I just finished reading the book of Judges…again. I’ve read it more times than I can count, heard more sermons from it than I can remember, and spent countless minutes pondering the same question, “What is wrong with these people?” Seriously. What makes them think their disobedience and sin are going to end differently from the last time they went haring off on their own paths? They remember the ancestral accounts of deliverance from Egypt. Can they not also remember the hard lessons of faith and obedience learned in 40 years of wilderness wandering? How could they possibly misinterpret commands like, “No other Gods except Me”? How could they break their covenant with the God who never breaks His? Why did it always take troubles and tribulations, wars and raids, oppression and starvation, for them to finally be tired enough of their sin to turn back to God? Why did they never tire of the cycle? (Exodus 1-13, 20:3-4; Joshua 5:6)
To be fair, I frequently ask these questions as I read through most of the Old Testament. I find it so difficult to believe the people couldn’t see disaster coming. Were they blind? The entire history of their people is riddled with this type of behavior. That journey out of Egypt they were so fond of remembering? Not exactly an idyllic picture of sweet communion with God! Did He move and lead, save and preserve? Undoubtedly. Did they complain and disobey, frustrate and provoke Him? Absolutely! As much as I shake my head in disbelief at their ridiculous antics then, it is the beginning of Judges that makes me sigh and grit my teeth. I know what’s coming. I can see it. Not just because I’ve read the book so often, but because I know, from their accounts and my own experiences, failure to obey God always ends in disaster. (Psalm 78)
It strikes in the very first chapter of Judges. God sends the Israelites to conquer specific territories. He gives explicit instructions. Conquer. Drive out the current residents. Don’t let anyone, any idols, any trace be left behind. Everyone must go. Every altar, god, and tradition must be eradicated. Completely. Left there, the temptation to seek a tangible god over their eternal God would be too great. They would break their covenant, abandon Him, worship idols. All those precise instructions, as tedious as they might have seemed, were for their good. God was trying to save them heartache. He would have. It was a foolproof plan. Foolproof if they obeyed. (Judges 1:1-20)
They didn’t. Oh, they started out well. God rewarded the obedience of Judah and Simeon, making them victorious conquerors in battle. The account starts out grand and triumphant, instilling optimism that others will follow suit. They don’t. Things fall apart. The tribe of Benjamin chose to allow current residents to stay. It started a trend. Manasseh, Ephraim, Zebulun, Asher, and Naphtali all have failure written next to their names. They didn’t drive out the people, didn’t destroy the false gods, didn’t decimate every possibility of temptation. No. They kept them there. Lived among them. Made them servants. Allowed their gods. Traded their covenant with Almighty God who never breaks His word for a covenant with enchanting, enslaving, erroneous sin. (Judges 1:21, 27-33, 2:1-5)
Because consequences are a direct result of our own choices, unpleasant lessons of earth-shattering magnitude began to befall them. They found themselves caught in a relentless cycle of sin, slavery, sorrow, salvation. A slide into sin. Eight years of slavery. Forty years of peace. A slip into idolatry. Another defeat. Another 18 years of slavery. Another time of repentance. More begging for a rescue. Another miracle from God. Another victory. Another eighty years of peace. (Judges 3: 7-30)
It’s a long time. Eighty years. A lifetime, really. Enough time I optimistically think the Israelites have finally figured it out. They have surely learned the lesson. They are undoubtedly tired of choosing evil and reaping the same. They are finally ready to obey God alone. Except they aren’t. The pendulum keeps swinging. They choose evil, reap destruction, cry out to God, and His mercy sends a rescue. Over and over and over again they sin. Over and over and over again God sends someone to set them free. (Judges 4:1-23; 6-8)
Until He almost doesn’t. By now, I’ve lost track of the times the Israelites abandoned the true God for the gods of the world. I’ve forgotten how often they have rebelled. Perhaps I simply can’t count that far. God didn’t have any trouble. When, enduring 18 years of crushing defeat and indignity imposed by the Philistines and Ammonites, the Israelites cried out to God for one of His amazing rescues, He has no trouble reminding them how many times their choices have caused their oppression. God literally makes a list of all the rescue efforts He has engineered on their behalf. Time after time He has rushed to their aid, and for what? Abandonment? Every time He has rescued them in the past it was for nothing. They always went back to sin, back to evil, back to idols. Not this time. He sadly responds to their request, “No. Go ask the gods you have chosen to replace me.” (Judges 10:6-14)
Although I’m a bit shocked at that response, a little part of me cheers for God. I’m tired of their pattern. I’m tired of the sinning and begging and forgiving only to sin again. I’m tired of people who want the world for life, but Heaven for eternity. I’m beginning to resent their impertinence. I’m beginning to think God is too.
