Song # 1758.1 from Our Gospel In Song Collection by Col Johnston. In the Book of Judges we read in chapter 2 that the Lord raised up judges (leaders) to save the people from other nations. The Lord was with the judge, but when the judge died, the people would turn away from the Lord, as had many others before them.
After the burial of Joshua and a whole generation gathered to their fathers, a whole new generation grew up, who knew neither the Lord nor what He had done for Israel (Judges 2:8-10). Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord and served the Baals (Judges 2:11). They forsook the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshipped various gods of the peoples around them. They provoked the Lord to anger (Judges 2:12), because they forsook Him and served the Baals and the Ashtoreths (Judges 2:13). In His anger against Israel the Lord handed them over to raiders who plundered them. He sold them to their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist (Judges 2:14). Whenever Israel went out to fight, the hand of the Lord was against them to defeat them, just as He had sworn to them. They were in great distress (Judges 2:15). Then the Lord raised up judges, who saved them out of the hands of these raiders (Judges 2:16). Yet they would not listen to their judges and followed other gods and worshipped them. Unlike their fathers, they quickly turned from the way in which their fathers had walked, the way of obedience to the Lord’s commands (Judges 2:17). Whenever the Lord raised up a judge for them, He was with the judge and saved them out of the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived (Judges 2:18). But when the judge died, the people returned to ways even more corrupt than those of their fathers, following other gods and serving and worshipping them. They refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways (Judges 2:19). Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel (Judges 2:20).
Thought for today: God’s help is only a prayer away.
Thought for the future: a newspaper informs, while the Bible transforms. Where will you spend your eternity?