I still remember the misguided giddiness I felt when my eighth grade English teacher announced we would be reading Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. I knew little of the titular star-crossed lovers or of Shakespeare beyond that the work was something famous I should read and appreciate.
I was livid when I read the end of the play. Romeo and Juliet were both dead, and there was no happily ever after. What sort of love story was this?
It isn’t one, really. It’s a tragedy. Every twist and turn that leads to the demise of the young couple is meant to bring an ache to our hearts because we realize how easily it could have been avoided. We’re meant to be outraged at the selfish actions of the Capulets and Montagues, and we’re meant to feel upset and distressed at the ending. That’s how tragedy works.
The book of Judges is the tragic, true story of the people of Israel ignoring God’s instructions and abandoning their faith to live like their pagan neighbors. With each new judge, it documents a downward cycle of rebellion and rescue as Israel moves from obedience to bleak despair. More often than not, the actions on the page are horrifying, dripping with rebellion and violence.
Forgetting the one true God—both His goodness and His holiness—is a tragedy. We hope for God’s people to get it right with each new rescue God provides. But the final scenes of this book are tragic. It just ends, with everyone doing whatever seemed right to them. As readers, we’re left with a sense of longing for how things ought to be.
As we read Judges together in the coming weeks, I pray we discover the source of true redemption in these pages. May we draw hope from the fact that God continues to work through broken, morally compromised, deeply flawed people and circumstances. He isn’t limited by our shortcomings. He isn’t limited by the brokenness in our world. His story—and because of Him, our story—is not one of tragedy but one of profound beauty and hope in Jesus Christ. Thanks be to God.
Leave a Reply
156 thoughts on "The Failure of the Tribes"
Thank you lord for you everlasting favor and forgiveness. Thank you for rewriting our story with your tremendous sacrifice. Thank you for remaining by our sides in times of need and in times when we have failed to stay by yours. Thank you o lord for everything that you are, your power is like none other and truly a spectacle to witness. I ask that you help anyone in these comments, anyone who is reading and aid them on their journey closer to you. I pray that you reveal yourself to those who have yet to know you and magnify your glory ten fold. In Jesus name I pray Amen ❤️
Call it a new years goal if you will, but I need to make more time for Scripture reading, and I’m hoping this series is a good start for me!
Embracing our true identity in God can be difficult to achieve when we see life through our natural eyes. As we trust God, follow Christ and is guided by the Holy Spirit our vision takes on a more God focused vision. Trust him sisters. He’s not concerned about our limitations. We are his chosen daughters.
❤️
❤️
Glory be to God. ❤️
amen
A timely reminder that the world’s importance is nothing to the Lord. Seeking sin and validation from any but Him is a tricky one because it’s so easy. Turning our heart back to the Lord and remembering who to focus on!
❤️
Amen ❤️
❤️
❤️
I’m hoping that reading Judges will help me get back on the right path with God. I’ve been negligent of our relationship and while I’m not willing to let go, I need to give myself a kick up the butt to tend to our relationship and show our loving Father the respect and devotion He deserves
Awesome !
❤️
Amen
Whew this was a wonderful way to start my day before work! Filled up with Jesus and it makes me want to be even more so accountable for my actions !!
Amen
❤️
Amen
❤️
❤️
❤️
Amen
Amen❤️
❤️
❤️
God is great all the time!!
❤️
Obedience is better than sacrifice
❤️❤️
Amen!
Thankful for Salvation
Amen! Good read. Starting to get back to the Word of God.
❤️ what a gracious and loving Father He is
Over and over again, despite my never ending shortcomings. My salvation is renewed each day. Thank you Lord, for the precious gift you have given me through Jesus Christ, my Savior!
I am thankful that God led me here, to walk a more clear journey. ❤️
❤️
Amen
Thankful that God continues to save us every time.
Amen!
Amen. ❤️
It’s is good to be in “almost” real time. During the grace weeks I started doing the Lent 2017 study on the book of Isaiah and wanted to finish that. Interesting, one aspect I missed was the interaction with this community. Hope you are all doing well, sisters.
❤️
What a reminder of what a tragedy it is to stray from God
Hi, y’all, I’m new to SRT and so very excited to be here. Psalms 32:10 stood out to me today while I was meal planning and thinking of how husband and I are going to make it through this rough time. So many times, I trust God when it’s going great, but when I’m in a valley, I tend to look to my own guidance. I love how God puts reminders that He is good and faithful to those who trust in Him!
