Sat.’s Devo - Samson

Read: Judges 13:1-14:20; John 1:29-51; Psalm 102:1-28 Proverbs 14:15-16 Israel did evil again and worshipped idols so God turned them over to the Philistines for 40 years. In the town of Zorah lived a man named Manoah (which means “rest”). His wife was barren till the angel of the Lord appeared to her and told her that she would soon give birth to a son. she was to drink no wine or alcohol or eat any unclean food. Her son’s hair was never to be cut and he would be a Nazarite from birth. He would begin to rescue Israel from the Philistines. When she told her husband, he prayed that the angel would come back and give them some more instructions about their son. The angel did come back and Manoah asked him how he should raise this boy. He gave him the same instructions he had given his wife. Manoah begged him to stay so he could make a sacrifice for God. As the goat burned on the altar, the angel went up in the smoke. Manoah and his wife fell on their face to the ground in worship. Samson was born and God blessed him and the Spirit of the Lord began to stir in him. One day, Samson noticed a beautiful Philistine woman and wanted to marry her. He asked his parents to get her for him. They objected because she wasn’t Hebrew. When Samson persisted, they agreed. They didn’t realize that God was setting up a situation for His cause. On the way to Timnah, a young lion attacked Samson. The Spirit of the Lord came upon him and he ripped the lion’s jaws apart with his bare hands. He did it so easily he knew something was different about him. He was finding his superpowers, or his supernatural powers. In Timnah, he met with the woman and decided he still wanted to marry her. He returned to Timnah for the wedding and went to see what had happened to the lion. A swarm of bees had made hone in the carcass. He scooped some of the honey into his hands and ate it and gave some to his parents. His fiancées parents had selected 30 men to be his groomsmen. At the wedding party, which lasted a week, Samson proposed a riddle to his groomsmen. He told them that if they guessed it he would give them 30 fine linen robes and 30 sets of festive clothing. They agreed. He proposed his riddle. They couldn’t answer it. On the fourth day of the party, they told Samson’s fiancée that if she didn’t find out the answer and tell them, they would burn down her parents house with her in it. She enticed it out of Samson with her tears. On the seventh day, they gave Samson the answer. Samson knew that they had gotten it from his fiancée. The Spirit of the Lord came upon him and he went down to the town of Ashkelon and killed 30 men and took their clothing and gave it to the men who had solved his riddle. Then Samson went home very mad. In the meantime, they gave his wife to Samson’s best man at the wedding. In John, John named Jesus the Lamb of God as he saw him walking toward him. He spoke of the Holy Spirit coming upon Jesus in the form of a dove and remaining on him. Two of John’s disciples left to follow Jesus. Andrew was one of these men. He went to find his brother, Peter and told him to come and meet Jesus. He was called Simon at the time, but Jesus changed it to Cephas which means Peter, a stone. Jesus went to Galilee and found Philip and told him to follow him. Philip was from Andrew and Peter’s hometown. Phillip went and found Nathaniel and told him he had found the Messiah, who was from Nazareth. Nathaniel didn’t think anything good could come from Nazareth, but Philip convinced him to come see for himself. When Nathaniel walked up to Jesus, Jesus spoke over him a word of knowledge. He called Nathaniel a genuine son of Israel, with complete integrity. He added that he had seen him under the fig tree. I wonder if Nathaniel had sat under a fig tree asking God to reveal himself to him. Who knows, but it touched Nathaniel in a way that he knew that Jesus was the Son of God- the King of Israel. Jesus told him to hold on because he was going to see greater things than that. Jesus was the stairway from earth to heaven and Nathaniel would see angels going up and down through Him. Lord, help us to have eyes to see into the supernatural and believe.

