Easter Sunday! Guest Post by Mrs.Oz

Today's reading in the One Year Chronological Reading Plan is Judges 11:29-15:20.

Well, I'm overwhelmed. Quite frankly I don't know where to begin! Here you are, on this glorious Easter Sunday hopefully worshiping God and in awe of his Son's resurrection, spending time with your families, finding joy in simple traditions, and stopping by for some quick thoughts on today's reading. How did I get stuck with such a clunker of passages?! I want to focus on what the Lord would have on this most blessed day and I'm not sure exactly what that is yet. When this happens, I feel it best to pray and start stepping forward expectantly!:)

Do you start to feel, as I have lately, that the OT is so dreadfully full of the typical double minded human? Over and over, like a restless tossing man in his sleep we see the people of Israel turn their backs and then in desperation turn back with mournful faces seeking God's renewal and forgiveness. We hear it over and over till we are nearly dizzy. It reminds me of the christian song by Jars of Clay called "Two Hands" where it says: "I use one hand to pull you closer, the other to push you away." They want God to pull them back on their feet, but the minute they feel their confidence they forget Him entirely, until once again their faces land in the dust. Though having to read of these repeatedly foolish men, God knew one thing for sure....
We would recognize ourselves in them to the point of nearly seeing our reflection in a mirror. We would see our outstanding helpless need. Our frustration with them would become our realization of our true selves.
As a people, this has been the pattern, but what about as men themselves? Alas, even more double mindedness! My given passages open with the beyond tragic scene of Jephthah's heart wrenching vow. He IS chosen by God, he IS given the Spirit of the Lord, yet he takes a way of dealing with the pagan gods and uses it in his dealings with the Lord. It was common for men to make deals with the gods for favor or victory. This is in sharp contrast to the men of Moses and Joshua's time who sought for victory according to God's will. Even though the Lord uses him for his purposes, his foolish dealing with the Lord leads to severe and hard to read consequences.
In the midst of this dark story his daughter seemed to me a shining light. I mean, how does one come to terms with this? How did she not respond in anger and utter defiance? What a woman of submissive obedience to God first, but then also to her Father. I read this story and hope every time that this time, by the time I get to the end of it, she will be spared as Issac was. Then I remember that this was not God's bidding. Somewhere in here is parallel emotion to the giving of God's Son to men. I say this because of the emphasis and I believe, providential circumstances of this being his one and only child. I'm not sure exactly what it is, but it struck a chord with me. Her submissive response also paralleled Christ and his willingness to do His father's bidding. If anything perhaps, it allows us to sense more clearly the tragic emotions of the loss of this pure innocent because of sin.
Our next character seems to take spiritual double mindedness to a whole new level. The angel of the Lord himself (said to be Jesus pre-incarnate again, as He has been noted before as appearing) tells of this Nazirite birth. He has quite an awesome encounter with His parents and some amazing miraculous interactions as well. We think were about to see one amazing man to be used by God. No more than a few seconds into this man's declaration of birth do we jump into his first written dealings...."get me that woman dad!" It's shocking really to make that leap. We see right away that this man God has appointed for such a time is heavily fleshly flawed. "Get her for me, for she looks good to me!" Yikes, I'm loosing respect real fast Mr. Macho-Nazirite! Amazingly we, the reader, are given some key insights in verse 4: "However, his father and mother did not know that it was of the Lord, for He was seeking an occasion against the Philistines." Here again we have the reoccurring mystery of God using our sin for His Glory but us having to deal with the consequences (either now or later) of that sin just the same. There are times the Spirit of the Lord comes over him and he defeats the Philistines, and there are times he is angry and seeks revenge on them. He is lustful, vengeful, arrogant and given to passion. Yet, God not only announces his important and miraculous purpose, but continually uses Him fully. Many a time have we heard the Sunday school stories and never before did I actually know that he in fact was Israel's judge for 20 years between the event with the jawbone and Delilah.
So what does this all mean in light of today? For indeed, how could anything be written or reflected on today without making the Gospel meet us where were are? We are a double minded people, a people given over to our passions, our thinking that we are right, our pride and our impulsive decisions. We are not to be trusted! I love that God can use anyone and that He has the wisdom to fully understand what to us is a mystery of our bad and His good. We fall right in line with the Israelite people, and with the heroes of our faith. They are as we, we are as they. Like little children who cannot seem to stay focus on a task, we need God. We need his determination for His glory which delivers our good. We need His demand for righteousness which brought us our cleansing healer. We need His powerful weaving to overpower our darkest threads. We need a work completed to keep us receiving what we do not even know we should beg for. We need our flippant minds to be settled in three powerful words: "IT IS FINISHED". Oh, what great glory has come our way that we neither deserve nor would we even accept were it not for His grace to place the thirst within us by His own power. All we cannot maintain, secured forever.
Have a blessed Easter praising Him for His sacrifice and His life which so powerfully lives in you working and moving to His good pleasure.
Tomorrow's reading is Judges 16:1- 18:31.