Word & the Wild

This is Word and a Wild, a one year Bible adventure with friends. My name is Owen. I'm your host and your guide. Delighted to be together with you on this 12 month journey as a podcast plus community where we read the Bible for ourselves, but not by ourselves. Guys, here we are. It's week four. Teen and this week we're out here in the Wild West.

It's a time when the Israelites live on the frontier, dangerous borderland between prosperity and disaster, and God calls in a series of lone rangers to rescue his people. They're called the judges. So hello and welcome. We are rolling through this journey together. It's not a recap where we feed you bite-sized bits of the bible.

No, no, no. This is a freewheeling walk where we watch the Bible unfold, like the story that it is. So subscribe here on your favorite podcast platform. And share us with a friend. It's more fun when we have more people along with us. I wanna say a special welcome to our word and the Wild Plus community. Uh, our community members support this nonprofit endeavor, and that makes space for all of us here on this Bible reading adventure.

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All right. With that, my friend, it's time to saddle up. We're on the trail in the wild west of the Israelite Frontier. Here we go.

Well, there may be no other episode in this Bible adventure that resembles our own times more than the Book of Judges, judges. It's a time when there's just a handful of people who truly love and follow the creator God. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Those people are few and far between, and when you do find them, they're often on their own offending for themselves.

I. Hopes for a nation of people who together love God, love their neighbors, love each other, and establish a nation that represents God's heart to the world. Well, those hopes are fading, and God's people have forgotten their history. They forsaken their purpose, and they flounder in their poor choices. In other words, it's a dark time.

Israel's relationship with God is a team sport, and that's been clear all the way back since Mount Sinai. But that doesn't mean that individuals don't matter. And the judges that we are reading about this week show that, uh, if you look at their lives, you see that in dark times. A single person who chooses to love and obey God can be a powerful tool in God's hands.

In those dark times, a movement of God can start with one, a single individual who listens to God's voice and steps forward into those uncertain times with courage as a people, the Israelites faltered in their commitment to maintain their relationship with God. That's what we saw as we wrapped up the the book of Joshua.

And so as a result, they failed to clear out Canaan because their commitment to God and their success in their project were tied together. They go part and parcel, and as a result. God makes this well, very damning statement after the death of Joshua in the early moments of judges, and he says, I brought you out of Egypt into this land that I swore to give your ancestors.

And I said, I would never break my covenant with you for your part. You were not to make any covenants with the people living in this land. Instead, you were to destroy their altars, but you disobeyed my command. Why did you do this? God asks, he goes on to say. So now I declare that I will no longer drive out the people living in your land.

They will be thorns in your sides and their gods will be a constant temptation to you. That's judges chapter two verses one through three, and that in a nutshell is the plot of judges, the people, groups that remain in Canaan get the upper hand and become a festering wound in the fragile nation. Of Israel, but even though God's people are unfaithful to him, God does not abandon them.

It says that the Lord took pity on his people who were burdened by oppression and suffering. That comes up in Judges two 18. Does that sound familiar? Sounds like what he noticed back when the, the Israelites were there in Egypt, trapped and enslaved. Right, and, and just like then. When times got dark and poor choices from God's people came home to roost.

God empowers leaders to come to their rescue, and these powerful leaders are the men and women who give the book. We are reading its name. They are the judges. As we make our way through this week's season of the story, we will move through about 300 years of some very colorful history. Sometimes, I mean, our eyes are gonna be glued to incredible tales of victory, and other times we will be shocked by scenes that we want to fast forward past as quickly as possible.

Many of the Bible's best known stories. They come from the judges. You're going to meet people this week that you may very well recognize. Even if you're not that familiar with the Bible. There are people like Deborah, Gideon, Samson, uh, but you might be surprised by just how flawed these famous figures appear when we hold them up to the light and when you get the whole story.

When we hear judges now, we think of courtrooms, robes. I dunno. Bailiffs. Gavels, yeah. But these leaders that God raises up. They aren't those kind of judges. Uh, you gotta think less Supreme Court and more wild West. Uh, these judges, they're more your doc holiday and Wyatt Earp types. They're hard living, quick shooting freedom fighters who dish out their own violent brand of vigilante justice.

I mean, they're these lone wolves. And they aren't afraid to bring law and order even if they have to step outside of law and order to get it done. They let their fist do the talking. They're just as likely to shoot up the town as they are to save it. They're these rogue gun slingers who do a lot of good when they wear the badge, but who can throw their sheriff star on the table and bring down revenge and violence on innocent bystanders at a moment.

