Remembering Judges

     

    " I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. Then you will live in the land I gave your ancestors; you will be my people, and I will be your God." -Ezekiel 36:25-27 NIV

    Judges is not about the Israelites. It's about God. More specifically its about the cycle of man rejecting God, hitting rock bottom, and then God's redemption. Judges 2:6-23 gives a summary of the entire book. After Joshua dies the Israelites begin worshiping other idols and marrying pagan worshippers, polluting the entire nation. Judges 3:7 puts it this way, "The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord; they forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs." (emphasis added) As always in the Bible, wording is very key here. When the people of the Old Testament to "forget" their sins or "remember" His great mercy, (Psalm 25:6) they were not implying the Lord could forget His character. (Deuteronomy 32:39) The word "forget" in this context means to not act upon what he knows. Like when you ask a friend to forget what you've done, they obviously won't forget, but they can choose whether or not to act upon the knowledge of your past. So when the Israelites "forgot" God, it means they were no longer using their knowledge of Him to influence them and their actions. It's a spiritual problem. The truths of God were not real to them. This is a problem today as well. We can have knowledge of God and what He has done for us, but until the truth has manifested itself in our every day lives enough to control or influence us, it is not real. 

    "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more." (Hebrews 8:12) In a different light, When Christ died for us, taking the ultimate penalty for our iniquities, Christ's holiness was made ours. Meaning that God has "forgotten" our sins, or that He shall no longer act on His knowledge of our past, present, and future. Just like the Israelites, we need to hide the Word of Truth deep in our hearts in order for them to work in us. In Luke 22:19, Jesus is sharing supper with His disciples and His command is, "Do this is remembrance of me." Not just remember this and say, "Okay! Cool Jesus! Thanks!" and direct your thoughts back to your Sunday lunch plans. But remembering the reality and relevancy of the gospel to penetrate your inner being and bring you to a daily place of surrender. Remembering the gospel should bring us to our knees, people!! It is a reason to celebrate! There should be a difference in our countenance just like there is a difference in remembering to get the mail so you can put a mark on your checklist and remembering the day your first child was born!
     When we come to that place of complete surrender and repentance is when God can cleanse us and give us a new heart, faithful to Him. 2 Corinthians 5:17, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!" Remember His truths today! Blessings!


     "Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." -Lamentations 3:22-23