Until He isn’t. The patience and mercy and compassion that are the hallmarks of God’s character will not allow Him to abandon the people who call on Him in repentance. He enacts another rescue. Sadly, it won’t be the last. They will abandon Him, do evil, follow the desires of their darkened hearts again and again. They’ll hate the consequences of their actions. Their cries for rescue, release, rejuvenation will reach His ears over and over. And every time they call, He will answer. They just have to get tired enough of their sin, their waywardness, their woe, humble their hearts, and cry out to God in repentance and change. Only then does deliverance come. (Judges 10:6-16; 13:1)
The Israelites are not the only ones to tread this vicious circle. We, too, have left our moorings, surrendered our morals, sacrificed our mindsets. As a society, our moral compass points nowhere near the vicinity of due north. As Christians, we have become comfortable with the enemy in our midst, embraced it, loved it more than God. We’ve created idols of pleasure, money, possessions. We’ve snuggled up close to the world and lived like it. Our impassioned speeches blaming society’s moral and spiritual decline on politics, celebrities, television, and the media fall flat when we realize we, too, stand in incredible decline. We are not the church we used to be. We have accepted a form of godliness. We have become lukewarm. We have excused sin. We have altered the truth. Like the Old Testament Israelites, we have abandoned God. (Jeremiah 26:2-6, 44:1-14; I John 2:15-17; Revelation 2:4, 20, 3:15-20; Deuteronomy 12:32)
Apparently, we aren’t tired of it yet. We have yet to acknowledge our sin. We refuse to admit our shortcomings. We resent the intrusion of God into our daily lives. We hoard our time for our own desires. We’ve bought into the world’s idea of self-care, but neglected the necessity of soul care. And we are reaping the consequences of our choices. Stagnant churches, starving souls, societal mayhem. We don’t have to live like this. God can change us, change our circumstances, intervene in our world if we humbly repent and ask Him to do so. I guess we just haven’t gotten tired of the mess yet.
Well, I am. I’m tired of it! Tired of the lukewarm, decaf “Christianity” that has pervaded our churches. Tired of emotional stirring but spiritual stagnation. Tired of Christians who play more than they pray. Tired of buzzwords and gimmicks to build congregations of people who choose Jesus as long as He comes with a big dollop of the world. Tired of evil masquerading as good. Tired of begging God to change the hearts of our leaders when the modern church and its inhabitants refuse to let God change theirs. Tired of longing for revival that isn’t welcome. Tired of the apathy, the atrophy. Tired of the repercussions from the choices we’ve willingly made. Tired of the deep spiritual slumber that keeps us from tiring of our mess and crying out to God for a desperately needed rescue. (I Peter 4:17)
So wake up, church! Wake up and pray! Shake off your spiritual stupor. Get out of your religious rut. Throw out your idols. Eradicate all those things God said have no place in your hearts. Get on your knees. Bombard Heaven with your prayers! Repent. Reconcile with God. Rectify the error of your ways. Choose Jesus once and for all. Choose Heaven over the world. Stop playing games. Stop swinging the pendulum of sin and repentance. Commit to walking in truth alone. Sincerely cry out to God for a rescue. Keep praying until it comes.
And it will come. Perhaps not with an ox goad, a double-edged sword, or a strongman, but it will come. You can count on it. Because the God who always keeps His covenant responds when people, tired of their sin and its consequences, call out to Him. He can’t help Himself. His great heart of love and compassion and mercy compels Him to respond, to rescue, to restore, every time you get tired of the error of your ways. The question is, are you tired of it yet? (Judges 3:21,31, 16:29-30; I John 1:9; Acts 3:19; II Chronicles 30:9b; James 4:8; Joel 2:13; Zechariah 1:3b)