Judges 6:1-10

Hey, hey, good morning, good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions. This morning we are at Judges, Judges chapter six. We're gonna be at like the first 10, 11 verses, something like that, 10 verses first. So we're gonna talk about what happens after Deborah. There's 40 years after Deborah and Barak. What happens after that? Yeah, we'll find out, won't we? Let's have some coffee, we'll pray, and we'll get into God's word. Would you like some coffee?
It's too hot. OK, too hot. OK, let's pray, Daniel. I'll drink all of it. Oh, you'll drink all my coffee afterwards? Okay. Lord, thank you so much for this day. Thank you for your word. Please help us as we read your word to understand it. Please apply it to our hearts. Teach us, Lord, how to walk in your ways. You are good. You are so good. Teach us, Father, how to love you and how to live faithfully, not forgetting who you are.
In Jesus's name, amen. All right, here we go. We are at Judges chapter six. So that's Deborah, and then we have the song of Deborah. Now we're at chapter 6. So chapter 5 ended with the words. Can you read the very last verse of chapter 5? So the land... No, had. Come on, put your finger there. You can do it, bud. Alright, so then the land had rested for 40 years. Now, here we go.
Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian for seven years. And the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel, because the Midianites, the children of Israel, made for themselves the dens, the caves, and the strongholds which are in the mountains. So it was whenever Israel had sown, the Midianites would come up. Also Amalekites and the people from the east would come up against them. Then they would encamp against them and destroy the produce of the earth as far as Gaza and leave no sustenance for Israel.
Do you know what that word sustenance means? Nothing to sustain their life, like no food was left. No food, they just owned all of it. Yeah, they destroyed the land, that's right. So no sustenance for Israel. Neither sheep nor ox nor donkey for they would come up with their livestock in their tents coming in as numerous as locusts. But they and their camels were without number, and they would enter the land to destroy it.
So Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites. And the children of Israel cried out to the Lord." Do you know what impoverished means? Nope. They were made poor. Yeah. Well, and it came to pass, verse 7, when the children of Israel cried out to the Lord because of the Midianites, that the Lord sent a prophet to the children of Israel, who said to them, thus says the Lord God of Israel, I brought you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of bondage. And I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of all who oppressed you and drove them out before you and gave you their land. Also I said to you, I am the Lord your God. Do not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But you have not obeyed my voice.
Okay, so we'll stop there. It's kind of the introduction to this whole situation with these Midianites, right? So we need to ask ourselves, A, what's this about? B, what's the... Alright, so the land has rest for 40 years. God delivered them by the hand of JL, right, who killed Sisera. And so they had rest for 40 years. But then in verse 1, then the children of Israel did what? Did you see that in verse 1? Then the children of Israel did...
Evil. Evil. God just saved them and now they're doing evil again? And so what happens? He blows them into the hands of the people they love. Well, yeah, now it's the Midianites. Right. But so so the Midianites and the Amalekites and people from the east. And what do they do? It's like every time they plant their fields, what happens? They destroy them. Yeah, right. Their fields are destroyed. Their farms. Could you imagine working in your garden, planting everything, weeding it, making sure it's all ready?
And then like every year you do that all of a sudden. People come and they... How do you think they destroyed it? Do you think that they burned it all and stuff? Yeah, so maybe they trampled some of it underfoot like they didn't care. Maybe others of it they were just stealing, right? Like plundering it from them. Yeah, so I mean this is happening every single year.
And so finally what do they do in in verse 6? They cry out to God and does God say, I'm so tired of you guys crying out to me. I save you. And then I give you rest. I give the land rest for like 40 years. And then you just go and you sin again. I'm not going to save you this time. He saves them again. Yeah. Right. So in verse 10, also, I said to you, I am the Lord, your God.
Do not fear the gods of the Amorites and whose land you dwell. but you have not obeyed my voice. Have they wiped out the Amorite people? Nope. Have they gone against the other gods yet? Nope. No. Are they living in freedom or are they living in fear? Fear. Fear. That's right. And in their fear, do they keep letting their hearts get tugged away and going after other gods, sinning against the Lord? Yeah. So, yeah.
So well, it's kind of like each generation, right? 40 years, that's enough. And in 40 years you'll be old and I'll be really old, right? I'll be almost, I might be dead in 40 years. It's very possible. I'll be like 78. Yeah. A lot of men in my family have died before that time. So I mean, I could be dead. And it would be you and your kids now.
I would be like old, like ancient like you. You'll be ancient like me? Actually, you'll be older than I am now. In 40 years, you'll be 49. And so you would be the ancient Grier, the old man, right? But you would be already dead. Yeah, I could be dead. But the point is now, is it talking about me anymore or is it talking about a new generation? A new generation. So a new generation and each generation has to take this seriously for themselves, don't they? Mm-hmm.
Yeah, so Okay, so the people of Israel Sin God brings the Midianites It delivers them into the hands of the Midianites and the Amalekites and people from the east they cry out to the Lord and the Lord answers them Now we haven't seen how he saves them yet, but he does confront them about their sin, doesn't he?
Okay, what do you think is the best verse? What part of this? I know that maybe you don't want to actually choose a verse, but what part do you think is the best part to summarize this section? You and your brother do the exact same thing. You got to choose one part.
So I have in my Bible verse 6 and verse 10 underlined. That's what I have in my Bible underlined. I think maybe it was 7 and 8. When they cry out to the Lord. Okay. Okay. Well, 7 and 8 you say. Well, maybe people would disagree with us and that's fine.
Let's talk about seek calling. What do you think this calls you to do? And how do you think it points you to Jesus Christ? Not to harden your hearts against God. He always knows what's best. OK. Yeah. So we need to not harden our hearts against God because he knows what's best for us. Yeah. I think it's right. I'm going to encourage you here, Daniel. You ready? This is me talking to you. Look at me.
You have to decide. I can't decide for you. You must decide what type of man you're going to be. You must decide someday, when it's your turn, to be a man. What type of man you'll be, whether you'll follow after the Lord, or whether you'll go the way of the idols. Each generation must choose for themselves whether they'll follow the Lord, or whether they'll go the way of the world. And for thousands of years now, Christian daddies have been looking at their sons and saying, son, you need to choose for yourself whether or not you will embrace Jesus Christ and he will be your Savior and your Lord. He will save you from your sins, but the question is, if he's your Lord, will you follow him? Will you keep his commands? Will you obey him? That's going to have to be your decision and you'll have to wrestle with that.
I know that this, is this the first time you've ever heard your daddy say this? Nope. No, I've told you this a few times, haven't I? Yep. And you know what? I love you. Period. Period. I love you. but I'm not gonna hide that I do have hopes for you, that I hope and I pray that you will follow Jesus Christ. I'll always love you, but I want what I think is best for you, and what I think is best is you embracing Jesus Christ, following him as your Lord. He's been good to me for these 30 and eight years, He saved me and he's been a good Lord. I hope that you'll follow under him also.
You ready to pray? God, we pray that you would give us rest. Lord, we rest in the finished work of Jesus. And we pray that we would rest by following after you. Please, Lord, help us. Do not let us get sidetracked. Do not let us forget. Each generation, Lord, must proclaim your goodness. Please do not let us forget your covenant. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, may the Lord bless you. May you walk in the joy of following in the footsteps of Jesus Christ, your Lord and Savior. The chief shepherder has gone before you. I'll see you next time. Bye. Bye.