Return to Obedience aka Return to God's Ways, Judges 10:10-18 or Judges 10:10-18,11:4-6, 32-33; The Adult Sunday School Lesson for 7-31-11

ATTENTION:  Please note that this is The Adult Sunday School Lesson, Return to Obedience aka Return to God’s Ways, on Judges 10:10-18 or Judges 10:10-18; 11:4-6, 32-33 for the 7-31-11 International Sunday School Lesson.  You will find the 7-24-11 lesson, Let God Rule directly beneath this message and on the right side.

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Jed

Return to Obedience

or

Return to God’s Ways

Judges 10:10-18

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Judges 10:10-18; 11:4-6, 32-33

International Sunday School Lesson

July 31, 2011

Commentary

By

Jed Greenough

How many times will we keep this up, this return to sin and the forsaking of God and what He did to save the people of Israel in these lessons?  Are you getting tired of it?  Imagine how God must have felt!  Imagine how God must feel even now!

We are told that not one of us is righteous (Romans 3) and that is certainly true.  I have seen in my own life how it took a lot of years to get to the point where I consistently serve Him.  Yet, even now it is when I am most oppressed that I am most anxious for His protection.

Seek God in times of trouble only and He may or may not answer your call.  Those that seek Him infrequently in this manner may have to find they have to be refined in the fire for a time to remove the impurities.  For some that time in the fire might become permanent.

This is where we start out today in our scripture when once again the people of Israel identify that God alone is their rock.  This time God says in effect seek relief from the gods you have chosen.

We don’t know based on the scriptures how much time went by before God responded to their pleas.  They sought Him out and He turned away.  They persisted earnestly and sincerely and eventually He took pity on them.  Again though, how much time did that take?  What was the cost in suffering?

What we see though was that they knew what they needed to be and that was humble.  They acknowledged that God should use whatever means He saw fit to deal with their plight.  They also acknowledged what God said concerning their gods and returned to serving Him.

Though not all continue on in this week’s scripture, if you do you’ll see that again He uses the lowly instead of the high and mighty to accomplish His plans.  Just like Rahab who was a prostitute, Jephthah was a social castaway, himself the son of a prostitute.  He had been driven from his home because of his lack of position but now was being called upon to be their leader.

Much is left out of the scripture about who was communicating with God during this time and whether this communication included the subject of Jephthah.  In any event, Jephthah calls on the Lord and the Lord empowered him with the Spirit and granted him success just as he did the other judges.

In all these cases in Judges we see this turning back to evil and then turning back to the Lord over and over again.  I began today by saying how tired God must have been of it all and it does seem He was growing very “ tired”, but still He had compassion for them.  But what about others who are His, those that don’t even do what they did?

I am an American and though as patriotic as the next man, I cannot as a Christian be blind to her ways so I will use her as an example.  Has America acknowledged the error of her ways?  Has America admitted that she has strayed, become humble and truly put herself in God’s hands?

We read about the nation of Israel and I mention the nation America, but nations are made of individual citizens who are the ones that do evil or good in God’s sight.  Only the citizenry can lead the country in obedience to God.

For Discussion:

1.      In today’s scripture the people know what they need to do to return to God.  What if a people are oblivious to this need?

2.      When given the chance will we choose the best person for the job such as Jephtah or will someone who is “more electable” be chosen?

3.      Discuss the fact that not all of Israel would have acknowledged their sin, perhaps not even a large percentage.  A few made a difference.

4.      Read and Discuss Judges 11:29-40

5.      The ever increasing gods that Israel was serving (7 mentioned in 10:6) signifies the great depths of their depravity.

6.      This time (10:16) Israel turned and served God before He reconsidered.

7.      Note that Jephthah was to lead Gilead and not Israel but the outcome benefited all of Israel.

8-07-11:   Walk in God’s Path Judges 13:1-8, 24-25

8-14-11:   Making a Choice (Choosing a Community) Ruth 1:8-18

8-21-11:   Empowering the Needy Ruth 2:8-18

8-28-11:   Respecting Community Standards (Caring for One Another) Ruth 4:1-10

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 Biblica. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved