I took time reading some summaries of
great man during the OT times and quite a revealing communication or perhaps a
disclosure (as I put it š) of a freeing message.
After the death of Joshua and his
peers, the next generation has forsaken the Lord God of their fathers. The
people turned and followed other gods, following the gods of the people that
were all around them. This disastrous chronicle is quite a gloomy picture of
Godās chosen people, yet some men (Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah) stands
up one after another. (They were also mentioned in the NT book of Hebrews along
with others as well.)
History however, presented us a
flawed people who nevertheless responded to Godās call during a time of
spiritual ādarknessā in their culture. The Bible honors them for their faith,
not for their perfection---as there is none. They were recipients of Godās
sufficient grace as surely as we are.
Thus, in every
generation, God raises up people who are willing to follow Him and true to His
Word. The measure of their lives and of ours is not the absence of failure but
the presence of His gracious forgiveness coupled with their faith to obey His
call.
I just remember the stereotyped
clichĆ© I used to utter at the end of message when Iām sharing the Word to
challenge the hearersā¦.
āGod specializes in turning
A nothing to
something..
A nobody to Somebodyā¦
If.., to Him weāll trustā¦
If.., to Him weāll obey!ā
Indeed it is, too many times He has
proven thatā¦.in the Bible, on every lives and in my life.
āFaith and obedience in Christ can make an ordinary people to
extraordinary heroes!ā šŖš
Verse-Meal:
Nevertheless the LORD
raised up judges, which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled
them. Judges 2:16
