Devotional Thoughts

Judges 3:1-2    "Now these are the nations which the LORD left, to prove Israel by them, even as many of Israel as had not known all the wars of Canaan;  (2)  Only that the generations of the children of Israel might know, to teach them war, at the least such as before knew nothing thereof" Verse 3 of this chapter lists five nations that were allowed to remain in Canaan. They were allowed to remain in order to teach God's people to battle against evil. God knew they needed time to learn to trust Him to be their Protector and Deliverer.  They still tried to lean on their own understanding at times rather than trusting the Lord. So, God said He would not drive these five nations out of the land in order to "prove by them" that Israel would come back to the place of having confidence in the Lord. On the night Jesus was betrayed, He told us that we would have tribulation in this world. That was not a "might, maybe, or possibly" could happen. No, it was a...

Judges 2:21-22    "I also will not henceforth drive out any from before them of the nations which Joshua left when he died:  (22)  That through them I may prove Israel, whether they will keep the way of the LORD to walk therein, as their fathers did keep it, or not." God gave specific instructions that all the nations in the promised land were to be destroyed and driven away. Because nations were allowed to remain, God told the people that He would not drive them out for them. The question might be asked as to why God would not drive those nations out for Israel. He gave the answer before the question was asked: "That through them I may prove Israel, whether they will keep the way of the LORD to walk therein, as their fathers did keep it, or not." They were allowed to remain as a test for Israel as to whether or not they would place their trust and confidence in the Lord. God promised the land to them, but they allowed their own ideas and actions to rob them of many...

Genesis 12:1-4    "Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran."   The flood was over, and several generations had passed when we see Abram come into the picture. Noah was Abram’s eighth great-grandfather. Abram was about 57 years old when Noah died. It is possible that Abram heard first-hand accounts of the flood and all that transpired during that time. We are not given detail about what went on in the lives of the generations between Noah and Abram. It is obvious that God was bless...

Judges 2:13-14    "And they forsook the LORD, and served Baal and Ashtaroth.  (14)  And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them, and he sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies." My first words today are these: I do not enjoy writing the things on my heart this morning, but I feel they need to be said. It only took one generation to forget all that God had done for the people. What took place in the day of the Judges is happening right now in our own land. It grieves my heart to see how so many people are being duped into believing evil is good and good is evil. I say that and yet God warned this would happen.  When the goodness of God is replaced with the dollar bill, or any other thing, evil has an opening to move into that void.  The people "forsook the LORD, and served Baal and Ashtaroth." They turned away...

Genesis 11:1-8    "And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they...