Notice these desperados would say desperate times, call for desperate measures. And when the bad guys are putting their boots on the neck of God's people, these devil may care. Deliverers, Hey, they're your huckleberry. The judges. Remember a while back we, we read about God promising success to his people if they would only remember his directions to them and stay faithful to him.

And in some ways these, uh, you know, pistol packing delivers embody something like a one person fulfillment of these promises from God. Especially. Look at this promise from God all the way back in Leviticus. Uh, God says, I will give you peace in the land and you will be able to sleep. With no cause for fear.

I will rid the land of wild animals and keep your enemies out of the land. In fact, you will chase down your enemies and slaughter them with your swords. Five of you will chase a hundred and a hundred of you will chase 10,000. All your enemies will fall beneath your sword. I will live among you and I will not despise you.

I will walk among you. I will be your God. You'll be my people. So I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt so you would no longer be their slaves. I broke the yoke of slavery from your neck so you can walk with your heads held high. That's from all the way back in Leviticus 26 verses six through 13 E, Ehud, auth nails, Gideon Sampson. Many of the other judges, God used them.

And a handful of followers to route entire armies. They are unlikely heroes who often fight with unlikely weapons against great odds, and they find success. They embody in some ways this promise that the Lord made to his people, and it's not because of strength or strategy. They find success, but because they listen to God's instructions.

And allow themselves to be empowered by his spirit. And the result well, they free God's people for a season. God's people crawl out of the caves they've been hiding in and once again, walk with their heads held high, if only for a brief time until once again, the people scatter and everyone does what's right in their own eyes.

To me, these judges, if you wanna call them, that these, these rescuers, these deliverers, they, they reveal three essential things about how God works, his plan inside our broken world and in dark times. I'm gonna share 'em with you the first thing. Is that godly leaders are God's response to oppression and suffering it.

It's just a true statement that God does not forget his people. He never does. Even when his people wander away, his shepherd's heart causes him to raise up leaders. And those leaders have a responsibility to heed the call in dark times. Godly leaders are God's response to oppression and suffering.

Here's another thing that I see in judges, and it's simply that individuals matter. Uh, life in a community really is a group sport. For a group of people to be healthy, be it a family, a staff, a work crew, or a nation for a group of people to be truly healthy. Every person in that group needs to be walking out their lives with love and loyalty to God and to each other.

Now as we're seeing with the Israelites, that is a very rare set of circumstances. Uh, and, and, and when those circumstances aren't in place, times get dark. However, I. When times are dark, we see from the judges that a single person who listens to God and follows him with their whole heart can make a profound difference in the lives of so many.

Take what you see in judges to heart, and it may very well be that God is asking you to be the person who makes courageous moves to bring life and health to a circle of people in your care. And, take it from the judges. It can be a lonely path. A dangerous path. But with God's help, you can do it.

Individuals matter.

But here's where we need to be careful. And this is the third lesson I see from the judges. Now, the difference between a good leader and a dangerous leader is nothing more or less than empowerment by God's Spirit. That's the difference between a good leader and a dangerous leader.

Just because a person finds themselves in the lead seat at the head of the table at the top of the crew, it doesn't mean that they are a force for good.

In fact, if we aren't careful, we as leaders, whether it be leaders of a, of a family, of a, of a crew, of a staff, or even just leaders of ourselves.. We as leaders can easily change over time. Many judges in our stories this week, they drift.

When they're empowered by God's Spirit, they accomplish generational good, but when they follow their own selfish desires, they bring great harm to themselves and to their people. And we all know leaders who allow their pride and selfishness to erode their effectiveness. Now they still walk and talk like the same leaders, but because they aren't led by God's spirit themselves, they lead others down a dark path.

And that could become you or me at any time. Lessons from judges, huh? We admire their courage. We applaud their commitment. We follow their stories and their example with caution.

And just like that, we're ready to roll with the judges this week. I hope you enjoy this journey... and adventure awaits! Word and the Wild is a one year Bible adventure with friends. Man, we are having a blast. I hope you're having a blast with us all. You Word and the Wild Plus community members. I'll be seeing you in the wild.

That's our private online community space. Everybody else, don't be a stranger. Subscribe to this podcast. Follow word in the wild on Facebook and get into some interaction with us. Word and the Wild is a LineHouse community. It's part of the LineHouse Community Network, a nonprofit organization with a mission to bring neighbors together to promote awareness, appreciation, and understanding of the Bible.

Because friendship and God's word changed lives and change cities Word and the wild, presented by the LumaVoz. Podcast Network. Many thanks to our friends at LumaVoz. And with that, we are out. I'm Owen, your host and your guide, and until next time, I'll be looking for you out there on the trail, in the word and the wild.

Have a great week.