Adventure 4,5 &6 "It really IS an Adventure"

With victories, defeats, vengeance, murder, war… this book can get a little intense. Imagine newspaper headlines of their day, “New Judge Saves the Day” (Judges 3:9,15), or “The Midianites Defeated” (Judges 7,8), “Virgin Daughter died as a burnt sacrifice” (Judges 11:29-40) or “Justice for Rape and Murder” (Judges 19,20). Reading this book from cover to cover, I find so many stories about insane things happening, and honestly it left me quite overwhelmed. It left questions in my mind such as, why is there so much gruesome violence? Is it Fair? Why are there so many contradictions, so many confusing concepts? Is the Old Testament relevant to this day and age?

            I think that it helps to read the History books of the Bible as history books, perhaps even as newspaper articles from the past, recording stories of people, lives, journeys, and deaths. We must also always read it in the context of the New Testament. If you looked at the Newspaper today, you’d see very similar happenings to that recorded in Judges. I find myself crying out for justice every time I read about violence in the news- of murders, injustice, and war.

 A recurring theme from the book of Judges is the Israelites’ unfaithfulness to the Lord. “Again the Israelites did evil in the Lord’s sight”, “But when the judge died, the people returned to their corrupt ways”, “they forgot the Lord their God who had rescued them” and “Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes”, these statements were repeated throughout the book. The Israelites forgot about the Lord, never seeking His will, compromising on His commands, and allowing temptations to live among them (Judges 2:1-3).

 And thus, Justice was served. Both to the Israelites and their enemies. And it was because of sin. Yet again and again we see God’s grace in the picture. The prodigal son steps in again. Whenever Israel pleaded the Lord for mercy, He always rescued them out of grace. They did not deserve it, and repeatedly showed ungratefulness and unfaithfulness, yet the Lord fought for them whenever they served and obeyed Him. Perhaps this is also a foreshadowing of what Jesus would do for us. He is the only bridge between Justice and Grace. Because of Jesus, we have the privileges of God’s chosen people- our promised inheritances, everlasting grace, and the Lord Himself fighting our battles- if only we ask.

I personally think that sometimes we push questions out of our minds for fear of creating doubt, but that its sometimes through pursuing the answers or finding the lack of answers, that we stand stronger in faith. If there weren’t always something more to be revealed, then there would be no more purpose to learn. And yet sometimes the only answer is that God is our creator. And the more we learn, the more we realize how small we are, and how big our God is.

The story of Gideon (Judges 6,7) is one that I found pretty cool. Cynical, doubtful, nervous, and weak, Gideon wasn’t exactly the Johnny Bravo of his day. But one thing he realized; if you ask the Lord to show you the impossible, He will bring you on an adventure. In Judges and previously in Joshua, we see underdog adventures of the weak conquering the strong, and superhero stories of victories against all odds. Indeed, the journey through the history books is packed with stories of adventures.