Judges 3

Three points that I gather from today's short reading:

1) And they were left, that He might test Israel by them, to know whether they would obey the commandments of the LORD, which He had commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses. (Judges 3:4)

Often, God has also allowed certain tempting situations to be around me so that I may be given the chance to grow. It is a chance to learn to obey God and to rely on Him.

2)So the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD. They forgot the LORD their God, and served the Baals and Asherahs. (Judges 3:7)

The act of forgetting something. It reminded me of a sermon I heard before. About how men are forgetful creatures and that once "out of sight, out of mind". Since we cannot see God, very often we tend to forget about God, or rather, He tend not to occupy our thoughts. Instead, we occupy ourselves with the things that can be seen, that are around us. We allow ourselves to be influenced by such things.

But this is what the Bible says:
while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. (2 Cor 4:18)

3) Lastly, can you see the strength of Israel whenever God was with them? Whenever the people cried out to the Lord, God had compassion on the people. He raised up a deliverer and His power was mightily with them. With the strength of God, they could triumph over their enemies.

How can we apply it to our lives today? Whenever we abide by the will of God, we will be able to feel the power that comes from Him in all that we do. When we obey God and do His good will, we will find that nothing is too difficult for us to handle, and we will be able to do them with the grace of God.