TaMorya I’m sorry to hear you are going through so much pain. I have just been praying for you and I felt God saying that he sees you, you are not forgotten but are loved deeply.
I am definitely keeping you in my thoughts and prayers. My marriage ended almost 3 years ago after almost 6 years and it has lead me the furthest I’ve ever been from God. I hope you find comfort during this difficult time.
After 15 years of marriage, I’m now going through the death of my marriage. Because this process is so stressful mentally, physically and emotionally – one can easily fall out of sync with God. From the very beginning of this chapter of my life, my prayer has been for God to order my steps and give me the strength to walk in them. This study reminds me of how easy it is to turn way when we take our eyes off Him.
Same. I just found this!
I’ve listened to SRT podcast here and there for the last year but this is my first time actually following a study. A couple days behind but look forward to getting caught up and learning along side everyone.
Amberlene. I’m sorry you feel that way. I am lifting you up in prayer right now.
Hi Michele ! Coleen, I am praying for you
Praise God for His mercy in our imperfections!
Yes!
Those are beautiful verses!! Very appropriate for beginning a life together!! Blessings to you and your husband!!
I’m new to the faith, and I feel like in such a short time I have felt incredibly unworthy of gods love and I can’t help but feel like I’m not good enough to be a woman of god. This helped me much today! I’m slowly realizing even as a sinner I’m worthy of his love and guidance.
Stark reminder that disregarding God’s instructions can lead to unfinished tasks and unfulfilled promises.
Judges 1 serves as a continuation of the narrative from the book of Joshua, capturing the immediate aftermath of Joshua’s death. It portrays the Israelites’ struggles to fully conquer and inhabit the Promised Land, demonstrating the consequences of incomplete obedience to God’s command.
Themes
1. Obedience and Disobedience to God’s Commands
2. Struggles with Idolatry
3. Intertribal Cooperation and Conflict
4. God’s Judgment and Grace
5. The Battle Between Faith and Fear
This is very sobering to read and understand how corrupt we are as humans and how good God is in His grave and mercy. I feel like I wanted to read this particular bible study because I needed the fear of God in me. I needed to be reminded of the importance to obey Him. After reading the first chapter and being super confused about what I just read I watched a Bible Project video about the book of judges. The video gave a warning that this book is violent and can be disturbing to read. Although I’m weary on how this will make me feel as I go deeper into the study I feel like I need to read it so I can not only understand the importance to obeying God and living a life for God but also seeing and appreciating Gods grace.
Not sure if this helps but looking at your question through the lens of the New Testament and Jesus being our savior I believe that in Old Testament times obedience was the only way to gain righteousness in order to be presentable to God. We have come to know Jesus is our only way to righteousness as Hod acknowledges our weakness and inability to obey it all and be perfectly clean and righteous before him. In order to have relationship with him we needed a savior. Now our obedience and what should compel us to obey should be closer relationship to him. How I see the quotations you are trying to reconcile are as things each human heart wrestles with inside itself. “To drive out” the parts of our own hearts that want to worship other things (media, status, work etc) yet to love the way we saw Jesus love. Because obedience to his commandments aligns us with his heart for the world, I think it allows us to better love the world. How do we obey? I think with the mindset that it helps us drive out these things that draw us further from God. What do we obey? I’ve found I’m called the obey the things I fight agains the most. Its not hard for me to follow commandments though shalt not murder. But sometimes though shalt honor your father and mother is difficult! How can we judge? We can’t. As much as we have the inward compulsion to judge, we don’t have the righteousness to do it justly the way a holy, set apart God can. But we can love the world the way Jesus exemplified going after the lost, the marginalized and breaking boundaries by loving those that the world and religion of his day judged.
I really liked your question and it made me think about a lot of things. Thank you!
I think one of the most peace-giving aspects of my faith is the acknowledgment that obedience to God based on any ‘perceived rules’ alone does not represent the complexities we face in the real world AND IT’S NOT MEANT TO! We are meant to seek God’s guidance from HIM through dynamic reading of scripture AND prayer AND a discerning community because actual obedience and alignment with God’s will for our lives requires relationship rather than a rule book.
This has been very convicting so far! I pray for an open heart as I study to allow God to show me where I am not being obedient and not following him!
In Joshua 17:18 they are assured victory, I think it might have been because of fear and lack of faith to overcome them.
