Taking some life lessons from the people of Israel in Judges chapter 3.

Do you ever get tired, do you ever feel you are struggling with the same things over and over in life? Do you ever feel like you are in the same patterns or routines and just don’t feel like you are really moving forward? Maybe you don’t feel like you are making forward strides in life goals, in your relationships, or in your relationship with God. Do you ever find yourself thinking, “why does God allow me to continue to go through these same things or have to fight these same ole battles?”.

                  After being delivered to the promise land, Israel found themselves in a pattern of being sold back into slavery to different kings, being delivered, living in peace for a bit of time, just to be sold into slavery to another king and having to be delivered all over again. You might be thinking, wow, why did God allow them to be sold back into slavery to all these kings in the midst of their promise when slavery from Egypt is what they were being delivered from? Or you might think, “Hmm I kind of feel like Israel. Every time I think I have overcome something or moved past something hard in life it always seems to circle back around.”

                  Maybe you feel like you go through dry periods in your relationship with God. We have all either felt or heard people talk about feeling like their prayers never make it past the ceiling. How about the times we can stare at our Bible on the bookshelf knowing we want and need to study but just can’t bring ourselves to get it down. Maybe it gets bigger than that though. Maybe there is a central reoccurring argument in your relationship with your partner that you think you have worked out, but a few months later the tidal wave comes flooding back in and about knocks you down. Maybe it is a repetitive issue you are experiencing with a child. Is there a repeating struggle you face in your career or in your finances. I would say finances would be one that might resonate with more than others right now. Maybe there is a reoccurring sin or addiction you struggle with. No matter what it is, I feel like a lot of people  can you think of a “battle” they feel like they face in your life  on a reoccurring basis. That no matter what happens they  feel like they conquer the battle for the last time just to find themselves  in the same or similar battle down the road?

                  Israel found themselbes fighting the same battle over and over again in Judges Chapter 3. They battle might not have been against the same king or tribe, but ultimately it was the same battle. They first were sold to slavery to King Cushan-rishathaim. They served him for 8 years before being delivered form his reign and having peace for forty years. Then they fell under the rule of King Eglon of Moab for eighteen years. After they were delivered from King Eglon they had peace for eighty years. Then chapter 4 of Judges starts with Israel being sold again to a new king, King Jabin of Canan.  But why? That’s the question we were asking, right? Why did this keep happening to Israel? Why did God continue to allow the Israelites to go under the reign of kings that oppressed them after delivering them from Egypt? Why do we sometimes go back and continue to fight the same old battles in life when God has delivered us already?

                   I am not going to say for certain that this is the answer for you, but for Israel, it was because of their pattern of behavior. What behavior you might ask? The behaviors of falling away from God and worshipping idols.  Each section of these chapters that describes Israel being sold to another king starts with something to the effect of “The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord” (4:1) or Judges 3: 7 “The Israelites did what was evil in the Lord’s sight; they forgot the Lord their God and worshipped the Baals and the Asherahs.”  In fact, if we look back on the last few books of the Bible and review the stories of Israel and their journey of being delivered from Egypt, each time they faced adversity, each time they had to fight a battle it was usually due to them turning away from their faith in God and worshipping a false idol or God. Judges chapter 3 was most definitely not where Israel began fighting the similar battles. I would say that the people of Israel almost had to be getting use to battles such as this.

                  I don’t think that you have a golden calf sitting in your living room that you are worshipping or that you are praying to false gods, but what if the reason we continue to fight familiar battles is because of cycles of familiar behaviors in our life. What if it is because we have allowed something in our life to take priority and become a form of a false idol that gets in the way of our relationship with The Lord.

                  The Bible paints it very clear for us. God allowed Israel to go through their battles because they continued in the same old behaviors. They did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and worshipped false idols or god. Now, every time they cried out to God for deliverance, God came and provided deliverance and peace to them. God allowed them to stay in that peace as long as they continued to walk with Him, but when they began to do what was evil in the sight of the Lord again, He would allow them to be sold into another king’s reign. Then the cycle would repeat, and the next battle would begin.

                  If you are struggling with a familiar battle in your life, no matter what the battle is. I challenge you to sit with the Lord. Seek out God to see if you have any familiar patterns of behaviors that are triggering your cycle to repeat. Look to see if you have anything that could be viewed as a false idol that could be coming in between you and God that might be triggering the cycle. Sit with the Lord and see if there is anything you can change to break the cycle. If this story about Israel is a lesson we can learn from today, it is that God will continue to deliver us if we cry out to Him, but He will also allow us to continue to fight the same old battles if we continue to walk in the same old ways that trigger them.