Word & the Wild

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This is Word and the Wild, a one year Bible adventure with friends. My name is Owen. I am delighted to be your host and your guide as together we are on this 12 month journey as a podcast plus community where we read the Bible for ourselves, but not by ourselves. Gang. It's week 15. Can you believe it?

We're about to pass the 100 day mark on the trail this week. The Wild West chaos of Judges blurs into the background. We zoom in to follow the lives of a string of people who move the plot forward in a major way. Ruth, Hannah, Samuel, David, and more on the horizon this week. So hello and welcome, welcome, welcome, man.

We're rolling through this journey together. It's not a recap where we feed you bite-sized bits of the Bible. No, this is a fun and freewheeling walk. Where we watch the story of the Bible unfold, like the epic movie as it is. So subscribe here on your favorite podcast platform and go ahead and share this with a friend.

I wanna say a special welcome to our word and the Wild Plus. Community members, okay. Their support of this nonprofit endeavor makes space for all of us here on this Bible reading adventure. They're covering the bills and we're thankful for you. They enjoy access to our private, safe online space where no honest question is a dumb question, along with weekly livestream, q and a, bonus content, articles, interactions...

if any of that sounds like your jam, your next step is just to check out the show notes for how to become a member yourself. I'll get all the details over at wordandthewild.com. Alright, with that, without further ado, let's do the postmortem on the OK corral that was judges last week, and then step forward with a spark of hope with what's ahead for us this week.

Wow. How about those Judges? Huh? I feel like I need a breather from all of the gritty violence and wild stories in last week's episode here, it really did feel like a Wild West shootout. So true story. I've got a nice. Peaceful candle here on the table next to me to kind of set the mood for a little more of a calm conversation this week.

Boy, everyone did what was right in his own eyes. In the wild west of Judges. That's the epitaph written on everyone's tombstone, pun fully intended. Those are the final words that close out the book of judges, and they are the perfect description of the why behind the drama and the trauma that is the era of the judges.

And God's people as a whole. Almost every individual we countered in judges this week fits that one line description to a T. Everyone just doing what they wanted, what they thought was right, and what accomplished their goals. And in fact is as you pull up to that 30,000 foot view of the plot of judges, you can see.

That kind of pattern emerge. It, it forms what you, you, you might call a, a pattern that's a, you know, people have called it a cycle of apostasy or a cycle of misery. I like to call it the pit of despair. And if you love nerdy movies like me, you might get that movie reference. But the pit of despair is the whole god's people fall into.

In Judges, when they abandon their relationship with God and they choose to walk out life their own way. This, it's the selfish choices that leave the Israelites vulnerable. And, and then the cutthroat people groups that the Israelites didn't bother to boot out from the promised land? Well, they're just more than willing to seize the opportunity to harass and oppress God's people.

But, but here's the crazy part inside of judges, I, I don't see that plot line, that, that cycle that, that of misery, that the pit of despair. It's not an entirely depressing thing to me. At least how I see it, it, it's kind of a hopeful thing. Okay, let me explain myself. 'cause when I say it's a hopeful thing, I, I think about the story of judges and I do see hope.

It's... it's dark down there in the bottom of the pit of despair. Yeah, that's for sure. But there's a little light that flickers down at the bottom of that pit kind of like this little candle that's flickering on the table next to me. All right. And, and so let's, let's climb down and take a look in that pit.

And if we follow the slide down into the pit of despair, you, you see a pattern that emerges, that looks something like this, including the hopeful spark there down deep at the bottom.

Okay? So the first thing you see in this pattern, and it was all throughout judges, literally just about every time and the, the one of these stories of a judge emerging to help the Israelites, every time you see it start, it begins with compromise, right?

The Israelites just, they followed that siren song of the surrounding cultures and entertain the idea that God's way of life isn't the only way to go. And now, just like that, you've got one foot dangling over that pit of despair. Okay? So it starts with compromise. Then next step, next slide down is disobedience.

The Israelites just simply walk away from their relationship with God and choose to go their own way. They disobey and down we go down sliding into that pit. It takes you to the third thing that happens. It's forgetfulness. The Israelites lose track of their history, their identity, God's track record of love, God's promises for their future.

They forget all of it for a number of reasons. And it happens. And then, then it's so hard to climb back out 'cause you don't know the way back up. And so you go further down into selfishness. Now that the Israelites have forgotten who God is and who they are entirely. Things like "Love your neighbor"

oh, those fly out the window. It's every person for themselves. It's everyone doing what's right in their own eyes. And then near the bottom of the pit, after selfishness, you go compromise to disobedience, to forgetfulness, to selfishness. And then there at the bottom, it's, it's cowardice.

A cowardice says, I won't risk what I have.

To do what I should. I'm in full protection mode, taking care of myself, and I won't do a thing to change the situation. The Israelites, they go into hiding. They, they are isolated from God and each other. They, they forgotten their history. They don't even have a history. They don't feel like they have a future.

There's nothing but self preservation, of oppression and just a, a, a broken now nothing but the present tragic moment. And that my friend, that's where you, the Israelites hit rock bottom: compromise, disobedience, forgetfulness selfishness, cowardice. And that's the bottom.

But, and here's where the hope comes in my friend time and again in the story of judges, these wild west vigilante cowboys of the Old Testament, these judges time and again, God comes to the Israelites rescue through these, these, these crazy characters and, and it all starts with one hopeful spark.

In the inky black dark at the bottom of the pit of despair. That's that spark. That, that tiny point of light that little candle down at the bottom of the pit. What is it? It's nothing more or less than simply the voice of God.

Time and again in Judges in the darkest hours, God speaks out. Sometimes it's a prophet who delivers a message.