The whole world is doing what they want. I wish everybody would read and believe,
God is our only answer!
Deut 30:15-20 were the verses my husband and I chose as our “wedding verse(s)”. Choose life!
I love verses 12-14. The seeming aside about a daughter given as a prize who is bold enough to ask for blessing (a field) and then MORE blessing (springs) and her father gives them to her. Just because she asks. What a beautiful picture of our relationship with the Father.
In verse 19, why do you think they could not drive out the people on the plain? Why was the Lord not with Judah to capture the plain people?
Trying to reconcile the commands “to drive them out” and “to love one another”.
And thinking about differences in Old Testament and New Testament; tough love and compassionate love; vinegar and honey.
How do we obey and what do we obey? Love God is consistent, but what about others? How can we judge? Only God knows what is truly in their hearts.
Given the times we are in right now, I can’t think of a better book to dive into!
I’m excited to join you all in the SRT community. I’m look forward to diving deeper into God’s word with you all.
Amen! I just finished day one and can’t wait to continue the study! Judges was always a book I had trouble understanding and hope this study and God will open my eyes and heart more as I read it. I hope whoever reads this has a blessed night and may God bless you.
@COLLEN DEVEAU – praying for your dad. He will heal and then he will find a rehab facility.
This will a good way to know more the people of the Israelite.. and the sovereignty of God towards them.
So grateful to be back together again in the SRT community ❤️
It’s sad to see what is happening in this day and age is a reliving of mankind doing whatever is right in their own eyes. I pray the world would see and receive Jesus! ♥️
I struggled to make sense of the Judges passage. I pray that God would give me clarity in the days ahead to make sense of it.
15 “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. 16 If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. – Deuteronomy 30:15-16
This gets me. God gives His people a choice and yet He blesses and covers them as they don’t fully follow Him. What a good sweet and faithful King. Lord draw our hearts back to closeness with You! Back to getting excited about Your good plan!
Thinking about the book of judges and how it said they moved forward and God delivered the people into their hands. Yet even the ones where they allow people to live in their land or didn’t fully move forward, yet God gave them favor. How often do we half obey God and yet He fully blesses us. But Lord, we don’t want to miss out on the FULLNESS of Your blessing because we don’t take You for the fullness of Your word.
Megan, welcome!
♥️ HAPPY to be back as a whole group. I hope they don’t blank out several weeks again.
In Psalms 32:7 “you are y hiding place: you protect me from my troubles, you surround me with joyful shouts of deliverances.” This was my favorite because he is my protect, and he is he only one who will truly comfort me.
I’m glad we’re reading this book now. It’s very timely. And it shows that we’re all a fallen people who need our God for redemption and any chance at holiness. This is my first study in the app, and I’m grateful to be going through such a difficult book in community.
Welcome to all of the new ladies who have joined our SRT community.
AMBERLENE I pray that you realize your happily ever after is in Jesus. He is our hope. Even with all the tragedies we have faced, we can have hope in Jesus name. Praying for strength and peace in your situation.
Hello, Shes! O how I have missed you all!
I’m sorry that I fell off the map for the last few weeks. I started with those of you who were revisiting the “Worthy of Praise” study, but I kept returning to “Nehemiah,” which made sense after reading “Ezra.” I didn’t finish that study either, though. I had more trouble than usual staying focused on reading, Which is really a shame because I know how much I needed it. I was so distracted by everything going on with my father and other things in my life.
To give an update on my dad, he is still in the hospital. It has been over a month, but the case manager cannot find a rehab to discharge him to that will accept his insurance. Please keep this in your prayers, especially as his health insurance says they will only cover the first 12 days that he is in the hospital. He is still getting better day by day, glory to God. Thank you again for all who prayed for this before and all who will pray. May God bless you all.
You are in my prayers, too. May God give you peace.
“See” you tomorrow!
Psalm 32:9 Made me pause and reflect today on how this may be a challenging read, but to open my heart to understanding the purpose in the book. Excited to complete my first study with SRT and the actual study guide to go with it. In a season with a lot of change, and a study like this is exactly what I need right now.
I’m excited for this Bible study. I pray that what God is trying to reveal to me through Judges is received loud and clear so that I may apply it how He sees fit. Glory be to God. Praying for Everyone as we complete this study together.
I couldn’t help but think about the same thing. Very timely study.
