Judges

Judges!

Judges 2:17”………….they would not listen to their judges…….”

Believe me, I listened to a lady’s grievances for not less than a hour and half and towards the end when I asked her to listen to me for two minutes, she had no patience to listen to me – she rebelled and disrupted me. She had narrated her woes starting from her childhood and expected answers in a jiffy; we want solutions like two minute noodles – don’t we? To put it in a nutshell: we don’t want to listen to advices, corrections, instructions but we want remedies!

After the death of Joshua and the leaders connected to Joshua, there was desperate dearth for ‘godly teachings’ and hence there arose a generation that did not know the Lord. Judges 2:10”When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who did not know the LORD nor the work which He had done for Israel.” Are you listening? We live in that era now! Ready-get-set-Go era! We have parents who do not follow the Lord but they follow the norms of the world and thereby we have a bunch of unruly kids who refuse to listen! The children of Eli the priest were into abominable sins of lust and corruption while inside the temple, because they did not know the Lord. Father Eli is to be blamed for the mayhem in the family! We buy our kids the best nutritious food and put them in ace schools but alas Bible and God have been shelved away! Parents are you listening to me? Proverbs 19:20 “Listen to counsel and receive instruction, That you may be wise in your latter days.”

The Facebook wall post says, ‘rules are to be broken’, ‘we don’t listen’ and so on…..Since Bibles and prayer were removed from the schools of Western countries guns and condoms have found place inside school bags. Are you listening? The first thing that I teach my ‘Abide School’ kids is to pray and memorize Bible scriptures; God has been sending me children who had got addicted to alcohol and gambling at a tender age of ten and here along with academic and spiritual training, we also prayerfully help kids in rehabilitating them. Nurturing the children in the way of the Lord is prime aim of our school!

The book of Judges has repetitive account of people disobeying the Judges appointed for them and thereby they fall into the hands of enemies. My dear friends, there is no ‘mantra’ for success except to listen, obey, pray and read His Word. If you have not started yet, do it right away! God would surely change your sorrow to joy and your tears to cheers! Amen.

Do not despise correction! The Bible says: Proverbs 15:10”Harsh discipline is for him who forsakes the way, And he who hates correction will die.” If God has sent someone into your life to speak to you and straighten out your crooked lives, don’t rebel but listen. I stress on my church members coming to church on time, listening attentively in the church and following the Bible during sermon time.

• Proverbs 15:31”The ear that hears the rebukes of life Will abide among the wise.

• He who disdains instruction despises his own soul, But he who heeds rebuke gets understanding.

• The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom, And before honor is humility.”

We are blessed when we diligently listen to His voice:

Deuteronomy 4:1 "Now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the judgments which I teach you to observe, that you may live, and go in and possess the land which the LORD God of your fathers is giving you.

Blessings in our life start with us listening to the voice of God! How do I do that? Listening to sermons at church attentively, humbly listen to corrections of spiritual elders and pastors; when the people of Israel listened to their leader Joshua and obeyed the word of God taught by him, the nation was blessed. As we listen to the Word of God, then the Word would point out to stains, sins, lies, corruption and adultery that has been thriving and flourishing for long in our lives. Psalms 34:11“Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD.”

Stop being neutral and start being unique!

We would be punished if we refuse to listen to His voice:

When the priest Eli and his sons rejected God and His voice, God brings in young Samuel into the temple and also to serve Him at the altar, read 1 Samuel 3:1,’.. boy Samuel ministered to the LORD before Eli’. God comes down in the quietness of the night, to speak to young Samuel and tell him all that he plans to do against the family of Eli, read: “Behold, I will do something in Israel at which both ears of everyone who hears it will tingle.”