Author: Rick Henderson

Rick Henderson is the Associate Pastor for Students.

Bad Things and Good People

Re:Verse passage – Judges 6:1-16 (day seven)

Why do bad things happen to good people? I would expect that everyone has pondered on this question in their faith journey. Why would God allow for wicked to prevail while the good people continually end up in bad circumstances? Why does the mother of three get cancer? Why did that drunk driver live while the teenager he hit is now in a coma? Why did the man who had been loyal to the company for 20 years get laid off? They were Christians. They prayed. They went to church. They all echo Gideon in verse 13, “O my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us?”

Bad things are a product of the brokenness of this world. Not that any one person deserves a harsher life on this earth due to their sin, but because of humanity’s sin, this earth will never function as it was intended. Bad things happen to non-christians too. Where Christian’s hold the advantage is that we know the best is yet to come…

For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison. 2 Cor 4:17

Leadership

Re:Verse passage – Judges 4:4-23, 5:7, 24-27 (day seven)

Whether we realize it or not, each one of us are leaders. God has entrusted Christians with the Gospel to be missionaries to our workplace, to our homes, to our friend groups, etc.  In these circles, we are leaders. Even if we are not the “boss” in these circles, our Christlikeness draws people to us. I expect this is similar to what Deborah experienced.

Being a woman in a patriarchal society, I doubt Deborah was looking to be a Judge for all of Israel. People came to her under her tree not because of her physical traits, but because of her Godly wisdom. She gained leadership from Godliness, and she maintained leadership from humbleness. She empowered those around her, knowing others strengths and her own limitations. She pointed all glory back to God, not on herself.  She culminates her leadership in thankfulness. Her song to the Lord is full of thanks for what He did to deliver Israel.

In your leadership circles are you exuding Christlikeness? Are you wise, humble, and thankful? People are already following your lead, where are you leading them?

Shamgar

Re:Verse passage – Judges 3:31  and Acts 2:42-47 (day seven) 

“After him came Shamgar the son of Anath, who struck down six hundred Philistines with an oxgoad; and he also saved Israel.”

One verse. One sentence. One story. We are only 3 chapters into Judges but we can already fill in the blanks for the details of this story… After 80 years of peace, the people forgot about Ehud and started worshipping other gods. They then fell into oppression to a foreign nation. Some of the old people said, “Remember when we worshipped YHWH and life was good? Lets do that again!” So they cried out to God for help. God listened and called Shamgar while herding cattle to go fight the Philistines. Shamgar took that literally and left with his cattle prod to fight the Philistines. Shamgar obeyed. God won. Israel was saved.

Why is this story so easy to fill in the blanks? Because it’s our story too. When reading this book, we would like to think we are the judges, but in all actuality, we are the people stuck in our own cycle of sin. Lucky for us, our Judge has already saved us. We need only to call out His name!

Peace and Rest

Re:Verse passage – Judges 3:11-30 (day seven)

“And the land had rest for eighty years.” Vs 30 (ESV)

Imagine a political paradise where there was peace for 80 years. No wars, no conflicts, everything was calm. The land got to rest! To give you a little perspective, the closest the United States has ever been to this is 31 years between the War of 1812–1815 and the Mexican-American War of 1846–48. We are currently at only 76 years since the end of WWII and have had multiple wars and foreign conflicts in that span. 80 years is a long time for peace!

In the cyclical pattern of sin that chases the Israelites through Judges and seemingly the rest of the Old Testament, we see Israel turn back (repent) to God after a time of running away. What is the result? Peace. It’s not just momentary, but it is lasting peace that allows everyone to take a deep breath and rest with God!

In the World

Re:Verse passage – Judges 2:11-20, 3:5-11 (day seven)

Working with students, I often hear questions floated around regarding the conquest of Canaan and the time of Judges. One of these I hear is, “Why would a good God command the conquest and eradication of people groups?!”

Also by working with students, I know clearly why God commanded this; we become like those who we spend the most time with. By not driving out the inhabitants of Canaan in the way that God had commanded, they settled down next to them, and instead of leading these people closer to the Lord, they settled in their convictions. They became just like the world around them.

The sons of Israel lived among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; and they took their daughters for themselves as wives, and gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods. Judges 3:5-6

We have the tendency to fall into the same traps. We compromise our convictions in sake of the argument, “this will help me relate.” We have to walk a very fine line of being in the world but not of the world. John 15:19.

