DATE POSTED Thursday, 2022-06-09
WRITTEN AT: Okeechobee, FL

SCRIPTURE FROM: Judges 10:13-14
TRANSLATION: New International Version (NIV)

BIBLE TEXT: 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!”

APPLICATION: God had rescued the Israelites from Egypt, brought them through 40 years in the Wilderness with adequate food and water, gave them more land than they could see at one glance, and the power to overthrow nations that occupied the areas they occupied. One would think that this would be such a grateful people that their whole lives would be spent in endless praise to the Almighty God. But after repeated failures, and their ongoing search for alternate gods, we could see where God Almighty had reached the end of His patience with His people. I bet that if I had bleeped out the names of the parties in this story, you would easily imagine that this must be a story of our country and our ungrateful people today. As a vital part of this story, I believe it behooves us to look closely at what the equivalent is today for the ‘gods’ to whom the Israelites gave their allegiance to. One commentator said: “What is a god? The master passion of one’s life. What is the master passion of your life? Where do you spend your time and energy on any given day? What is the driving force within you? That’s your god.” I therefore believe you will conclude from this definition and challenge, that for those who make it a priority to get into the Word of God each day to: learn about the character, mind and teachings of Jesus Christ; those who subject themselves to Jesus through prayer and petitions; those who strive to live according to the will and teachings of Jesus Christ; – these are the ones who try to maintain the deity of Jesus Christ in their lives. For the ones who can’t sleep because of the pressures of work; they can barely think straight during the day because of the stress of everything related to their work; they will tell you over and over that there is just no time to spend talking to God or learning more about Him. These are the ones who will normally follow the example of the Israelites and run to God in times of desperate need, or in the loss of a loved one, but they will back off and return to their worldly ‘gods’ when their life-situation returns to normal. Unfortunately, these are the ones who God tells to ‘return to your ‘every-day’ god that you have chosen in place of me. Let them do the miracles for you, since you find such comfort in them every day’. Friends, that’s the same as if I would use my above example of the workplace and run to my boss to ask for a miracle with my dying daughter or my spouse with broken limbs. These ‘gods’ that we attach ourselves to are worthless in eternal matters and indeed earthly matters that are beyond their trained abilities. But our God NEVER fails, and if we are faithful to Him, He will work miracle after miracle in our lives, and He has a heavenly home awaiting us when we leave this world. My God is the Creator of this world and the Everlasting Father. If you serve any other god, please allow the Word of God to speak wisdom to you and permit God to direct your path here on earth as He prepares you for your reward in Heaven one day. I would be overjoyed at having you kneel right beside me as we see our God face to face in glory!

BLESSING(S) NOTED: For those who will take time to read the whole chapter referenced above, you will see that God still gave in to the cries of His children even after sending them away to their worldly gods. This is an awesome reminder that our God loves us unconditionally, and He wants our love in return!

PRAYER: Dear Lord Jesus, I’m sure You must look on us with the love of Your Father and want so badly to bop us across the head at times for our saying with the mouth that we are a child of the King, even though we live way too much like the world. But Lord, I’m sure that’s a deception of the evil one to mislead others, and misguide them into what a true child of Christ is supposed to live like while here on earth. I believe that You created us in Your image, because You wanted us to represent You very openly, honestly and accurately so that we might be often confused for the One we represent. Just as You spoke to my hardened heart many years ago, I believe that You will also deal in the hearts of our lost loved ones, but please help us to never be a stumbling block to prevent them from receiving Your precious love and provisions. Oh that we may live and say like Paul, ‘follow me, as I follow Christ’. AMEN!

FOOTNOTE: There are two more pages on my blog that will provide you with additional information, one of them being ‘To Know Jesus’. If you have been challenged to make a decision today after reading this devotional, please click on the above page, or speak with a local Bible Teaching Pastor, or contact me at NuggetsFromGodsWord@outlook.com. Please allow someone to pray with you and give you help and/or encouragement as you begin, or continue your walk with Jesus. Words underlined in my blog might indicate a link to a song that came to mind as I wrote the devotional. Feel free to click on the link and listen as you continue to read or pray. If this devotional was forwarded to you and you would like to see more, please go to Nuggets From God’s Word and read more, or you may freely subscribe for a daily email conveniently containing each day’s devotional. You may also visit me on Spotify and listen to Nuggets while you’re out and about. I would encourage you to find a church home near by your home, and attend as frequently as you could. Get to know God, and allow His people to encourage and strengthen you in your Christian walk, while making every effort to be a blessing to them. God is at work among His people! Please consider growing in your faith, as you worship with fellow believers!