It's the angel of the Lord appearing to Gideon out of the blue, or to Samson's parents out of the blue time. And again, in the cycle of the story, the, the, the light in the dark, the pivot point in the story. The moment when their fortunes change and rescue arrives. Now it's the moment when God speaks. And then in that moment a leader listens.

A deliverer hears God's message and heeds it. And that's when things start to change. That's when the people start to climb out of the pit and you see the trend. Reverse cowardice becomes courage. Courage is contagious, and so selfishness becomes self-sacrifice. Forgetfulness, transforms into awareness and memory of who God is and who they are.

Disobedience it turns into obedience and God's people emerge from the pit into the light of day, but the whole thing starts not with a hero, with with, with pots and torches, not on the field of battle. It all starts when God initiates a spark. With his voice, with his Word in dark times. It's how God works.

God works through leaders who listen to his voice.

Now, a little bit later in our story, we're going to encounter a beautiful, elaborate, artful poem that's all about celebrating the life-giving power of God's voice. It's called Psalm 119. And we're gonna get there a little later. But for now, I just wanna pull out a couple lines from this poem because I think it summarizes the hope of, of judges and the warning that judges carries so well.

The writer of this poem simply says to God, pouring out his heart. He says, "Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path. I've promised it once and I'll promise it again. I will obey your righteous regulations. I've suffered much, oh Lord. Restore my life again, as you have promised.

That's Psalm one 19 verses 1 0 5 to 1 0 7. At the bottom of the pit, God's voice is how God's people find their way in the dark and back into the relief and restoration of walking in the daylight of a healthy relationship with God.

And that is everything.

As we look ahead to what's on the trail for us this week there's, there's some good news. Judges ends with those sad, fateful words. You know, "everyone did what was right in their own eyes." Well, thankfully. It wasn't really everyone. Because as the episode of Judges ends, if you think of it like a movie, the camera zooms in from this wide angle perspective on the state of God's people as a whole and, and pushes in to a series of closeups.

And the, the chaos of the dark times the Israelites find themselves in -- well, it they, that, that chaos blurs into the background of some intimate biographies of a faithful, beautiful few. Let me explain what I mean.

Since Sinai, okay, we have seen that God's heart has been to take a ragtag bunch of former slaves and create a healthy, stable, unified people who represent him.

Who show off the goodness of life with him and who invite others to join in that life of restored relationships with him and with each other.

Why? Well, because God's story isn't about the masses. Okay. And, and it's not about the mangled mess humankind has made of the world since the Garden of Eden.

Those are facts of the story, but that is not the focus of this story. It really is all about God's promise and his plan, in the shadow of Eden, to rescue his beloved creation and all humankind, that carries his image, his beloved. Most of all, remember back in Genesis chapter three, we're going again, way, way back, almost to the beginning.

Remember when God, he, he pronounces a curse on the serpent who had deceived and, and Adam and Eve and lured them into taking that forbidden fruit. Well, there in that curse, God promises the serpent. That a reckoning is coming someday. Someday one of Eve's descendants will crush the serpent's head and, and the story of that promised descendant, the one who will crush the serpent's head.

That, that, that story of the defeat of what drove a wedge between God and his beloved creation that. Is the main plot of this whole wild adventure, okay? God is our main character, his rescue plan and the path he follows to see that plan happen. That is our focus. And so while the, the drama and trauma of judges continues to roll on in this epic movie.

We're reaching a point now where the sounds of all the yelling and fighting and chaos and war, they, they, they fade down to just a low rumble and the, the, the, the images of the scheming and the killing and the wild-eyed wickedness and out of control society, all of that kind of blurs out of focus as God's plans move forward.

Through the simple prayers and faithful actions of just a few people who do what we were just talking about above. They hear from God and heed his instructions and that my friends, I would say is the real. Story. So this week we're gonna see that story take some steps forward. We're gonna see the outcome of this romance between Ruth and Boaz.

We're gonna meet Hannah, a woman devalued by her broken family and despairing due to infertility, who pours her heart out to God. When few of the people she knows even respect or remember him. And then God gives her a son. The son's name is Samuel, who even as a child, hears and heeds God's voice who obediently, anoints an unlikely young David to be a king and that young man.

We'll be equipped with a sling and a foolishly simplistic trust in the heart and power of God will do great things. He's a young man that God says will be used to honestly establish an eternal dynasty. That's a pillar of God's rescue plan for his people and the world. All that is ahead for us this week as God walks his path of rescue.

Through the chaos of human drama and, and God works his plan through simple people who each make small choices to drown out the other voices and instead to hear and heed the voice of God. So this week. Follow the twists and turns. Enjoy the drama as it unfolds and keep the plot in view as you do. And who knows, you might even have your own encounter with the voice of God this week.

And that's our launch point as we step on the trail for week 15. It's been a real pleasure to be with you. I'm grateful for the opportunity. If you're loving it too, share it with somebody and know, throw a little something in the tip jar and make sure you've subscribed to the podcast all you Word. And the Wild Plus Community members.

A special thanks to you once again for your support of this nonprofit endeavor. You guys are real gems. I'll be seeing you in the wild this week. That's our online private community space. Can't wait to interact with you there. Everybody else, find us on Facebook. Jump in there too. Word and the Wild is a LineHouse community.

It's part of the LineHouse Community Network. It's 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 change lives and change cities Word and the Wild. Presented by the LumaVoz Podcast Network.

Grateful. Thanks to you guys at LumaVoz, and with that, my friend, we're out. I'm Owen, your host and your guide. Until next time, my friend, I'll see you out there on the trail, in the word and in the wild. Have a great week.