God is King

Re:Verse passage – Judges 1:1-2, 8-13, 20 (day seven)

After the death of Joshua, the people of Israel inquired of the Lord, “Who shall go up first for us against the Canaanites, to fight against them?” vs 1

For the first time in Israel’s history, there was not a leader. There had always been someone in charge whether it was a patriarch, pharaoh, or God ordained leader (Moses, Joshua), but now, as Israel seeks counsel from the Lord, God chooses a tribe, not a person, to carry out his will. There was no succession plan as there had been for Moses to Joshua, nor was there a judge or prophet to guide the people. God was sending a message for Israel; God is King.

We are created and designed by God to be led. Why does Jesus refer to us as sheep? In this way, we also naturally take on the personality and character traits of the one who is leading us. God created us so that when we humble ourselves to be led by Him, we become more like Him. God didn’t want Israel (us) to be dependent on a personality. God wanted Israel (us) to be dependent on Him. God is King.

Vanity

Re:Verse passage – 2 Chronicles 9:13-31 (day seven)

“The king made silver as common as stones in Jerusalem, and he made cedars as plentiful as sycamore trees that are in the lowland. ” Vs 27

Solomon became the richest king in all of the land and likely one of the richest in the world at the time. If David put Israel on the map militaristically, then Solomon solidified it as a power financially. Israel reached the peak of its power within three generations of kings. What went wrong? How did things get so bad so fast? The writer of Ecclesiastes (presumed to be Solomon) gives us a glimpse of this in 2:9-11,

“Then I became great and increased more than all who preceded me in Jerusalem […] behold all was vanity and striving after wind and there was no profit under the sun.”

Solomon at the end of his life looked back at what could have been. He realized that wealth was not what made Israel great. Women and power could not bring him happiness. All was vanity. The only thing that holds worth is God.

Ecclesiastes 12:13 “The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person.”

Tone of Happiness

Re:Verse passage – 2 Chronicles 9:1-12 (day seven)

“Happy are your wives! Happy are these your servants, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom!” Vs 7 ESV

The Queen of Sheba came because she had heard how wise this King of Israel was, but what she saw was beyond belief. Not only was the Kingdom impressive and his wisdom insightful, but even his slaves, servants, and concubines (that’s another blog for another day) were happy. In a time where rulers led with an iron thumb and flaunted their sovereignty on those lesser than them, it had to be intriguing to see a king whom everyone loved and respected.  It had to be refreshing to walk into an organization where everyone from the top down was genuinely happy. The tone of the entire kingdom was different because the leader walked with God.

Whether it’s a job, school, family, or friends, we all have a place where God has entrusted us to be the leader. Is your area of influence different from those on the outside? Can people feel the difference when they walk in? Have you set a tone of happiness?

Seek His Face

Re:Verse passage – 2 Chronicles 7:11-22 (day seven) 

What do you do when it feels like God isn’t hearing your prayers? What do you do when He feels far away? You may internally struggle with thoughts like, “I go to church. I go to Sunday School. I pray but nothing changes. I still don’t feel near to God. He isn’t hearing me.” Our passage of scripture helps answers that question directly: “Seek My face […] then I will hear” vs 14.

Jeremiah 29:12-14 (just after the heavily quoted verse 11) unpacks this thought more, “Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.  You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you.”

What are you seeking with all your heart? What is the one thing that you just can’t seem to get your mind off of? If that answer is anything but God, it is going to make finding Him very difficult. God always hears us, but we often do not hear Him because we are seeking other things. Seek His face.

Celebrate

Re:Verse passage – 2 Chronicles 7:1-10 (day  seven)

“So Solomon observed the feast at that time for seven days, and all Israel with him.” Vs 8

We baptists can get on board with this! In order to complete the dedication of the temple, the whole nation threw a feast! Sounds like a potluck of grandiose proportions!

Outside of backing up our doctrine of casseroles, this passage shows us the importance of celebrating what God has done for us. We are great at celebrating big occasions, but what would it look like if we began celebrating with each other on a regular basis? What if we began every Bible study by celebrating the good that God had done in our life that week? What if we began celebrating with our family before dinner how God worked in our life that day? We have a tendency to focus on the negatives that are in our life, but when we look for the good as a community, we will begin to see his daily mercies and gifts much more clearly. It sounds so simple, but our community will grow together when we celebrate together!

P.S. Celebrate the gift of our Moms today! Happy Mother’s Day!