Judges

Judges (Larry Crabb's 7th love letter)

They continued to come back or appear to repent, not because they wanted God but because they wanted what He would/could provide, the blessings of the good life.

It was a repeated cycle. Some came to know the truth and looked to God for contentment in life. But many kept on looking for things to fulfill themselves.

Judges: The Pattern of Defeat - From Ray Steadman<-(click here for entire Bible summary)

Judges 21:25In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit. They were given over to the folly of consecrated blundering. They were consecrated, dedicated blunderers – meaning to do right but ending up all wrong.

The great lesson of this book, then, is that we must take God seriously about the enemy. Jesus Christ has come to save us from our sins – not to allow us to settle down to live all our lives with them. He has come to drive them out from us, and to separate us from them. If we do not take God seriously about these things that we call trivial we will experience an inevitable sequence, taking us step by step away from the intervening grace of God, onward to a course that brings us at last to moral collapse.

Judges - David Jeremiah (Understanding the 66 Books of the Bible)

Key thought: When generations arise without a knowledge of God and His commands, they fall into a downward spiral of sin, defeat, judgment and despair.

Key Verse: "Nevertheless, the LORD raised up judges who delivered them out of the hand of those who plundered them." Judges 2:16

Key Action: We must break the cycle of apathy, sin, ruin, defeat, and despair with the power of lasting repentance and revival.