LEARNING DAILY

 

Judges 18:1, In those days there was no king in Israel.

 

Judges 21:25; In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in their own eyes.

 

Four times in the book of Judges the message that Israel had no king is mentioned. Many have written thoughts about this as I have done in the past. All you and I need to do is look around to understand what happens when everyone does what they think is their right to do. In the days of Israel when this was written, Israel had no king; there were only tribal leaders. It was God’s desire to be their king but the people rejected that. The people’s desire to be like the nations they were to eliminate when they went into the Promised Land resulted in exactly what God warned them about, idolatry and forgetting about God. As we have seen in the pattern of Judges, God would cause a group of people to cause numerous problems for the people of Israel and eventually they would cry out to Him. He would raise up a judge to deliver them and all would be well as long as the judge lived. When the judge died, the pattern would begin again.

 

False worship has always been a problem for God’s people. Doing right in our own eyes continues to be a problem today. It results from taking our eyes of the God of Creation and all things and believing that we have a better plan for living our lives. Not much has changed regarding the belief that God’s standards for His creation are not relevant; the belief that we can do what is right in our own eyes is all around us. Read the words found in Proverbs 14:12, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.” These words are found again in Proverbs 16:25. To make our own thoughts, our own opinions, the guide for our lives is rebellion against God. Israel did not find success in doing this. It only ended in bondage and evil living. It is no different for the people today.

 

Romans 3:18, describes people in this world today, “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” 2 Timothy 3:4-5 adds this, “traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power.” It is obvious that people believe what they are “comfortable” with and, in doing so, become their own little gods.

 

It is time for each of us to decide who our king is. It is time to stop being swayed by the opinions of the world. As a follower of Jesus Christ, you and I need to put away anything, any belief that causes us to live in our own thoughts and doing what is right in our own eyes. It is time to align every thought, every action, to talk and to live by the standards set in God’s Word. You and I must know Jesus Christ not only as our Savior but as King. That is His desire and His standard to live by. That gets us on the narrow way to eternal life in His kingdom and keeps us on it until we finally step onto it. Each of us chooses each day how we live. My encouragement to you is to choose wisely so not to get caught up loving this world and its pleasures more than God.