First King - Part 1

I have pointed out that I thought the book of Judges, in the Bible, gives a fairly accurate picture of our society today: spiritual and moral malaise.

As I have trudged through this book, I am beginning to see why the book causes such angst in me. I think that the thing I do not like about Israel during the days of the judges, is that there are no icons of truth.

No clarion heralds of righteousness.

There are no people of pristine character - they all seem to be flawed and tainted.

But wait a minute - isn't that one of the beauties of God's Book? His story includes the good and the bad about most everyone: We get to watch Abraham struggle with fear and unbelief and then watch him resort to deception; we read about Moses giving and giving and giving and then he loses out on his life dream when he loses his temper; Naomi stands by her man - follows him into a foolish venture and returns home years later - empty, bitter.

God is so faithful. He told us all those stories - the whole story and more. Do you remember Jesus talking about some of the neat things awaiting His followers when they got to heaven? Then He added this disclaimer: "If it were not so, I would have told you."

Isn't that neat? We can just join those listening to Him that day as they nod their heads in agreement ... "that's right, He never tried to hide the truth from us..."

So if the Bible is full of stories about flawed people, why would I get upset when I read a book about a flawed nation? The answer is, that there is just something that is un-redeeming about the stories in the book of Judges.

This really pounded my thoughts when I began to think about David. He was a man of passion, yet we see that passion work both for him and against him. Passion drove him to dance before the Lord with all his might - worshipping with abandon; it also drove him into an improper relationship with another man's wife - and that led to intrigue and murder.

But the thing that sets David apart from the nation of Israel during the period of the judges was repentance.

David kept coming to grips with his utter, wretched sinfulness and repenting.
Israel, it seems, never dealt with their sin; they merely paused from sinning from time to time.

And when the excitement died down, they returned to their sinning.

The story of Abimelech in Judges 9 illustrates the state of things during those days and some similarities with things that are happening today. Befoe King Solomon or King David - even before King Saul... there was King Abimelech.

Tomorrow I will share it with you.