Looking forward to this study (so many good comments already!) and gaining new insights on the disobedience of the children of Israel, and my own as well. We know what to do, what the right choice is. And many times still choose otherwise. Thankful for the Lord’s mercy, grace and forgiveness.
KELLY (NEO) ❤️
TERESA DONLEY ❤️
Welcome to all the new sisters!
KRISTINE LOUGHMAN – praying for healing of plantar fasciitis
AMBERLENE – praying for each day to bring closeness to the Lord, that you would be strengthened and encouraged as you work through the challenges and tragic circumstances. He is with us especially in the valleys, and you will be loved and prayed for in this community. ❤️
MEME FAYE – praying for your husband
MARI V – praying for the retesting and changes at work
DONNA WOLCOTT – thankful for Bonnie’s return, praying for her family in Israel
Just finished the podcast and read day 1! Excited and ready to see what God has in this book! First time using the app for the studies!
The word that stood out to me was choose. Life or death. Nothing in the middle. There is no compromise.it says he wants our Love, Obedience and Faithfulness.then in psalm 32:6 it says the faithful pray to Him immediately!
I’ve never connected the too!
It stood out to me as an urgency in coming to Him fast and First.
Also HE is life not He gives life.He gives us Himself. He Himself is life.
Psalm 32:5 gives us says we acknowledge sin
Confess it to Him
Then we are forgiven
What a beautiful picture of His love for us.
Thankyou @shereadstruth for this amazing study once again
Hi Ladies! I am Michele. This is my first SRT study and looking forward to it. This will be my first time going through the entire book of Judges, I’ve only ever done some verses in relation to different studies.
I find the book of Judges to be an interesting study every time I read it. Most recently, I studied on my own. I look forward to “hearing” all of your comments and insights as we study together.
As others have said, I’m grateful to SEARCHING for organizing
KRISTINE LOUGHMAN- m so sorry that plantar fasciitis is causing you pain again. Praying for complete healing and relief from pain.
AMBERLENE – I’m praying that God will bless you, and be near to you in your life each and every day.
DONNA SCHEIMAN, SAVANNA GUTSHALL, DIANA YELVERTON – Welcome to our group!
MARI V – Praying for God to guide you as you test the children and deal with constant change in your work environment. Praying that God will give you rest and renewal when you’re away from your job.
MEME FAYE – I’m sure your husband’s surgery is over by now. I pray that it went well and he will have rapid and complete healing. Praying for you as you care for him.
DONNA WOLCOTT – I’m giving praise to God for the answered prayers for Bonnie to get out of Israel. My heart goes out to her in having to leave her daughter and grandchildren behind. May God give her peace, and may He continue to protect her daughter and grandchildren.
Good afternoon! Glad to see all you Shes here for this new study. May the Lord bless us to be a blessing to each other. :) Happy Monday!
Good Afternoon She’s!
It’s nice to see so many comments with new names and many familiar!! These studies are always so relevant, timely, and encouraging! I definitely need a review of Judges, and the SRT setup with devotions always delivers a new lens to look through. It always brings me back into alignment with God’s word, and don’t we need that constantly! Yes, we are the stiff-neck Israelites that quickly forget all God has done for us! Thank God He has mercy and grace for those that look to Jesus! Hallelujah!
Prayers are uplifted as I read! (I will never remember names!) And welcome to the new She’s!
I’ve never read Judges. This will be my first time reading it. Can’t help but compare to what’s going on in current events. I pray for myself to understand Judges.
Psalms 32 is beautiful and exactly what I needed today
“Choose life … loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days” (DEUTERONOMY 30:20 ESV). This spoke to me so much today. Hold fast to Him. We might think we have more in our possessions that we can have lean on other options, but those things can’t help in days of trouble, days of war and grief. Only God who is all we have, He is the sure foundation through it all. Saying prayers for you shes. Be blessed dear sisters.
Happy Monday ladies! Praying for all your prayer requests today. @MEME FAYE – praying your husbands surgery goes flawlessly. @MARI V – praying the test going well!
Wow! Did I need to hear this right now at this moment. I read through the Scriptures early this morning, but did not have time to read the devotional part until right now at 10:00 AM (my break). HE Isn’t limited to my shortcomings. BUT Right now I could really use prayer as I’m having to retest children again and I wanna make sure I’m doing it correctly. And our schedule somewhat changed again here in our classroom so it’s another Readjustment 
Good morning She’s! It’s great to be back reading In community!
