“How to Receive God’s Help in Time of Need”
June 22, 2014
Judges 10:6-16
6 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. For eighteen years they oppressed all the Israelites on the east side of the Jordan in Gilead, the land of the Amorites. 9 The Ammonites also crossed the Jordan to fight against Judah, Benjamin and Ephraim; Israel was in great distress. 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.
Have you ever needed God to come to your rescue? All of us at one time or the other need God’s help. It may be a health issue. You got that scary report from the doctor or you were blindsided with a heart issue. Maybe it is a relational issue. The mate packs their bags and wants an easier or a more pleasant relationship. Sometimes it’s the job. The layoff hits you and you face the frightening prospect of paying the bills with no income coming in. Or maybe it is something else entirely – but a time comes when you need help – BADLY!
Have you ever been there? I have a number of times through the years and I am happy to report to you that God always came through. He always came to my rescue. But I had something going for me that the people we just read about didn’t. I was serving the Living God. I had made Jesus Christ my Savior and Lord.
The Israelites turned from God and He turned from them. He rejected them. The Israelites had turned from their Creator God to serve other God. Why would they do that? They turned from God to serve other god’s for the same reason we do it today - self-centeredness. If you do a study of some of these other god’s you will find that they all, in spite of being very demanding and controlling, allow ego or self-will to remain. Many of the religions of the day allowed all kinds of sexual deviation and perversion and hedonism. Some had male and female prostitutes in the name of their god. They often demanded infant sacrifice and cutting yourself with knives and doing self- mutilation was very common. The ecstatic frenzy they would work themselves up to would induce the worshipper to do the unthinkable and the unimaginable. Baal worshippers would throw their babies in the fire; deviant orgies were common, as well as just about anything else the perverted mind could dream up.
God asked His followers to be holy and do what was right and good. He asked them to love Him with all their heart, soul, mind and body. The self-centered fallen man has a problem with that. The fleshly man wants to give in to the yearnings of the flesh. He wants to do whatever ‘feels’ good to him. The result of giving in to the fallen nature is a very dark and frightening existence.
Our Scriptures says that God became angry with them. That’s not a good thing. You do not want God to be angry with you. He withdrew His blessing from them and they were sold into slavery – in fact, God caused them to be sold into slavery. God worked against them and not for them.
You need to understand that there are consequences to your choices. There are negative results to negative choices. Sin separates from God.
“But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.” Isaiah 59:2
“Then they will cry out to the LORD, but he will not answer them. At that time he will hide his face from them because of the evil they have done.” Micah 3:4
“For the wages of sin is death (separation)…” Romans 6:23
You need to understand that God is God – and you are not. When you go against Him; when you rebel against God; when you willful sin against Him – you separate yourself from God. God will never forsake you – until you forsake Him.
“16 And the Lord said to Moses, Behold, you shall sleep with your fathers, and this people will rise up and play the harlot after the strange gods of the land where they go to be among them; and they will forsake Me and break My covenant which I have made with them.
17 Then My anger will be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them and hide My face from them. And they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall befall them, so that they will say in that day, Have not these evils come upon us because our God is not among us?
18 And I will surely hide My face in that day because of all the evil which they have done in turning to other gods.” Deuteronomy 31:16-18
“If you forsake the Lord and serve strange gods, then He will turn and do you harm and consume you, after having done you good.” Joshua 24:20
“And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches every heart and understands every desire and every thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever.”
1 Chronicles 28:9
When we do our own thing and go our own way and forsake God – He will forsake us. He will not be there to rescue us. He will not be there to provide the help we need. God told these Israelites,
“But you have forsaken me and served other gods, so I will no longer save you. Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen. Let them save you when you are in trouble!” Judges 10:13-14
You do not want to forsake the Lord. It is a lonely and harsh world without God. Who will come to your rescue when you need help? Your other gods are powerless.
I want God with me – not against me, don’t you? I want Him to bless me and protect me and help me, don’t you? I want a loving relationship with God Almighty, the Creator of the world, don’t you?
We can have that kind of relationship. Let me tell you how. First, realize your need. These Israelites lived separated from God and served other gods for a couple of decades or more before they cried out to God. They were oppressed for 18 years until they finally had enough and turned to God. Things got worse and worse for 18 years and they didn’t realize their need. The sinful pleasures blinded their eyes. Their ‘selfish freedom’ prevented them from realizing their need.
The first thing we need to do is realize that we are separated from God. We need to realize we need God in our life; that we need His blessing and His help. Some people will never receive God’s help because they refuse to see or admit they have a need. When we turn to other gods; something other than God – He will let us do so. But it is always at our peril and to our detriment.
We need to come to a place where we recognize our need. The second thing we need to do is seek God. God tells us how to do that. He says,
“If my people, who are called by my Name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways – then I will hear from heaven and forgive their sin and heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14
When we realize our need for God – then we need to seek Him. We do that by humbling ourselves. It is humbling for us to admit we are wrong. It is humbling to confess our faults and failings. It is humbling to say “I am sorry” and “Please forgive me”. Some people obstinately refuse to do so – and things will progressively get worse and worse for them. It make take 18 years or more; things make get unbearable like it did for God’s people in the time of the judges – but God will continue to allow oppression and pain in your life until you come to the decision to seek Him or reject Him. You have that choice. God is not willing that any should perish but all to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9) but obviously many don’t. And they pay the price for their rebellion.
We need to come to a place where we will seek God with all our heart and soul. God says,
“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the LORD” Jeremiah 29:13-14a
What does seeking God with all our heart look like? God tells us. “Humble ourselves, pray, seek God’s face and turn from our wicked ways” (2 Chron. 7:14)
The third thing we need to do to receive God’s blessing is to turn from our wicked ways. That is usually pretty hard for us to do. It involves self-will vs God’s will. It involves our way vs God’s way. It involves what we have made our god vs the Living God. Turning from those things is often a painful process.
If there is something in your life hindering your relationship with God – He will let you know what it is. The Holy Spirit will put His finger on just the thing and you will be under conviction until you do something about it.
What is that thing in your life? I don’t know. No one may know except you and God. I have found that some people can have habits and attitudes that I can’t. To me it would be sin. But God hasn’t convicted them of it – so it isn’t sin to them. But there is something in each of our lives that hinders or prevents God’s presence in our lives. I have heard some of the strangest things that hindered God in a person’s life – like wearing jewelry or a bright colored dress. For most people it is a destructive habit or attitude. It may be drugs or alcohol or pornography or some other self-destructive thing. For some it is a call to ministry of some kind. Only you know what that thing is that separates you from God. But the remedy is the same. Humble yourself, pray, seek God, and turn from that wicked thing.
When we do that - THEN God will hear our prayers, forgive our sins, and bring healing to our lives. Are you ready to do your part in returning to God? C.S. Lewis said God is a demanding taskmaster. If you give Him a part of your heart – He will not be satisfied until He has it all.” God wants all of you. Part time devotion is not good enough. Half-hearted service is not good enough.
What is it that you are holding back? If you have found that something has separated you from God – you simply need to pray a prayer something like this:
Heavenly Father,
Something has come into my life that is hindering my relationship with you. It is hindering my prayer life and robbing me of joy and peace. I confess it to you right now. It is _______________
Please forgive me. Give me grace to remove this thing from my life. Come to my rescue and deliver me from the sin that so easily sneaks in.
From this moment on, You alone are my God and Savior. Jesus, I put my trust and faith in You alone.
