The Tuesday after the Twenty-First Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on October 22, 2024 by under
Scripture: Judges 2:16-23 (NKJV)
2:16 Nevertheless, the Lord raised up judges who delivered them out of the hand of those who plundered them. 17 Yet they would not listen to their judges, but they played the harlot with other gods, and bowed down to them. They turned quickly from the way in which their fathers walked, in obeying the commandments of the Lord; they did not do so. 18 And when the Lord raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for the Lord was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who oppressed them and harassed them. 19 And it came to pass, when the judge was dead, that they reverted and behaved more corruptly than their fathers, by following other gods, to serve them and bow down to them. They did not cease from their own doings nor from their stubborn way.
20 Then the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel; and He said, “Because this nation has transgressed My covenant which I commanded their fathers, and has not heeded My voice, 21 I also will no longer drive out before them any of the nations which Joshua left when he died, 22 so that through them I may test Israel, whether they will keep the ways of the Lord, to walk in them as their fathers kept them, or not.” 23 Therefore the Lord left those nations, without driving them out immediately; nor did He deliver them into the hand of Joshua.
Devotion
Today’s reading describes the sad pattern of God’s people at the time of the Judges. The pattern went like this: 1) The Israelites forsake God’s Word to worship idols; 2) God punishes them by giving them over to their enemies; 3) The Israelites cry out to God for deliverance; 4) God shows mercy by raising up a judge who delivers them from their enemies; 5) Under the leadership of the judge, the Israelites are faithful to God’s Word; 6) The judge dies, and they return to Step 1.
This is not the pattern which God intends for members of His Church. The Bride of Christ should not oscillate between faithfulness and idolatry. Having been set free from the bonds of sin, she should be “without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish”—“holy and blameless” at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (Eph. 5:27, 1 Thess. 5:23).
This does not mean that people in the Church never sin. The Church is “holy and blameless,” not because she is sinless, but because she is sanctified by Christ. When her members fall into sin, they repent and trust in Jesus, who cleanses them “with the washing of water by the word” (Eph. 5:26). Through Jesus’ leadership, the Church is kept from idolatry and preserved in continual godliness.
Collect: Lord, we beseech Thee to keep Thy household, the Church, in continual godliness; that through Thy protection it may be free from all adversities, and devoutly given to serve Thee in good works, to the glory of Thy Name; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
