In the book of Judges, we see both sin and salvation - “The people of
Israel did what the Lord considered evil” (Judges 3:7,12); “Then the
people of Israel dried out to the Lord for help” (Judges 3:9,15); “The
Lord sent a saviour to rescue them” (Judges 3:9,15). Viewed from the
point of view of human sin, this was a bad time in the history of
Israel. They were a wayward people. They were prone to wandering away
from the Lord. Viewed from the point of view of divine grace, there is
the great encouragement that God continues to love His people.He puts
into their hearts a desire to return to Him. He responds to their cry
from the heart. He sends His blessing. This is His way of showing us
that His love for us remains constant, even when our love for Him has
grown very weak.
We read about Elijah in his high-points of strength - the triumph over the prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18:36-39) - and his low-points of weakness - he is ready to give up: “I’ve had enough now, Lord” (1 Kings 19:4). How did Elijah get into such a mess? He forgot this: “The Lord’s power was on Elijah” (1 Kings 18:46). In all life’s ups and downs, we must hold on to this: The Lord has sent His Spirit of power to live in us (2 Timothy 1:7). How are we to live in the power of the Spirit? We need to feed on the Word of God and drink in the Word of God (1 Kings 17:4). We need to pray that the Lord will send His showers of blessing (1 Kings 17:14). We are to live our life “according to the Word of the Lord” (1 Kings 17:16). For our life of faith to be strong in the Lord, we need to listen attentively to the preaching of God’s Word (1 Kings 17:24).
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