Monthly Archives: June 2022

In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes. Judges 17:6 KJV

We are told in Judges 19-20 the tragic story of a priest who gave a group of Benjamites access to his concubine in exchange for a room for the night.  The following morning, the priest found his concubine dead.  He returned home, cut her into 12 pieces, and sent one section of her body to each tribe of Israel, along with this message: “This is what the Benjamites have done to my concubine!” What a gruesome story!

The other tribes sent a message to the Benjamites, saying, “Give us the men who did this so we can punish them.” But the Benjamites refused.  The 11 tribes joined together to take on the Benjamites, but it was the Benjamites who ended up winning the first two battles, killing 40,000 men!

Why did God let the Benjamites win?  The Bible does not give us a direct answer to that question, but the more I have studied this passage, the more I have concluded the reason may have been that the other 11 tribes of Israel had moved so far away from God that the powers of darkness had overwhelmed the nation.  They were acting according to their own understanding of what was right.  They had no reliance upon God and they failed to seek God diligently before they went into this battle against one of their own.  It was only when the “children of Israel arose, and went up to the house of God, and asked counsel of God” that the tide of war began to turn (see Judges 20:18 KJV).

When things are definitely not going our way, we need to find out why.  But we need to seek God’s opinion, not human understanding.

Jesus, when things are going badly, I will look to Your Holy Spirit for wisdom and guidance!

Then Samson prayed to the Lord, “Sovereign Lord, remember me.  Please, God, strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes.” Judges 16:28

Are you familiar with the story of Samson and Delilah?  Samson had an anointing of physical strength to overcome the Philistines, but Samson had a weakness for Philistine women.  He got involved with a woman name Delilah, who seduced him to find out the secret of his strength—it was in his consecration to the Lord, which came with a vow to never cut his hair.  While Samson was sleeping one night, Delilah had his head shaved, and when she did “his strength left him” (see Judges 16:19). She sold him to the Philistines who gouged out his eyes and put him in prison to work.

After some time, the Philistines brought Samson out to the temple on the day they were to worship their god, Dagon.  They were praising their god for delivering Samson into their hands, but they didn’t know that Samson had repented.  He prayed and God’s anointing of physical strength came upon him.  Samson pushed on the support pillars until the whole temple came down on top of him, and the Bible says he killed many more Philistines in his death than in his whole life.

When we look at this it is easy to think, “Oh Samson, how sad that you had to learn the hard way!” But in Hebrew 11, we see that Samson is in the hall of fame of faith.  And not only that, but only Samson’s acts of faith were recorded, not his moments of failure.  When I first saw this, I said to the Lord, “Why don’t You list anyone’s failures in Hebrews 11?  None of these people were perfect!” And God said, “Because I remember your faith and I forget what you repented.”  Isn’t that good news?

Dear Heavenly Father, I declare that through my repentance and the blood of Jesus, You remember my failures no more.  Thank You for Your forgiveness and for remembering my faith!

On the day the Lord gave the Amorites over to Israel, Joshua said to the Lord in the presence of Israel: “Sun, stand still over Gibeon, and you, moon, over the Valley of Aijalon.” Joshua 10:12

The Scripture above is probably the greatest faith statement ever made in the Bible.

A group of people who lived in the Promised Land were called the Gibeonites.  They were afraid of Joshua and the Israelites, so they deceived them into believing they were foreigners, having traveled a great distance.  Without praying for guidance, Joshua made a covenant with these people.  But the Gibeonites turned out to be one of the tribes that God had told them not to make covenant with.

What do you do when you blow it?  Joshua began to pray.

The other tribes were furious!  They heard what the Gibeonites had done and put together their armies against them.  But because Joshua and the Israelites had made a covenant with the Gibeonites, they were forced to protect them against all the other armies.  So, they began to fight.

First came a hailstorm, but it was very discriminating hail.  It only fell on the armies coming against them.  Then it looked as if the sun was going to go down, and if the sun went down, they may not be able to win the battle.  This is where Joshua made his faith statement, speaking to the sun: “Sun, stand still.  Moon, stay in the valley.” And the sun stood still until the Israelites had won the battle.

How did Joshua keep getting victory even when he blew it?  He kept praying, he kept meditating, he kept speaking God’s Word.

God wants us to triumph.  Jesus wants to lead us from victory to victory.  And He will, if we keep praying and speaking His Word.

Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for leading us from victory to victory.  When we fall short, remind us to pray.

We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of our God and Father…I Thessalonians 1:2-3 NKJV

There are three things in this verse that stand out to me: (1) faith can work, (2) love can labor, and (3) hope can give you patience.

If we feel we have faith, yet do nothing, we don’t really have faith.  If we say we have love, yet do nothing, we don’t really have love.  If we say we have hope, then we will be patient until we see the manifestation of what God has for us.

HOPE in the Hebrew means “rope.”  I believe God lets His rope down from Heaven so we can tie a knot in it and hold onto it until we see the manifestation of our faith and our love.

Rahab had hope in God’s Word.  She even put a red rope in her window (see Joshua 2).  Her wall stood when other walls fell.  When other people’s walls fall down, their lives fall down too.  If you hold onto the rope of God’s hope, however, your wall will stand.

Dear Heavenly Father, we know that it is through faith and patience that we inherit Your promises.  We make a decision to hold to faith and to have patience until we see the fulfillment of Your promises.  In Jesus’s Name, Amen.