QT 16 Jan 13, In his love, God will do whatever is necessary to get our attention

Judges 10:6-8b, 10-16 (NIV) 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. . . . 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 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.

NOTE: This is the first time that all these gods are mentioned, usually it is just Baal and Ashtoreth. Now the gods of five different people groups are mentio

ned. Far from impacting other cultures with the God of the universe, the gods of little areas are impacting Israel. Why is it that the gods of these small areas show much more appeal to Israel than the real God of everything? Is it because the other gods appeal to some base aspect of the human nature or to their sin? Some of these gods involve sex in worship. Others use cruel human sacrifice. All have physical expectations of the worshipper and a physical presence. Yet none have any power, none show the ability to do one single measureable thing. As Israel falls further into idol worship, so the punishment becomes more severe. In this case, the text says that in one year they were shattered and crushed. I don't know how that compares to oppressed or cruelly oppressed or to being raided continually, but it has its impact. Israel again cries out to the Lord, and this time God responds with a "no, go to your gods for your salvation." Only when they clean house, rid themselves of the idols and return to God, does God relent to save them. So, at a certain level of insanity and depravity, God's salvation and mercy are different. Why? Is it because God changed? No, it is because the people have not learned. And God in his love uses another tactic to get his people's attention. Personally, I'm not sure I ever want to progress to the new tactic level with God. I want to deal with the issues in my life now. I want to please God and live for God now. I don't want to test his patience.