Judges

My first three hour teaching. "Don't panic...For the one hundred sixty eight hours you put in studying..."

"Rynn, I got this!" God chimes in the midst of my nervousness.

And then, I walk into class and begin, as calm as can be.

My teaching on Judges focused greatly on the covenant and establishment of government. Going into the promised land, God designed a form of loose government based upon the peoples ability to live according to the law on an individual level. Parents were to teach their children how to live properly, passing on not only the heritage and morality, but also the relationship with their God. This morality was to extend into every area of life, pervading their culture so thoroughly that eventually, they would be the light to all nations--God's original intended destiny for the Hebrew people. They were to be following the covenant laws, in a love relationship with their God. Thus, following a code of conduct by adhering the commandments and laws on an individual level. With everyone practicing this self-government, God would be undisputed king over Israel.

Unfortunately, as we know, the Israelites did NOT follow the covenant laws. Their failures resulted in what I called the R.O.R.R.R. cycles!

R. Rebellion (the falling into idolatry and sin)

O. Oppression (the invasion of other nations into Israel and oppressing the people)

R. Repentance (the decision in which people cried out to God for deliverance)

R. Restoration (God bringing in a liberator to free the nation from the oppressing nations)

R. Rest (the period of peace following the deliverance)

As we moved through these cycles, we looked at the steady decline of the Israelites. The nation would deteriorate heavily for a generation or two, and when the people finally turned back to follow God, He would then raise up a judge (in Hebrew the word means 'liberator' rather than our modern day idea of a judge). Deliverance of the would follow this, and the Israelites would for some amount of years follow God. However, the next decline into rebellion was consistently worse than the previous decline, and for more years, and more severe.

The message that I brought to the students was that these cycles did not have to happen. At any point within this history, the Israelites could have made choices to remain faithful to God. The cycles of sin within our own lives do not have to happen either! We CAN govern our behavior, and we CAN make changes. I challenged the students to examine their hearts for cycles of sin that they were allowing in their lives.