Fri.’s Devo - You Must Be Born Again

Read: Judges 17:18-31; John 3:1-21; Psalm 104:1-23; Proverbs 14:20-21
Judges is a picture of what man does without godly leadership and when he is left to make his own laws. Micah, a man from Ephraim stole 1,100 shekels of silver from his own mother and aive it back when he heard the curse she put on the one who stole it. Instead of disciplining him, she blessed him and wanted to give it back to him to make an idol! (What would James Dobson say about that?) This poor woman had very weak parenting skills. The son did give his mother all but 200 shekels back and with those 200 shekels he had a shrine and an ephod made and put one of his sons as the priest.
A real Levite happened upon Micah’s house and was looking for a place to stay. Micah offered to house him and pay him to be his priest. The Levite agreed. Everything seemed to be going well, but you will reap what you sow. Micah had sown seeds of robbery and deceit so he reaped it. The Danites came in and took his shrine, his ephod, and his priest.
The Danites had never taken land in the promise land as their own. They came upon an isolated Sidionite settlement with great land and no fortification or reinforcements around. They took the land as their own. This is a great reminder that when we isolate ourselves from the body and feel secure, be sure we have become easy picking for the devil. God made us to be tribes who need each other and will stand in prayer and fight for one another.
The Danites, who had stolen the shrine, ephod and priest from Micah’s house and put it in their new land which became a thorn in their side and brought a curse upon them…probably the same curse Micah’s mom had pronounced!
In John, Jesus is confronted by Nicodemus at night. Nicodemus was a Pharisee who was humbly seeking truth. He told Jesus he knew he was from God and that his works were from God. Jesus told him he had to be born again to see the kingdom of God. I love how Jesus never really answers the questions they ask but answers the questions that they should be asking.
They have a long talk about what it means to be born again. Jesus explains that the first time we are born we are born naturally, but to be born again means we are spiritually born. You can sense the frustration of Jesus as he realizes that a leader of the law has no idea how to understand the spirit. Jesus gives the example of the spirit being like the wind. Then He patiently tells Nicodemus God’s plan of redemption for the world. The way it would be saved is by Jesus coming down from heaven to earth and being lifted up on a pole like the serpent was in Moses’ day. I don’t know if Nicodemus understood it that night, but he did eventually. I love that about Jesus, he didn’t worry about if they believed right then. He gave them time for his words to sink in and eventually they would die or bear fruit.
Lord, help us to be like Jesus and scatter your seed and let the Holy Spirit bring in the results.