Judges 4:1-3 The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, after Ehud died. So the Lord sold them into the hand of King Jabin of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor; the commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-ha-goiim. Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord for help; for he had nine hundred chariots of iron, and had oppressed the Israelites cruelly for twenty years.
There's this pattern that repeats itself over and over in the Old Testament: God's people forget about loyalty and doing the right things and faithful living. They get in trouble. They cry out to God for help, wondering why God abandoned them. Like I said, this pattern repeats itself over and over in the Old Testament. That's because the Old Testament covers a lot of ground historically and contains a great deal of the history of Israel. This pattern would repeat itself over and over in the New Testament as well if the New Testament contained information about the history of the Christian church in the same way.
I also have a feeling that if the story of my life (or our lives) were written in the pattern of the Bible, it would look a lot like the pattern above: the names and details would change but the pattern would hold. We forget faithful living. The consequences come. We blame God.
But of course, the pattern doesn't end there. And neither does this story from the fourth chapter of Judges. After some battle details, we get verse 15: "And the Lord threw Sisera and all his chariots and all his army into a panic before Barak." God saves the people. Verse 15 always comes. God always saves. Watch for your verse 5 today. It will happen.
In Christ,
Pastor Seth
Visit http://www.allsaintspalatine.org for full calendar. See you in worship next Sunday at 8:30 and 11 with Education Hour at 9:45
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