Sin, Trouble, Repentance and Deliverance.

Judges 3:7-10; And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and forgot the Lord their God, and served Baalim and the groves. Therefore the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and He sold them into the hand Chushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia: and the children of Israel served Chushan-rishathaim eight years. And when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer to the children of Israel, who delivered them, even Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother. And the spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he judged Israel, and went out to war: and the Lord delivered Chushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand; and his hand prevailed against Chushan-rishathaim.

Every book in the bible has a key that unlocks the door of understanding the whole book, the same applies with the book of judges. In order to fully comprehend the book of Judges or to understand what book is all about, one will have to acquaint themselves with the following portion of the book; Judges 2:10-16.

There is a common flow or pattern of happenings throughout the book of Judges and such is summarized in Judges 2:10-16. Form the portion of scripture the following is apparent:

1. There arose a generation that knew not God and His marvelous works after the generation that conquered Canaan.

2. That generation served other Gods or to put it in simple terms they sinned against God.

3. By forsaking the ways of the Lord they provoked God almighty.

4. Then trouble came upon them.

5. They will then cry unto the Lord in the midst of their trouble (repentance)

6. The Lord will the send Judges who will deliver them.

This pattern is continuous and consistent throughout the book of Judges. The children of Israel will sin against God, trouble will come upon them, they will cry unto the Lord and the Lord will deliver them. The same pattern is equally applicable to our own individual lives, to us as a church and as a nation. Sin will always invite troubles upon our lives, but when we cry unto the Lord He will surely deliver us (sin, trouble, repentance and deliverance).

Other examples as seen in the book of Judges.

For the purposes of this article I will use the first above quoted portion of scripture (Judges 3:7-10). In this portion of scripture we see the Israelites sinning against God. They forgot the Lord their God and went to serve Baalim. Such provoked the Lord to anger and trouble came upon the Israelites. The Lord sold them into the hand of Chushan-rishathaim, the king of Mesopatamia. They served the king of Mesopotamia for eighth years. The children of Israel then cried unto the Lord in the midst of their suffering and the Lord heard them. The Lord raised Othniel who is a type of Christ to deliver the children of Israel from the hand of the king of Mesopotamia.

After the Lord had delivered the children of Israel from their enemies, they would again forsake the ways of the Lord and trouble will come upon them, which will be followed by cry unto the Lord and deliverance from the hand of the enemy. The pattern repeats itself throughout the book and each time where the pattern is repeated it will begin with the following words “And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord.” The following are some of the examples of the pattern:

1. From the sixth chapter of the book we read about Israelites sinning against God, God delivered them unto the Midianites, they cried unto God and God delivered them through Gideon.

2. From the 11th verse of the third chapter we see the children of Israel doing evil again in the eyes of the Lord, the Lord strengthened Eglon, king of Moab against the Israelites, they then cried unto God and they were delivered from the hand of the enemy through Ehud.

3. From Judged chapter thirteen we see again the Israelites doing evil in the sight of the Lord, God delivered them into the hands of the Philistines, they cried again unto the Lord and they were delivered from the hand of the enemy through Ehud.

I will not go through each and every example from the book, but what is significant is that the Judges raised by God to deliver the Israelites were types of Christ. They foreshadow the wonderful delivering work of Christ upon His children.

Application of the pattern to our individual lives.

1. Sin: sin is failure to abide by the standard of God. Every one of us has failed to abide by the standard of God (Romans 3:23, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God). Sin can take two forms, commission and omission. Sins of omission (failure to do what you are supposed to do) are equally damnable as the sins of commission. We fail to abide by Godly standard by doing and by not doing. Sin always provokes God to anger as seen each time when the Israelites sinned against God in the book of Judges.

2. Trouble: we always lose to sin and sin will always invite trouble in our lives. All the trouble that we see in the world is directly or indirectly caused by sin. When Adam and Eve sinned against God in the Garden of Eden, he lost the dominion of the earth which was bestowed upon him by God. From the above example quoted from the book of Judges, we see children of Israel being suppressed by their enemies after they sinned against God. The saddest thing about doing evil in the sight of God is that it will give your enemy power over you. At the time when the Israelites conquered Canaan, God gave them power to overcome the nation around them. But after forsaking the Lord they were overpowered by their enemies.

3. Cry unto the Lord: each time when the Israelites found themselves in the midst of trouble they cried unto God. Nothing calls for divine intervention upon our lives than when we genuinely cry and humble ourselves before the almighty God. Psalm 18:6; “In my distress I cried called upon the Lord, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him even into his ears.” The most wonderful thing about crying unto God is that he hears our cries. One can take confidence on this fact, that when you cry unto God he will hear you.

4. Deliverance: when we cry unto the Lord he will surely deliver us. God cannot ignore the cries of his children. The nicest thing about the experience of the Israelites in the book of Judges, is that deliverance was guaranteed upon their cry unto God. Roman 13:10; “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” When the Israelites cried unto God, God will send them a deliverer. There is a great Judge that you can cry to, there is a deliverer who is waiting to hear a cry from anyone; and upon your cry you shall surely be delivered by the Lord Jesus Christ.

Conclusion.

It matters not how much one has sinned against God, it matters not the trouble you find yourself in. Just cry unto the Lord, and He will surely deliver you. Dear brother or sister just make a heavenly call, which costs not a cent, which runs not out of minutes unto the almighty God and by His mighty power He will save you.