Dear Amberlene, remember you are the daughter of our God. You have value and are deeply loved. May you feel His love and light today and going forward. Thank you all for praying for my friend, Bonnie. She was able to get out of Israel last Friday. It was a difficult decision, as her daughter and grandchildren are there. Glad to be back with all again and prayers lifted for requests spoken and on hearts.
So glad we’re all back together again! ❤️
Lifting you up before the Father this morning.
Have come before the throne with your request. God is with you.
@ Kelly (Neo). Yes and Amen!
Such a timely study. This is where current events and the past converge. I admit to sneaking a peek through this study when the book first arrived and I was so struck by the reoccurring phrase. “In those days there was no king in Israel: everyone did whatever seemed right to him.” May I vigilantly examine my walk walk with King Jesus and seek his will…not my own.
This is my first study with she reads truth, I like the feeling of community and the group study! ❤️ excited to start this journey with y’all
Looking forward to studying with you all again! Psalm 32 The Joy of Forgivness is beautiful. Vs 10 Many pains come to the wicked, but the one who trusts in the Lord will have faithful love surrounding him.
Dear She’s… i love reading y’all’s post every morning… i would like to request prayer for my husband that is having surgery this morning… i see that God has placed some great prayer warriors in this group! God bless you and thank you!
There is mercy in God’s movements. Reading the passage in Judges, and then in Psalms today- reminds me that God will respond to unfaithfulness yet there is always mercy. He desires for us to come to him and recognize that he is LORD. He is not stagnant, God will move. He is so faithful for HIS name sake. There is deep and rich mercy in His ways. I pray that instead of being like a horse/mule that has to be directed by a rope- that my heart naturally cries out to him and moves towards Him. He desires for us to move towards Him out of authentic desire/love for Him. Thank you God for going before us, hearing our cries, and being rich of mercy and love towards us when our hearts wander astray!
I am so thankful that God has made a way for us through Jesus.
It would be easy to think why can’t the Israelites get this right….but without the redemptive grace of God through Jesus, I would probably be in the same situation!
1 Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered. 10 Many are the sorrows of the wicked,
but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord. 15 “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. 16 If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. – Deuteronomy 30:1,10,15-16
Amen. I felt the same way reading today.
Good morning She’s, it’s good to all be back together again!
My first reaction to the study in Judges was – “ugh! This is going to be a rough one!” But as Jessica pointed out – it is to show us the source of true redemption, and to “draw hope from the fact that God continues to work through broken, morally compromised, deeply flawed people and circumstances.” …i.e. – me and you! Praise God He has chosen us to be His salt & light. May we each carry out His will & desire for our lives as we look to Him each day.
@Kristine Loughman – so sorry to hear that your plantar fasciitis is acting up again. Prayers for relieve from the pain
@Amberlene – so sorry that you are feeling your life to be a tragedy. May this study bring you new hope. Hugs & prayers!
A blessed Monday to you all!
❤️
Good morning Shes so glad to be back in the larger community! Agreeing in pray for the various requests. Amberlene ❤️. So many good comments!
Amen❤️ Happy to see familiar ladies of SRT back in community again for Judges
What a beautiful way to start a tragic book. I am excited to dive in, ladies.
Thank you SRT Team for being an obedient ministry to aid the kingdom.
Morning! I’m looking forward to this journey through the book of Judges. I think this is perfect timing with the world today. God is alive and I pray I do not stray and that I reflect and ask for guidance
Good morning and yay for being back together again! I was struck and convicted by the awful (and enduring) consequences of their partial obedience. In what areas of my life am I giving a half-hearted attempt at obedience and calling it good enough? Eek. This is a hard book, but the thread of redemption that runs through it is beautiful and full of hope! But God…
Happy to be back with you all!
Just listened to the podcast on the way to preschool. I did NOT make the connection between the passage of time and that these were the TRIBES and not the INDIVIDUALS. Duh! Think I’ll go back and re-read later.
It’s so good to be back as a group. I missed this. I look forward to the next 3 studies.
11 Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous,
and shout for joy, all you upright in heart! 16 If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. – Psalms 32:11,16
Lord give me the desire to obey you in all ares of my life.
Good morning ladies! As I read this story war is raging in Jerusalem…so thankful for God’s mercy and grace when we fail Him! Lord be with Your people today! We are looking for Your soon return!
