Taking God for Granted

By the time we've come to the 10th chapter of Judges, Israel has gone through the cycle of success- sin-suffering-and-salvation several times.

Worship other gods, get slapped around by their neighbors, and when things get too tough, they roll out the token repentance.

Not this time.

Here's the text: (Judges 10:6-16)

⁶ 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, ⁷ he became angry with them. He sold them into the hands of the Philistines and the Ammonites, ⁸ who 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. ⁹ The Ammonites also crossed the Jordan to fight against Judah, Benjamin and the house of Ephraim; and Israel was in great distress. ¹⁰ Then the Israelites cried out to the LORD, "We have sinned against you, forsaking our God and serving the Baals." ¹¹ The LORD replied, "When the Egyptians, the Amorites, the Ammonites, the Philistines, ¹² the Sidonians, the Amalekites and the Maonites ^a]">[a] oppressed you and you cried to me for help, did I not save you from their hands? ¹³ But you have forsaken me and served other gods, so I will no longer save you. ¹⁴ Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen. Let them save you when you are in trouble!" ¹⁵ But the Israelites said to the LORD, "We have sinned. Do with us whatever you think best, but please rescue us now." ¹⁶ Then they got rid of the foreign gods among them and served the LORD. And he could bear Israel's misery no longer.

Looking at verse 6, there is a list of seven separately named gods that Israel worshiped. To worship anything other than God is to forsake the true God.

This is the problem with pluralism today. This is how Jesus later claimed that whoever has the Son has the Father, but whosoever denies the Son, denies the Father also. We cannot honor the Holy God who made us, and chase after the competing religions as if the difference does not matter. The others may be compatible with one another, but the God of Israel stands alone.

A little further down, Israel's Spiritual infidelity is followed by political turmoil. They are crushed and hard-pressed by their enemies.

So Israel does what they always had done. They approached God with Ritualized Repentance. "O, God we have sinned, please save us."

The response they were given was a flat "No."

Israel had made the serious mistake of treating God like we do sometimes. You know, like the socially awkward girl desperately hoping someone - anyone - might ask her to dance? Who could possibly be turned down by her?

God is not dependent on us or anyone else. God is Sovereign. He is not wringing His hands hoping somebody might like Him. He is glorious in His majesty. Even angels in their purity cover their faces at the sight of His Holiness.

If we are to approach Him, it will not be as a means to an end. He will not be Plan B. Are we so foolish as to think we can conceal our motives from Him?

God said no.
He even said why -- when seven other nations had oppressed Israel, God had come to the rescue each time they had cried out. He showed himself greater than anything those other nations had.

So what did Israel do? They served the same gods of the very nations that their God had repeatedly scattered. No kidding!

If your other gods are so great, pray to them!

God pressured them to choose.

Course correction. Israel again said the same thing: "We have sinned" but this time did so in a different way. They acknowledged their guilt, and the right of God as Lord. "Do to us whatever you think best."

Then they did what they hadn't done the first time: They put away their foreign gods, and served the Lord.

"And [God] could bear their misery no longer." -- Israel took God for granted, chased sin and hated holiness, faced consequences that they justly deserved, and still God pitied them.

Remember Jesus' words in Luke? "...there is more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety nine righteous persons who do not need to repent." This is a triumph of grace over sin. God seems genuinely eager for the end of the lesson, so that he can intervene with mercy.

We see this idea clarified elsewhere:
Psalm 30:5 (...his anger lasts only a moment but his favour lasts a lifetime)
or Isaiah 54:8 "'In a surge of anger I hid my face for a moment, but with everlasting kindness I will have mercy upon you' says the Lord Your Redeemer"

Let's recap, with a view to today.

Often, we find ourselves wanting to pray to God for something. Perhaps a need in our life or someone close to us. Perhaps wrestling with an unsettled conscience.

Do we pledge a good deed, or swearing off of some sin? Do you recite a formalized, but empty repentance, like Israel did. (Often the "Sinner's Prayer" is used this way.) That's a dead end.

Or do we approach Jesus, with nothing to offer him but our guilt and our weakness, and ask his help in putting away our sin, guilt and shame.

When Israel finally got it right, they recognized (1) His Majesty (do with us as you think best), (2) their complete dependence on him. ("but please rescue us), and they submitted themselves to His plan and purpose (3) they got rid of their foreign gods and served the Lord.

THAT is when he rescued them.

Put away your toxic gods and empty promises you chase that claim to offer satisfaction or significance, and trust in Christ to save both from sin and from the judgment He justly brings upon it.