Living in the Spirit
November 9, 2020
The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, after Ehud died. So the Lord sold them into the hand of King Jabin of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor; the commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-ha-goiim. Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord for help; for he had nine hundred chariots of iron, and had oppressed the Israelites cruelly for twenty years.
At that time Deborah, a prophetess, wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel. She used to sit under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim; and the Israelites came up to her for judgement. She sent and summoned Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali, and said to him, ‘The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you, “Go, take position at Mount Tabor, bringing ten thousand from the tribe of Naphtali and the tribe of Zebulun. I will draw out Sisera, the general of Jabin’s army, to meet you by the Wadi Kishon with his chariots and his troops; and I will give him into your hand.” ’
Scripture Reading: Judges 4:1-7
Deborah was a strong woman. I named my web address after her. She held the position of judge in a very violent time. I do not believe that violence is ever the best solution to anything. Once things get out of hand, it is often the only answer. But it was not the violence that attracted her leadership to me. I liked her perseverance and her common sense.
I strongly think our nation is at a crossroad where we must decide who and what we want to be. Many are totally disgusted with our national government. Honestly, our leadership is a mirror representation of we the people. If we dig through the writings of the Hebrew Bible prophets, we will see ourselves in the people’s reflection of that time. The Bible calls them idols, which represent the lesser gods of their generation the same ones we turn to today. Their worship services included the latest and greatest innovation but were targeted at a likeness of the Creator God molded in an image that addressed their desires. Self-righteousness replaced God’s righteousness.
The image of Jesus weeping over Jerusalem prior to his crucifixion comes to my mine when I consider the state of or world. I am particularly puzzled by the prevalent attitude that people think their worth depends on being better than someone else. For those of us who claim to serve the Creator God being better than anyone else is simply impossible. God created all humans in God’s image. Our founders etched that thought into the framing of our democracy, all people are created equal. Granted those were not the actual first words, which were all men are created equal. It took a couple of hundred years for women to get the right to vote. In the beginning of our nation only landowners could vote, and black people were allotted the right to be only three-fifths human and not allowed to vote. They only received that classification because slave owners wanted a higher count of their population so they could have more representation in Congress. The indigenous people did not rate a mention. We have carried the heresy that one’s worth is based on being better than others from our founding. We do not seem to love God enough to accept his original establishment of the worth of each person. Correcting that heresy is a first step in redemption as individuals, as the Body of Christ in the world today, and as participants in the great experiment of democracy based on the equality of all.
Prayer: Lord, forgive us for our failure to accept our worth as established in our very creation. Heal our souls so that we may love you and love one another as you would have us to love. Amen.
All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.