God’s Fatherly Love
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When I was a young man I can think back to all the pain I put my parents through. I would make mistakes and promise to never do them again. Only to turn around and do them again.
As a father watching my children do the same thing I understand what my father went through. I understand the patience he had in my disobedience.
Oh how I long for the lightbulb to come on that causes life changing transformation in my children. And let’s face it I have a couple children I’m not sure the light bulb is ever going to come on.
There are so many similarities with our heavenly Father. I don’t know how many times God has done the proverbial forehead slap over my disobedience.
If He wasn’t omniscient He would probably be wondering if the lightbulb is ever going to come on. You may not understand my dilemma, but I wonder sometimes if the lightbulb will come on.
We see Israel in the same state as we continue studying Judges.
We’re going to be in Judges 6 today. As we go through we’re going to look at how God deals with our disobedience in three ways.
God Allows Natural Consequences
God is Patient
God is Faithful in His Promises
Have you ever noticed when we do something stupid, there always seems to be some consequences that follow our actions?
Sometimes we don’t learn and keep doubling down on our stupidity. The consequences keep getting worse and worse. Israel has kept doubling down on their disobedience and their consequences continue to get worse.
God Allows Natural Consequences
God Allows Natural Consequences
Let’s look at Judges 6:1-6
1 Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian for seven years,
2 and the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel. Because of the Midianites, the children of Israel made for themselves the dens, the caves, and the strongholds which are in the mountains.
3 So it was, whenever Israel had sown, Midianites would come up; also Amalekites and the people of the East would come up against them.
4 Then they would encamp against them and destroy the produce of the earth as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep nor ox nor donkey.
5 For they would come up with their livestock and their tents, coming in as numerous as locusts; both they and their camels were without number; and they would enter the land to destroy it.
6 So Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites, and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord.
Once again we see the familiar “Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord.” It’s important to understand a distinguishing characteristic between Creator God, the God of Israel, and all the other gods.
He wasn’t a distant god you manipulated and coerced into giving you your desires. No, God promised to be a personal God.
A king of His people who wanted a personal relationship with every person in His kingdom. A King who calls Himself Father and calls His people children.
However, like any other king, when the people were stirring up trouble in ways the king didn’t approve. When a Father’s children are doing stupid things.
Well… they leave them to deal with the issues they created on their own. When Israel turns away from God, he’s all too willing to let them deal with the natural consequences on their own.
But, that’s human nature right? Movie plots and cartoons are created around these character flaws. How many times do we see in movies or cartoons where some weakling has the protection of another very powerful person?
The weakling goes out and starts all kinds of trouble and steps back to let the powerful person clean up the mess. Israel was doing the same thing with God.
We can do whatever we want because we have the one true God to protect us. They didn’t quit worshipping God, they just mixed in the worship of all the other gods.
Just like the weakling in the movies they had a desire to fit in and be loved by the world around them. And like the weakling in the movies the world around them despised them, rejected them, and only wanted to see them oppressed.
When that protection is removed, bad things happen. The Israelites were only oppressed for seven years this time. But, that seven years would have felt like an eternity.
The oppression was so horrid that the hour glass on Israel’s survival was about to run out. The Midianites and Amalekites would come raid all of their crops, livestock, and every sustenance needed for survival.
They were forced to take whatever sustenance they could, whatever livestock they could, and go hide in caves they carved out of the limestone hills. They would wait it out until the oppressors were done pillaging and destroying their villages, farms, and livestock.
Israel’s economy was destroyed, they were starving to death. So they cried out to the powerful protector for protection.
Not because they had a life changing transformation. No, they cried out because they were tired of the pain and suffering. They were tired of starving.
Warren Wiersbe says it better than I could when he said, “Unless our suffering leads to repentance, it accomplishes no lasting good; and unless our repentance is evidence of a holy desire to turn from sin, not just escape the pain, repentance is only remorse.”
He goes on to say, “Chastening assures us that we are truly God’s children, that our Father loves us, and that we can’t get away with rebellion.”
This time God doesn’t just raise up a judge to lift Israel up out of their oppression. He first demonstrates His love and patience for His people.
God is Patient
God is Patient
We’ll start looking at God’s patience in Judges 6:7-10
7 And it came to pass, when the children of Israel cried out to the Lord because of the Midianites,
8 that the Lord sent a prophet to the children of Israel, who said to them, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘I brought you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of bondage;
9 and I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out before you and gave you their land.
10 Also I said to you, “I am the Lord your God; do not fear the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell.” But you have not obeyed My voice.’ ”
If you remember earlier God sent an angel of the Lord, some commentators believe it was the Son of God, up to Bochim. He rebuked Israel for their sins.
Now He sends an unnamed prophet to repeat the same message. A reminder of who God is and who they are. A reminder of how He saved them from Egypt and gave them the land.
in verse 10 we’re kind of back to the, “didn’t I tell you to not do that?”
“uhuh”
“Then why did you do it?”
“I don’t know!”
God says, I told you I am your God, and I told you to not fear other gods. But you have not obeyed Me.
We see the patience of Fatherly love in these passages. God says, I have loved you and if you would have just listened to me you wouldn’t be in this mess.
How many times have we had that same conversation with our children? The pain and suffering isn’t God’s fault!
But we like to blame it on Him don’t we?
How many times have we asked where is God and why has He allowed this to happen?
It’s nothing new look at the exchange between the angel of the Lord and Gideon.
11 Now the Angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth tree which was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon threshed wheat in the winepress, in order to hide it from the Midianites.
12 And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him, and said to him, “The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor!”
13 Gideon said to Him, “O my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.”
