Judges: Leadership

It almost won. I came close to saying that along with Deuteronomy, Judges was going to tie with the Deut and be another favorite book of mine from the O.T. but, due to it's ending whoof! No thanks. Deuteronomy still has first place. However, leadership is a very close topic to my heart and Judges showed me so much about leadership. I feel like it's one of my callings besides teaching. Judges was super entertaining and had a lot of cool stories in it that I had no clue that was located in that book. Here's so nuggets from the Judges! "A generation arose that knew not the Lord" - This hit hard in my heart. For all that God had done to save the Israelites bringing them out of Egypt, giving them a route through a body of water, performing miracle after miracle, He instructed Moses of ONE THING. Keep my commandments and teach the people to always remember the things that I have done for them. Here in this scripture we see that along the way, after Joshua, the people quit talking about God, discussing the blessings that He had given them and quit recalling all that the Lord had done for them. This sets up the stories to follow of all the destruction and moral corruption that is to take place over the next few years. So bad, it had crept into the very Levites who were the ministers at this time. THE CHURCH HAD BECOME CORRUPT. Because they had taken their minds off of God. So a generation was born and raised without any knowledge of God. We cannot afford to forget God. God will always raise up a standard amidst wickedness. Without leadership, people are left to do what is right according to their own eyes. God is a God of covenant. When God is in control there is peace. When God is not in control there is bondage. Deborah - First woman recognized with authority. She was a leader. She heard from God and the Israelites followed and respected her leadership. God does not forsake us. We forsake him. Gideon was the least in his family. Jerubaal: Let Baal Plead (Gideon was renamed Let the Devil Plead) How freaking awesome is this?!?! Ishmael and Midian were half brothers from Hagar. Back then in their culture you were known by your jewelry. Where there is no accountability, there is no right-standing. From our ears our hearts are led. Impatience and wrongly given positions to those not called to those positions can bring destruction. God gives choice. Meaning with free will He ultimately allows the choices to be made because He has to according to His Word. God allowed Abimelek to lead for 3 years but, in season, He removed Abimelek in leadership. Men of Schechem - the very ones who helped plot the murders, were the very onces to first turn on Abimelek. What distracts our hearts can bring death to our body. God permits the reaping of what has been sown good or bad. God does not forgive mere words. Jephath's daughter was the first nun. By this time, Israel had turned on God eight times. Back and forth with serving and worshiping the Lord. (backsliding) Sight of the Lord - sometimes the world will tell us what we are doing and how we are living is okay, but, the world shouldn't be as believers what we look to, it's the Lord we should be aiming to please. His sight and the World's sight are two different things. God gave Samson a calling from the Womb. Marriage was celebrated for 7 days!!!! A week long feast!!!!! Samson - a man of strength had very childish behavior always trying to take vengeance which wasn't his. Samson's desires always got him in trouble. Delilah was given $3500 for cutting Samson's hair and revealing his strength. Satan's temptation comes in the form of things we like. Goodness doesn't follow the works of Christianity, goodness follows the faith in Christ. Moral Corruption follows backsliding. Civil strife begins among Israel and we see the Tribe of Benjamin almost entirely cut off. Even in anger we must be just and fair. When we shield criminals we become party to the crime. When we shield wrong-doing we become party to the sin. So we see that ALLLLLLLLLL OF THIS mess happened because of what I stated at the beginning.... "a generation arose that knew not the Lord"