LENT
4
March
5-7, 2016
Pastor
Timothy J. Spaude
Text:
Judges 10:6-16
“GOOD GRIEF!”
1.
Be
amazed at God’s.
2.
Respond
with your own.
Judges 10:6-16
(NIV1984) “Again the
Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord. They served the Baals and the
Ashtoreths, and the gods of Aram, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods
of the Ammonites and the gods of the Philistines. And because the Israelites
forsook the Lord and no longer served him, 7he became angry with
them. He sold them into the hands of the Philistines and the Ammonites, 8who
that year shattered and crushed them. For eighteen years they oppressed all the
Israelites on the east side of the Jordan in Gilead, the land of the Amorites. 9The
Ammonites also crossed the Jordan to fight against Judah, Benjamin and the
house of Ephraim; and Israel was in great distress. 10Then the
Israelites cried out to the Lord, “We have sinned against you, forsaking our
God and serving the Baals.” 11The Lord replied, “When the Egyptians,
the Amorites, the Ammonites, the Philistines, 12the Sidonians, the
Amalekites and the Maonites oppressed you and you cried to me for help, did I
not save you from their hands? 13But you have forsaken me and served
other gods, so I will no longer save you. 14Go and cry out to the
gods you have chosen. Let them save you when you are in trouble!” 15But
the Israelites said to the Lord, “We have sinned. Do with us whatever you think
best, but please rescue us now.” 16Then they got rid of the foreign
gods among them and served the Lord. And he could bear Israel’s misery no
longer.”
There are some things about God that
are just plain hard to understand. Maybe you think of His Triune nature, 3
persons but only one God. That’s hard. Or His eternal nature. No beginning.
Always is. But how about the way He deals with us sinners. Go back to the
Gospel reading for instance. That parable is most commonly known as the
Prodigal Son or Lost Son. But shouldn’t it really be called the Parable of the
ridiculously loving Father? Seriously who does that? Fathers, your boy comes up
to you and says, “All you really mean to me is money. Give me yours. I deserve
it.” What do you do? You don’t give it to the little snot. And where’s the
probation period before you trust him again? Ah but we get the point. God’s
love for lost sinners is so great it will seem ridiculous to us. As will the
way He deals with repeat offenders. “Good grief, God,” we might say and we are
right. God has good grief.
And that takes us to the book of
Judges and the words of God before us today. I encourage you to read that whole
book today. It won’t take long. It won’t be pretty either. God doesn’t hide the
sins of His people and it gets pretty messy in the book of Judges. As you read
it you will notice a repeating pattern. The Judges Cycle. God’s people, the
Israelites, fall away from Him. They worship other gods. That’s called
Apostasy. Because God loves them and wants them back with Him He allows a
neighboring country to attack and invade. That’s oppression. Somewhere along
the line, usually later rather than sooner, the people realize their sin, are
sorry for it and turn to God for forgiveness and help. That’s repentance. And
God responds by sending help in the form of what’s called a Judge. A deliverer
would be a better word. That’s deliverance. In Judges chapter 10 we are on the
8th repetition of that same cycle.
“Again
the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord.” Again the Israelites did
evil. Good grief! Don’t they learn? The picture’s a little worse than you might
think. This time when the people went chasing the skirts of idols they didn’t
just pick one. They kind of picked them all. Baals, Ashtoreths, gods of Aram,
Sidon, Moab, Ammonites and Philistines. It’s an idol worshiping smorgasbord!
That’s kind of like if you have a big family and you are at the dinner table
eating spaghetti and meatballs and the oldest decides to fling a piece of
spaghetti at another and gets in big trouble, gets no more food and has to go
to his room, then the next one doesn’t learn from that but throws a meatball
instead also receives punishment and then the next one instead of learning
tries to stick the meatballs to the ceiling and gets punished until finally the
last one takes the remaining platter of spaghetti and meatballs and all the
sauce and dumps it on mom and dad’s
head. Good grief! You’d think they would learn. But they didn’t.
God had no choice but to lovingly allow oppression.
