Oh Isreal

Today’s readings were from Judges 4-6 and Luke 13:1-22. The verses from Judges were rather sobering. Time and again the Israelites turned from their God and worshiped foreign idols. Time and again they fell into sin, and stayed that way for decades. Once again I was led to ask, why? Why did the people turn from God so fast?
At times, I too have questioned the Lord much like Gideon: “‘But sir,’ Gideon replied, ‘if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, 'Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?' But now the LORD has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian’” (Judged 6:13).
At times I, too, have wondered where the Lord was in the midst of a very dark time. But I never stopped believing. I never stopped trusting that he would provide in the end. Perhaps I’m naïve. Perhaps I really haven’t faced that much in this life. Or maybe I’m not. I truly do believe that God is there, even in the moments when we can’t sense his presence. The Israelites lost out on this point. They didn’t see God at work, and so they decided that he wasn’t worth worshiping. I choose to see God at work each and every day. It may be in a hug from my husband when I need it most, the sun shining on the mountains outside my window, or the smiles of a little child. Even in the midst of hardships, I see God in big ways and small. And I pledge my life to serving Him, through good times and bad. The Israelites’ plight reminds me of how important it is to always keep God number one in my life, even when I’m struggling to see the outcome.