Consequences....

 

Consequences....

Deuteronomy 28 outlines blessings and curses of following the Lord...

I realize I am not a Jew, not part of the Jewish nation, but I can be numbered among those who serve the Lord...He delights when we serve Him, is moved with pity with those who don’t or have turned their backs on Him and He disciplines those whom He loves...

Judges starts with Joshua finishing his life, called “servant of The Lord” as was his mentor, Moses...

The sentence, “and there arose another generation ...who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done...” is heartbreaking ...as is the last sentence of Judges...”everyone did what was right in his own eyes”.

These proceed and succeed the time after time that the words, “ and the people of Israel did what was evil”... 

I know we all have a “free will”... from the time of Adam and Eve...why not choose right, avoid the wrong...why not serve a creator who delights in us, loves us infinitely, who desires fellowship, why serve evil...why have to go to the bottom before calling out to God...

We are enticed by our own lust for so much, power, entitlement, riches...etc...

I am so glad God hears us when we call...as the Israelites did time after time...and still does...

Thank YOU...help me to pass on what God has done...so that generations may know Him and His Works...help me not to just do what is right in my own e yes...help those who follow to find the right path...following Jesus...the Truth, the Way...

When Joshua dismissed the people, the people of Israel went each to his inheritance to take possession of the land. 

And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work that the Lord had done for Israel. 

And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of 110 years. 

And they buried him within the boundaries of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of the mountain of Gaash. 

And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. 

And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel. 

And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals. 

And they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. 

They went after other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed down to them. 

And they provoked the Lord to anger. 

They abandoned the Lord  and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth. So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he gave them over to plunderers, who plundered them. 

And he sold them into the hand of their surrounding enemies, so that they could no longer withstand their enemies. 

Whenever they marched out, the hand of the Lord was against them for harm, as the Lord had warned, and as the Lord had sworn to them. And they were in terrible distress. 

Then the Lord raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them. 

Yet they did not listen to their judges, for they whored after other gods and bowed down to them. 

They soon turned aside from the way in which their fathers had walked, who had obeyed the commandments of the Lord, and they did not do so. 

Whenever the Lord raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge, and he saved them from 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 afflicted and oppressed them. 

But whenever the judge died, they turned back and were more corrupt than their fathers, going after other gods, serving them and bowing down to them. 

They did not drop any of their practices or their stubborn ways. 

So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he said, “Because this people have transgressed my covenant that I commanded their fathers and have not obeyed my voice, I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations that Joshua left when he died, in order to test Israel by them, whether they will take care to walk in the way of the Lord as their fathers did, or not.” 

So the Lord left those nations, not driving them out quickly, and he did not give them into the hand of Joshua.

Judges 2:6-23 

And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. They forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and the Asheroth.

Judges 3:7 

And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done what was evil in the sight of the Lord .

Judges 3:12

And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord after Ehud died.

Judges 4:1

The people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord gave them into the hand of Midian seven years.

Judges 6:1

The people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord gave them into the hand of Midian seven years.

Judges 6:1

And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, so the Lord gave them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years.

Judges 13:1

In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

Judges 21:25 

14 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

John 14:1,6