Consider it, Confer, Speak Up - Day 116 Through the Bible

Town square in our historic hometown of Burnsville, NC.  Several of us form Mt. Celo Church have gathered here with members of  different churches to pray for our city, the nation, the world.

Hard Readings from the Bible - My Lessons and Applications

Consider it, Confer, Speak Up! (Judges 19:30 on Judges 18-19)  '"So it was that all who saw it said, "No such deed has been done or seen from the day that the children of Israel came up from the land of Egypt until this day."  Consider it, Confer, Speak Up!"'  How had Israel become so depraved? How could a Levite (the priestly line) give up his concubine (!) to be abused all night by perverted men (Benjamites!) to save himself, then carve her up into 12 pieces and send a part of her out to each tribe of Israel?  Consider that this Levite refused to turn into any "foreign" cities on his journey but only into cities that were part of Israel.  The implication here is that he thought the foreign cities were less hospitable!  An extremely awful commentary on the world at that time.

Consider:  

1) Syncretism - the blending of religions - idol worship with worship of God.  This is what Israel was doing.  The son stole money from his mother.  Instead of a punishment, she blessed him, and dedicated the money to the LORD to buy a carved image and a molded image for the son.  Next a Levite (the priestly line of the Chosen people) leaves Bethlehem in Judah (!) and comes to this house - for money and material possessions - and agrees to become a priest to this idolatrous man and his house.  Are these things happening today?  Do we see people blending Christianity with Buddhism or New Age philosophy, a worship of materialism - a little from here, a little from there - whatever seems best to ME at the moment?  Do we have ministers in our pulpits who are there for monetary reasons only or because they have been called by the Lord?  Are they faithful to the Word of God and the leading of the Holy Spirit or to tickling the ears of the hearers?

2) Everyone Doing What Is Right in His Own Eyes -  "There was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes." (Judges 17:6)  Moses had warned of this verbatim (Deut.12:8)  This warning will reverberate throughout the Biblical history of Judaism and of unbelievers.   Chaos and evil ensue when there is no shepherd, no godly leader.  Consider "the downward spiral of sin."  We saw this in Samson's life, we see it here.  The evil becomes more horrendous as the person is desensitized by each wrong deed.  Do we see this today?  The virgin daughter and the concubine are considered expendable - to save the men.  Do we see the world considering certain groups of people expendable - to save themselves, their own wealth, their positions?

3) Shades of Sodom and Gomorrah - This story is very similar to the one with Lot in Sodom (Gen. 19:1-8).  But God will use even this horror for His purposes in the following accounts we will read this weekend.  There will be a time of severe accountability.

Confer:
We will see this in the coming readings.  The people of Israel will confer, speak up, and take action.  Enough is enough.  What about in our lives, our nation, our world?  Are we conferring as believers...with knowledge and acting in obedience?  Through knowledge and study of Scripture, the Ministry of the Word, collective and personal prayer and discussion of how this spiritual knowledge and enlightenment applies to our lives, we are able - called - to impact the world for Christ.

Speak up:

The old man and the Levite priest did a form of speaking up, but not one that called on God's intervention or help or that glorified God.  They valued their lives over those for whom they held responsibility and over godliness.  In Luke 18: 35-43, the blind man speaks up, cries out persistently for Jesus's help, for the Son of God to have mercy on him.  Those around him told him to be quiet, but that caused him to speak up, to cry out even more fervently.  We are called to this - to fervent, persistent prayer...to cry out for God's mercy and intervention on our behalves, on those of our nation and world.  It was the man's faith - his calling on and belief in divine intervention - that Jesus said made the man well, that brought healing and sight to him.  Like the physically blind man, we are to cry out to Jesus in faith to give us spiritual eyes - discernment - to stop this downward spiral of sin in our lives and that of our nation. Unlike the rich, young ruler, we must be willing to obey after we speak up - to let go of other idols we hold and follow Christ only - in the new vision we have been given, glorifying Him as did the blind man given new sight.  "And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God."(Luke: 35:43). May this be the effect of our time spent in study and obedience to the Word of God and the leading of the Holy Spirit.  May we study, consider, pray for our spiritual eyes to be opened, then go out, speak up, live godly lives that transform our lives, our families, our nation, the world for God.  Then may all give praise and glory to God.