AMBERLENE- praying that whatever your situation, you feel God’s comfort today. That you see His hand at work in your life no matter the circumstances. You are loved, dear sister.
“you are a hiding place for me. you preserve me from trouble” this verse from Psalms 32:7 was so powerful!
Good morning! It is nice to be back in community. To be honest, I opened my study today heavy hearted. I didn’t want to read this tragic book of the Bible. Thank you Jessica Lamb for your devotion. You turned my mind to Jesus and His beautiful, redemptive story! God will continue to work through his flawed people.
What a timely study! I’m already noticing so many parallels between current events and those described in the beginning of this book. Pain, heartache, and calamity will always follow when we take our eyes off Jesus and turn to false idols instead.
Wonderfully said. We can do All things through Christ Jesus. Amen
Don’t we all on some level pick and choose what part of God’s direction we want to follow? Lord, I know that I need to trust in you whole heartedly and follow your direction whole heartedly also.
Glad to be back with all of you Sisters! Blessed Monday to you!
It doesn’t end well, but it certainly doesn’t start well, either, does it? Judah and Simeon (and the other brothers too) did not follow God’s directions completely! How often do we fall in the same camp? I was struck with the end of Jessica Lamb’s devotion as well, TINA… “May we draw hope from the fact that God continues to work through broken, morally compromised, deeply flawed people and circumstances. He isn’t limited by our shortcomings. He isn’t limited by the brokenness in our world. His story—and because of Him, our story—is not one of tragedy but one of profound beauty and hope in Jesus Christ.”
Amen to that! Blessings to all my sweet sisters!
AMBERLENE – I’m sorry to read that you feel that way about your life, I don’t know what you are going through, but I am asking God to give you peace and ease the difficulties in your life. Praying for the other SHEs and the written and unwritten requests. I feel that this will be a heavy study BUT GOD is our strength and our salvation.
Good Morning Shes! So good to be back in group study ❣
So glad to be back with you all! It’s been a busy and tough month. Looking forward to coming together as a community to pray for one another and study God’s Word together. I love the last paragraph of the devotion. God can STILL work through broken people. Because of Jesus, we can have hope despite the tragedies in our own lives. Yesterday my pastor preached that sometimes God uses hardships to draw us closer to Him. May we not squirm and run from God when we go through hard times, but press into Him acknowledging that He is Lord and worth of praise.
It’s good to be back <3
I have been living in fear, much like these people. Afraid to lay claim to Gods spiritual inheritance. My fear has caused me to take my eyes off Jesus. Sin cannot be left unchecked and I am so grateful for this study to get my eye back on Jesus. I’m so thankful that God remains faithful, even when I am not!
Good morning, SHES! I have to head out for an early appointment, but I look forward to reading your comments later! May God bless this time together.
LYNNE FROM ALABAMA – saw your comment late last night and pray you and Jack are catching your breath after all of that! I do pray for physical, mental, and spiritual strength for you and send love and hugs!
New study, new opportunity to dive into the Word! So much from today’s reading is applicable today – Father, help me remember that your chosen people suffered then as they do today, that despite the miracles you performed and the covenant you swore, they turned their faces from you. Help me to see and learn from their example and remember who you are in my life – help me keep your commandments.
Several generations had passed and the Israelites first two leaders had died before the start of Judges. Reading through the successes and failures of these first few tribes trying to take their inheritance, I was reminded of the verses in Deuteronomy 6 “these words I’m giving you today are to be in your heart. Repeat them to your children.” Had the tribes of Judah and Joseph been more faithful to pass on the word of God than the other tribes of Israel? These generations who had never seen slavery in Egypt or wandered the desert surviving on God’s sustenance in the form of manna, were to be the ones receiving His blessing promised all those years before. Did they know how to take it and what to do when they got there? Were they rebelling against God’s instruction or had they not even been told? As a mother, I’m reflecting on this today. How am I passing on the lessons God has taught me to my children? How am I teaching them God’s commands so that when the day comes for them to enter into his promises for their life, they are prepared to step out in obedience?
Well said.
So often we forget about Him who matters most. I pray as we all go through this study together that we’re drawn closer as moths are to a flame and that our hearts are set on fire to be women of faith. That we all would strive to be women, wives, sisters, and mothers of
It really amazes me that thousands of years ago, people were fighting to push each other out of this “holy” land, and today they still are. I don’t have all the answers, but it seems we haven’t gotten it right yet. Will this same land ever be truly free from war and suffering? It seems quite doubtful. Maybe all we can do from afar is try and bring people together in ways we’re able to. Love our neighbors.
