‘Back in the day’ we see patterns still present here in our day
By Dean Collins
Sometime around age 40, and especially if you have children, the “back in the day” stories begin. As time passes, the stories get bigger and are told and repeated many times. I suppose some of the storytelling is in fun and exaggerates how hard life used to be. I have heard silly examples of parents and grandparents claiming to walk miles barefoot in the snow and uphill to school or work and back when they were young! It’s hard to walk uphill both ways!
As we read Scripture, we also encounter some stories repeated again and again. The great story of God’s deliverance of Israel from slavery and into the Promised Land is told or referenced numerous times in both the Old and New Testaments. The exodus frames the narrative of God’s redemption and rescue mission that came to us through Jesus.
The result of their failure . . .
Scripture tells us that even with the heroic efforts of Joshua and Caleb, the people of Israel failed fully to obey God and take all of the Promised Land as they were told to do. The result of their failure isn’t clear until we read the book of Judges. Four times in the book of Judges we see this phrase mentioned:
“In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”
Judges 17:6 ESV
“In those days there was no king in Israel…”
Judges 18:1 ESV
“In those days, when there was no king in Israel…”
Judges 19:1 ESV
“In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”
Judges 21:25 ESV
Judges is a collection of colorful and challenging interventions by God. And God’s choice of leaders would not pass your selection process at church or work. Some were quite violent with apparent anger issues. Some had major problems following any semblance of godly behavior. Yet in each case, God intervened to accomplish the rescue of various fragments of the 12 tribes of Israel.
We also discover that the 12 tribes were consistently disobedient and grew more fragmented over time. They fought amongst themselves. As we get to the final line of Judges the refrain is mentioned one more time: “In those days there was no king in Israel…Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”
. . . and ours
That last line stings a bit doesn’t it? Isn’t that our old and current universal problem? As we continue our reading of Scripture we will enter a season where God does allow his people to have a king, but as you know, it didn’t really solve the problem of everyone doing what they saw in their own eyes as right.
From the beginning of time and even today, we continue to resist submission to Jesus as Lord and King. Our sad default is that somehow we know better than God when it comes to how we should live our lives and what is right and what is wrong. And of course, we also often think we know what is best for others as well.
We sometimes turn to government to legislate what is right and then to force citizens to live by government mandates. The problem is that neither the Republicans nor the Democrats nor any other party will ever get it right. We can allow majority votes to change laws and create policy, but those will always be cheap imitations of God’s standards.
Final authority
Jesus, who surrendered his life to pay for our sins and to make us whole, can and must have authority in our lives. The more we follow Jesus, the less we will default to doing whatever is right in our own eyes.
Lord Jesus, we declare that you are our King! Forgive us for fighting against you and trying to carve out our version of what is right. We acknowledge our preferences to be in charge of ourselves and others. We surrender to you. We surrender to you those we love as well as those we struggle to love. Transform us by the renewal of our minds and fill us with your Spirit, so that we might today walk in full surrender to you as our King. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Your time with God’s Word
Romans 12:1-2 ESV
Photo by Roman Kraft on Unsplash
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