Judges

Cruising Route 66

“A Need for Godly Leaders”

The people served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had seen all the great things the Lord had done for Israel. Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of a hundred and ten.- After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what He had done for Israel. Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord and served the Baals. They forsook the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them.
Judges 2:7-8, 10-12

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Joshua, the right hand of Moses is dead. As the population grew, and the people flourished, things started to disappear. Everything began to change. By the end of the first hundred years living in the land of promise and prosperity, the backbone of godly leadership was gone. The integrity, virtue, and character of the people began to decline.

The inconsistency of ethical leadership was the first crack within the social structure. The nation described in the Book of Judges lacked moral guidance and direction. Without godly leaders the people turned their backs on God, forgetting that He had set them free, guided them through the wilderness, had given them the land, and protected them in battle.

The laws handed down from previous generations, laws that provided wise guidance and turned the peoples heart toward God, were being redefined and rejected. Within the world around them were people who didn’t know God. Their influence on the minds of the Israelite people was greater than God’s influence on their hearts.

Worldly thinkers who had never seen God’s hand at work or taken the time to listen to what God had to say, mocked their religion, and ridiculed those who believed. The result, it was not the idolaters but the believers who were converted. Much like the generation that had been born and raised in the comfort and wealth of the promised land, we too are seeing our generation and the generations that follow turning to other gods.

Biblical instruction of both the Jewish child and adult was seen as vital to maintain the moral, ethical, and unified structure of the nation. Education, that had once been held as the backbone of Jewish society was now just a political tool. Teaching the next generation became indoctrination rather than the impartation of God’s truth. With the loss of godly leadership, and the dismantling of religious belief, truth was no longer the substance for instruction. A people who once knew the clear difference between right and wrong, was now struggling with the dividing line.

Right had become wrong, and wrong had become right, and that became the platform for the next generation to begin. The Book of Judges chronicles the dark ages of Israel and the death of the heart of a nation. The result was that for three hundred years God’s people took on a new way of living.

“In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit.” Judges 21:25

It was not a pretty story, nor was it intended to be. It’s intended to be a warning of what happens when God is ignored, and passions are worshiped. America is a land of Judges, but we need a King, a true King, a King willing to give his life for his people. We need the King that Israel had forgotten about, the same King we too are slowly forgetting about.

This King doesn’t desire the royal seat of power, but a throne that’s within our hearts. His coronation isn’t a public ritual, but a private ordination, He stands at the door of everyone’s heart, waiting to be invited in. If He already reigns in your heart, then introduce Him to someone who has yet to meet this mighty King and watch the change in our land.

Bless ya,
Ben

Award-Winning Author of
Biblical & Historical Fiction