It’s good to be together again in this study! I have missed you girls. May we have a healthy fear of God and His judgements. They are real and scary. I know I don’t deserve the mercy and grace I have been showered with and I am so thankful that I have not received the punishment I deserve. I pray we will all repent and turn from our evil ways before it’s too late.
What a beautiful book! You know I’ve always wondered about the photography in each study and I read the explanation of light and shadow-it made me see it with brand new eyes. Thank you for these studies. Thank you God for your Word, your love and your faithfulness even when we muck it all up.
Amen
You put this so well, Tina, that even the “deliverers” in Judges, are “broken, morally compromised” and “deeply flawed” people. Too often, I think they are trivialized and raised up as “heroes” in a kind of Sunday school folklore (thinking of Samson, in particular).
This is not the book of the Bible I would have chosen myself. All the wars and fighting. It’s framed so neatly in the verses – “he took possession” or “he drove them out” – but that had to be nasty, blood-soaked, screaming in agony combat for days and weeks. I tend to skip right over those stories. So I’m excited to learn along with you all and have this book reframed for me. God is present in all our circumstances, through all our stories. As TINA said, I’ll be looking for the profound beauty and hope.
Ladies, please say a prayer for my feet. After being on an upward trend, the plantar fasciitis has flared up again. It’s distressing, both physically and emotionally.
I can’t help but notice parallels to our church today, when the absolute Authority and Sovereignty of our Most High King is proclaimed; yet, even in the church, we are not set-apart.
In today’s reading documenting the tribes of Israel during this time of the judges, we see how they failed to drive out the idols and wicked, and lived among them (contrary to God’s command and the covenant to which the people agreed under Joshua’s leadership). Has not the church come to look much like the rest of the world? Like the tribes of Israel, it would be difficult to argue that we have remained set-apart. A tragedy, indeed.
“In those days, there was no king in Israel; everyone did whatever seemed right to him.” (21:25)
This is timely! Our Sunday School lesson yesterday was on Judges. Excited to read this as a community!
I was very literally laying in bed thinking how I didn’t know my life would be a tragedy. The Shakespearean kind of tragedy. In the Romeo and Juliet kind of way where there is no happily ever after.
Reading the first few verses today felt like reading the news. Gaza, Hebron, Jerusalem.
Lord, as You were with Your people then, be with Your people now as they fight those who want to destroy them. Be with Your church who live among the enemy, give the protection and opportunities to show Your love in the midst of war.
LYNNE FROM AL – praying for you and Jack
SEARCHING – thanks for taking the lead over the last two studies.
ALEIDA – continued prayers for Victor’s visit
HEATHER O’MALLEY – praying all is well for your trip
My eye caught v. 19: The Lord was with Judah and enabled them to take possession of the hill country, but they could not drive out the people who were living in the plain because those people had iron chariots.” What changed between capturing the hill country and their failure to drive out the people in the plains? It’s not as if iron chariots are a problem for God. It’s interesting to see that for the two tribes that managed to drive out the Caananites, Judah and Joseph, we read that the Lord was with them. That was their secret weapon. (Or not so secret, because Adoni-Bezek clearly saw it as the work of God.) So, you can be what God has told you to do, even having a promise of Him, but if you don’t trust in God and He doesn’t go with you, it will never be succesful.
Amen!! Praise God for delivering his son to die for us and make us white as snow. He is the one true King! Praise be to God!!
This was so beautifully written JESSICA LAMB, thank you.
Looking forward….. As we read Judges together in the coming weeks, I pray we discover the source of true redemption in these pages. May we draw hope from the fact that God continues to work through broken, morally compromised, deeply flawed people and circumstances. He isn’t limited by our shortcomings. He isn’t limited by the brokenness in our world. His story—and because of Him, our story—is not one of tragedy but one of profound beauty and hope in Jesus Christ. Thanks be to God..
Indeed, Thanks be to God.
Amen..
Happy and blessed Monday dear hearts, Welcome back, together again.❤️
It is easy to forget God. Things go well for a while and we become elf focused. I pray this reading plan recentres me to be God focused
I ordered the book in September and have been waiting to do the readings along with the community. Although we know there is tragedy ahead I am excited to learn more about the grace and provision God provides to the tribes of Israel.