Thought of the Day !!

In those days Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes. – Judges 21:25 (NLT)

This is the last verse of the book of Judges.  It's a sad summary of the state of the Israelites at this time.  Throughout Judges Israel continually falls away from the Lord by worshiping other gods and doing whatever they decided was good.  Sooner or later God would take His protection away and they would be defeated.  

Even though His children acted like spoiled brats, God still loved them enough to raise up a Judge to come to their rescue when they cried out to Him.  But as spoiled children can often do, once things got good again, they began thinking of themselves instead of God.  And the cycle would continue.

It's easy to get caught up in ourselves and our own lives and forget that God has a plan for us that goes beyond ourselves.  Like spoiled children we can place our own lives or our families' lives ahead of everything else and dismiss those in need whom God places in our paths.  

Are we any better than those who worshiped idols if we neglect God's will for our lives?  Are we any better than those who sought to disobey God's commands if we don't faithfully seek out God's desires for us?

In those days Israel had no king.  As Christians we claim to have a King.  But our claims are only justified if we follow where He leads us and become what He wants us to be instead of doing whatever seems right in our own eyes.

In the love of Christ,

greg