“For eighteen years they oppressed all
the Israelites on the east side of the Jordan in Gilead, the land of the
Amorites. 9The Ammonites also crossed the Jordan to fight against
Judah, Benjamin and the house of Ephraim; and Israel was in great distress.”
Good grief. 18 years! They stubbornly kept up their slapping of God’s face for
18 years. “Then the Israelites cried out
to the Lord, “We have sinned against you, forsaking our God and serving the
Baals.” Finally! Looks like they’re catching on. How will the Lord respond?
“The Lord replied, “When the Egyptians,
the Amorites, the Ammonites, the Philistines, 12the Sidonians, the
Amalekites and the Maonites oppressed you and you cried to me for help, did I
not save you from their hands? 13But you have forsaken me and served
other gods, so I will no longer save you. 14Go and cry out to the
gods you have chosen. Let them save you when you are in trouble!” Yeah!
That sounds about right. Make em stew! But that’s not what God was doing. He
was helping them to repent. “But the
Israelites said to the Lord, “We have sinned. Do with us whatever you think
best, but please rescue us now.” 16Then they got rid of the foreign
gods among them and served the Lord.” Here was repentance. Not sorrow over
sin’s consequences but sorrow over sin and turning away from it.
And then…” And he could bear Israel’s
misery no longer.” Good grief! That’s what we see here. All the trouble
Israel brought on themselves and God could bear their misery no longer. That’s
a powerful look into the heart of an amazing God. He has good grief. He feels
bad when sinners are hurting even when it’s their own fault. His response in
this case was to send a judge, a deliverer, whose name begins with a J. Jephthah.
To find out what he did you will have to read the rest of the chapter on your
own!
Brothers and sisters, join me in being
amazed by God’s good grief. Look at how he deals with repeat offenders. Only
one thought is on His mind, to get them back with Him, safe with in His
protection now and by His side forever in heaven. That’s why He allowed the oppression.
That’s why He waited for repentance. It was not punishment but tough love in
action. When His children are hurting, He is hurting, even when they bring the
hurt on themselves.
You know when you read the Book of
Judges and see the cycle over and over again and you shake your head wondering
why they never learn, at some certain point the Holy Spirit whispers in your heart, “But this is also your story.” Oh
the time we have trouble and we run to the Lord and are fervent and zealous in
prayer and worship and devotion and then things get better we forget about God,
we drift away. We fall into sin and feel awful. We receive the Lord’s
forgiveness and joyfully vow not to repeat. We stand strong and resist as we
rely on God’s power and then like little children we are going to do it
ourselves. We can put ourselves in places we don’t belong but we won’t indulge.
Epic failure. Again. Good grief. God has good grief over us. He can’t bear our
misery. All He wants is us back with Him. That’s why He sent a deliver whose
name begins with a J. Jesus! To find out what He did join us for the rest of
the Wednesdays of Lent. Watch and pray for one little hour ohn Maundy Thursday.
Spend an hour at the foot of the cross on Good Friday to thank and honor Jesus
for the many hours He spent on the cross paying for our sins.
And now brothers and sisters let the
good grief of a perfectly good God move us to respond with good grief of our
own. Grief over sin. Repentance style grief. That’s what James urged us to and
that’s what the people of Israel finally responded with. We have sinned. Do with us whatever you think best, but please rescue
us now.” 16Then they got rid of the foreign gods among them and
served the Lord.” Good grief on our part includes actions to get rid of
those things that keep tripping us up. Is your smartphone getting you into
trouble? Too easy to look at what you shouldn’t? Too easy to respond with nasty
posts on social media. Good grief get rid of that smartphone. A dumbphone will
do. Too much bad stuff on cable? Keeps tempting you? Good grief! Get rid of it.
Go to free TV! What’s your weak spot? Is there something that in good grief you
can get rid of and serve the LORD instead?
Yes, there are some things about God that
are just plain hard to understand and the way He deals with sinners, repeat
offenders, like us is certainly one of them. Good grief! See how much He loves
us. Good grief! Our sincere sorrow over our sins loves Him in return. Amen.
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