March 13, 2014 - Thursday

Start Time: 6:13 A.M.

End Time: 6:44A.M.

Title: Tola, Jair, Jephthah

Scripture: Judges 10:1 – 18

God’s Message / God’s Promise / God’s Commands:

→ After the time of Abimelek, a man of Issachar named Tola son of Puah, the son of Dodo, rose to save Israel. He lived in Shamir, in the hill country of Ephraim. He led^[a] Israel twenty-three years; then he died, and was buried in Shamir.  He was followed by Jair of Gilead, who led Israel twenty-two years. He had thirty sons, who rode thirty donkeys. They controlled thirty towns in Gilead, which to this day are called Havvoth Jair. When Jair died, he was buried in Kamon.

NOTES:

Ø The Lord is slow to anger and delivers us from our enemies despite of our sins!  Time and time again since the beginning, the Israelites were stubborn and hard-headed!  But over and over again, God continues to deliver and save them from the hands of their enemies.  The Lord is patient with us and continues to protect and help when He sees our misery.  His love is greater than the sins we do against Him yet we continue to abandon and neglect Him.  But His heart is always for us and He continues to send us leaders to direct and guide our path to the right one.  He continues to choose leaders among us to take charge of His people even though He is the ultimate and supreme leader of all.  There is no need for Him to choose a leader but choosing a leader is the need of His people that He continues to fulfill even though He is already present to take that task.  In truth, the leadership position is His role yet He has to appoint someone to take that who is willing to set Him as the ultimate ruler for the sake of His people!  What an awesome God we have!

→ Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord. They served the Baals and the Ashtoreths, and the gods of Aram, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites and the gods of the Philistines. And because the Israelites forsook the Lord and no longer served him, he became angry with them. He sold them into the hands of the Philistines and the Ammonites, who that year shattered and crushed them. For eighteen years they oppressed all the Israelites on the east side of the Jordan in Gilead, the land of the Amorites. The Ammonites also crossed the Jordan to fight against Judah, Benjamin and Ephraim; Israel was in great distress.  Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord, “We have sinned against you, forsaking our God and serving the Baals.”  The Lord replied, “When the Egyptians, the Amorites, the Ammonites, the Philistines,  the Sidonians, the Amalekites and the Maonites^[c] oppressed you and you cried to me for help, did I not save you from their hands?  But you have forsaken me and served other gods, so I will no longer save you.  Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen. Let them save you when you are in trouble!”  But the Israelites said to the Lord, “We have sinned. Do with us whatever you think best, but please rescue us now.” Then they got rid of the foreign gods among them and served the Lord. And he could bear Israel’s misery no longer.  When the Ammonites were called to arms and camped in Gilead, the Israelites assembled and camped at Mizpah. The leaders of the people of Gilead said to each other, “Whoever will take the lead in attacking the Ammonites will be head over all who live in Gilead.”

NOTES:

Ø God does get angry but when He does, He is quick to forgive and listen to His people!  Because of the wickedness of His people, they abandoned God and forsook Him completely by serving other gods – this angers the Lord and God turned His back from them.  Because of this, the people suffered even more and their miseries were unending.  Note that if we are already suffering when God is still with us, that’s because of our wrong decisions but if we decides to let go of God, that suffering becomes even more painful and worst!  The only reason why we are able to handle our sufferings or troubles right now is because God is with us…without Him, it becomes unbearable!  This happened to the Israelites that it led them to come back to the Lord; they realized their mistakes and turned themselves back to the Lord.  So they got rid of their foreign gods and served the Lord again… Let us not wait that God, Himself, will turn His back on us before we realize the mistakes we do.  God is patient with us but let us not break that patient by turning it to anger but let us draw near to Him more because of His love and goodness upon us!

Ø God could not bear His people’s misery! God is an amazing Lord!  Truly there’s no other like Him.  He can’t bear to see us miserable, WOW!  That despite of His anger (and He has the right to be angry), when He sees us miserable, His heart breaks for us.  And He can’t continue being angry!  Oh Lord, I am moved and touched by Your heart for me.  Thank You!  Thank You for Your love Lord.  I’m so grateful for it.

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, Amazing Lord!  Wonderful Savior and Supreme God!  I am so blessed and loved by You!  Lord I am touched to know that Your love is so overwhelmingly marvelous that You are slow to anger when I am slow to learn and understand.  You are patient when I am being stubborn.  You hold Your anger even when I deserve it.  Lord, You are truly great and mighty and I am speechless of what else I can say to let You know how appreciative I am because You are my Lord.  Lord Jesus, thank You because even with Your anger against me, You are quick to forgive and listen to me.  Thank You because You easily remove Your anger towards my terrible actions against You.  Thank You Lord because even if I am hard-headed, You continue to show Your love and favor.  Thank You Jesus because You could not bear my misery and despite of Your anger, Your love supersedes it!  Oh How great is Your Love Lord!  I can sing of Your love all day long because it is truly a miracle!  Thank You for Your daily miracle in my life Lord.  Show me Your love each day that I may draw close to You day by day.  In Jesus’ name, Amen!