Thoughts on Judges 9 & Acts 21

Today's reading: Judges 9; Acts 21

Thoughts on Judges 9

I don't have much to say about Judges 9 this morning other than to point out that there is no judge in it.

I don't think I have really noticed that before, or thought about why it is still included, but I was thinking about that this morning so I thought I would point it out in case anybody else is like me and failed to notice that one. But there is no external threat to Israel here, and no mention of God raising up a judge, only an internal threat and an internal struggle for power. I think that's probably why it's included, to give us a glimpse into the state of Israel at this point.

God offered Israel a rich land of plenty where there should be no need and no strife, as long as they are following Him, but even in the promised land, they are fighting and back-biting just as much, if not more so, than any other nation. God works a great deliverance for Israel through Gideon and what happens after his death? One of his sons murders 68 of his 69 siblings, so that he can reign as king until the people who put him in power turn against him and it just ends in an absolute mess.

This is Israel. These are God's chosen people. We aren't that many generations removed from the wilderness wandering and the conquest, but already things have degenerated to this point, and as we go further into the book of Judges, it only gets worse.

It's almost painful to think about just how good God wanted things to be for them if only they had been willing to listen and go His way instead of their own. But then that just makes me wonder, how much differently might things go in my own spiritual life if I trusted Him more fully and listened to Him better...

Thoughts on Acts 21

What strikes me about Acts 21 this morning is the difference in how various faithful Christians, listening accurately to the Holy Spirit, understood what should happen next.

Paul is on his way to Jerusalem, but on his way there, many Christians try to stop him from going. In Tyre the disciples were telling Paul, by the Spirit, not to go to Jerusalem. Then in Caesarea a prophet comes to Paul and prophesies that he will be bound by the Jews in Jerusalem if he goes, and everyone with him was urging him not to go. But in all of it, Paul would not be persuaded and they gave up, but then what was predicted came to pass when Paul went to Jerusalem.

So was Paul just being stubborn? Was the Holy Spirit trying to turn Paul back and he was refusing to listen? I don't think so, because it is through this arrest that God brings Paul before Caesar which was an important part of the work He had for Paul to do. So my bet is that Paul felt the clear call and direction from the Lord to go to Jerusalem, even knowing the consequences, and so was going to go along with God's plan regardless of the outcome. On the flip-side, I would bet that those trying to dissuade Paul were not sinfully ignoring the leading of the Holy Spirit but were instead looking at what the Holy Spirit was revealing to them and coming to reasonable conclusions about why He would be revealing these things to them (i.e. so that they would decide not to go!).

Mostly I am pointing this out because I think it is important for us to keep in mind as we engage together in the work of Christian ministry. There will be times like this to varying degrees that we will experience if we are trying to do God's work. There may be times when God gives you a clear direction, but the people around you would steer you in a different direction. If the direction we are trying to take is sinful or unbiblical, then we should obviously be willing to listen to counsel, but if not, this can be a very difficult spot to be in. On the one hand, we don't want to ignore wise counsel, but on the other hand, we have clear examples of this happening and the conviction was from the Lord, despite others being opposed to it. So maybe this is even more important to remember when we are the ones in opposition. There may be times when we need to make our case and then fall in line with Paul's companions: "And since he would not be persuaded, we ceased and said, 'Let the will of the Lord be done.'"

I don't want to say too much about this because, most of the time, it is terrible advice to suggest you ignore counsel from faithful Christians who love the Lord, love you, and are likeminded in ministry, but while these situations are rare, they do happen. I have been in this type of situation personally, and I have friends who have been as well. So while this is far from the norm, it does happen, and it's important, in those times, that both sides remember this example so we can move forward together to glorify the Lord, even if/when we don't share the same convictions about what comes next.