mountaintop and still going to the mountain often to draw near to God.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>When you do this, you won\u2019t be so intimidated by the iron chariots you\u2019re facing.\u00a0 For you know that One who is with you is greater than the chariots that are confronting you.\u00a0 Like Psalm 20 you can say, \u201cSome trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0our God.\u00a0 They are brought to their knees and fall, but we rise up and stand firm.\u201d<\/p>\n

Judges 1:20-26 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n20\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0As Moses had promised, Hebron was given to Caleb, who drove from it the three sons of Anak.
\n21\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The Benjamites, however, failed to dislodge the Jebusites, who were living in Jerusalem; to this day the Jebusites live there with the Benjamites.
\n22\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Now the house of Joseph attacked Bethel, and the\u00a0LORD\u00a0was with them.
\n23\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When they sent men to spy out Bethel (formerly called Luz),
\n24\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0the spies saw a man coming out of the city and they said to him, “Show us how to get into the city and we will see that you are treated well.”
\n25\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So he showed them, and they put the city to the sword but spared the man and his whole family.
\n26\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He then went to the land of the Hittites, where he built a city and called it Luz, which is its name to this day.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 20-26:\u00a0 One of the patterns you\u2019ll find in chapter 1 is various tribes keeping their promise.\u00a0 In verse 3 the tribe of Judah promised to go with the tribe of Simeon, and in verse 17 that\u2019s exactly what Judah does, helping Simeon to victory.\u00a0 Moses had earlier promised the region of Hebron to Caleb, and in verse 20, the Israelites make good on Moses\u2019 promise by giving Hebron to Caleb.\u00a0 In verse 24, the tribe of Joseph promises safety to a man that showed them how to get to Luz, and while conquering Luz Joseph spares the man and his family.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0Be a person who keeps their word.\u00a0 If you make a promise, be sure to keep it.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Father, thank You for the incredible patience You show all of us.\u00a0 You even sacrificed Your own Son Jesus so that we would not have to bear Your wrath for our sin.\u00a0 You are not a cruel, wicked God but perfectly just, merciful and patient.\u00a0 Thank You that when I\u2019m in the valley I can still meet with You on the mountain.\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n

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Copyright \u00a9 2021 Justin Lim. All rights reserved.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Judges 1:16-26.\u00a0 Let’s go!<\/p>\n

Judges 1:16-18 (NIV)
\n16\u00a0\u00a0The descendants of Moses’ father-in-law, the Kenite, went up from the City of Palms with the men of Judah to live among the people of the Desert of Judah in the Negev near Arad.
\n17\u00a0\u00a0Then the men of Judah went with the Simeonites their brothers and attacked the Canaanites living in Zephath, and they totally destroyed the city. Therefore it was called Hormah\u00a0[which means Destruction].
\n18\u00a0\u00a0The men of Judah also took Gaza, Ashkelon and Ekron–each city with its territory.
\n\u00a0
\nOn verses 16-18:\u00a0 Let\u2019s address the elephant in the room:\u00a0 How could God endorse the destruction by Israel of other nations?\u00a0 Skeptics may object, \u201cIsn\u2019t this just another example of how the Christian God is a cruel, bigoted, and racist, choosing one nation while destroying other nations?\u201d\u00a0 Keep in mind what the Bible teaches: that God is a perfect, just and holy God who cannot stand wickedness, evil and injustice.\u00a0 For centuries God had tolerated the evil, idolatrous and immoral behaviour of the nations that occupied the Promised Land.\u00a0 Despite giving these nations centuries to repent, these nations deliberately sinned against God over and over again without repenting and had tested God\u2019s patience long enough.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27216,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27214"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27214\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27217,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27214\/revisions\/27217"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}