Fri.’s Devo - Prepare Your Hearts

Read: Judges 11:1-12:15; John 1:1-28: Psalm 101:1-8: Proverbs 14:13-14 The armies of Ammon had gathered for war against the people of Gilead. Gilead had a great warrior born in Gilead named Jephthah. He was the son of Gilead but his mother was a prostitute so he had been rejected by the people and fled to live in the land of Tob. He had a following of other outcast warriors. The elders of Gilead sent for him to lead them in their attack. Jephthah gave them a hard time since they had rejected him before. They offered him the rulership. This sounds just like they treated God. They only repented and came to him when they got themselves into so much trouble that they had to have a deliverer. Jephthah agreed to help them. He sent a message to the attacking king of Ammon asking him why he was attacking. His answer was that he was trying to reclaim land the Israelites had stolen from his people long ago when they came out of Egypt. Jephthah told him the truth of why the Israelites now had the land. The Israelites had asked their king to pass through their land and he refused, so the Lord gave them the land. They had been living in the land for 300 years and the Ammonites had never tried to retrieve the land before. Why now? The king had no answer to that. Jephthah then went throughout the land of Manasseh gathering an army. He made a vow that if the Lord gave them the victory, he would sacrifice to God the first thing that came out of his house. He expected an animal to come out. The Lord did give them victory and when he returned home, the first thing that came out of his house was his only child, a young daughter. He was distraught, but she comforted him. She asked to have a few months to go into the mountains with her friends and mourn the fact that she would never have children then she came back and willingly laid her life down. Sounds like Jesus. While Jephthah was mourning having to kill his own daughter, the men of Ephraim come to him to pick a fight. They are sore became Jephthah didn’t invite them to fight the Ammonites. They threatened to burn down Jephthah’s house. He disputed with them that he did ask them to come but they refused, so he had to risk his life and do it himself. They wanted the credit now that he had won, but hadn’t been willing to risk their lives before. The people of Ephraim responded unfriendly so Jephthah gathered all the men of Gilead and attacked the men of Ephraim and won. Jephthah captured the land where they would cross the Jordan to get to the west. When anyone wanted to cross they would make them say the word “Shibboleth.” If they pronounced it “Sibboleth,” they would kill them. The people of Ephraim had a speech impediment and couldn’t say their “sh’s.” They ended up killing 42,000 Ephraimites. Jephthah reigned for only 6 years and died. After Jephthah died, Ibzan from Bethlehem judged Israel. He had 30 sons and 30 daughters of which he sent them all to marry outside of their clan. Their clan didn’t mean outside of their tribe; clans were families. He judged for 7 years and was buried in Bethlehem. The next judge was Elon from the tribe of Zebulun who judged for 10 years. When he died Abdon judged Israel from the tribe of Ephraim. He judge Israel 8 years and died. John takes us back to the beginning of time to tell us that Jesus was with God when he created the world and that God did it through him. Jesus was the Word that gave life to all to all God created. When he came back to live in the very world he had created, no one recognized him or accepted him. But to the ones who did, he gave the right to become reborn as the children of God. John reminded him of what he had told them about a man who would come after him who was far greater than him because he existed long before him. Jesus came to reveal the heart of God to us. When the Jewish leaders questioned John if he was the Messiah, he told them he was not. He asked him if he was the Prophet that had been prophesied would come or if he was Isaiah that was prophesied would come. He told them that he was none of those but he was just a voice to make clear the coming of the Lord. They then wanted to know how he had the authority to baptize and he said that he was only baptizing with water, but there was a person they didn’t recognize yet and he was much more powerful than him. Lord, may we prepare our hearts and help prepare others for the coming of the Lord.

Thurs.’s Devo - The Word Fulfilled

Read: Judges 9:22-10:18; Luke 24:13-53: Psalm 100:1-5; Proverbs 14:11-12 It’s hard to understand Judges because like in the story we read today, there are no “good guys”. Both sides are equally wrong. Judges was the time when people were “doing what was right in their own eyes” so very few were doing what was good in God’s eyes. Abimelech had killed 69 of the sons of Gideon to make himself the judge over Israel. One of the sons, Jotham had escaped Abimelech’s ruthless killing and came back to curse Abimelech. He said that if Abimelech was wrong for what he did then may fire come out from the citizens of Shechem and Beth-millo and detour Abimelech. Today we see that curse come to pass. After ruling over Israel for three years, God stirred up dissection between Abimelech and the leading citizens of Shechem. They set an ambush for Abmielch on the hilltops and robbed everyone who passed them. Abimelech was warned of what they were doing. Gaal and his brothers moved to Shechem and became very popular with the people of Shechem. As they were celebrating some god for giving them a good harvest (which was suppose to be God’s feast they were celebrating) they got good and drunk. Gaal stood up and started cursing Abimelech and tried to rouse up a revolution. Zebul, Abimelech’s deputy was at the party so he sent messengers to tell Abimelech what was happening. He advised Abimelech to come with an army and have them surround Shechem. The next morning as Gaal was standing at the city gates he saw men in the hills. Zebul told them it was just shadows looking like men. When they got closer he was sure it was men and he saw others coming down the road. Zebul turned on him and asked him where his big talk was now. Gaal led the citizens of Shechem into battle against Abimelech but were chased out of Shechem. The next day, the people of Shechem came out to the fields to fight Abimelech’s army. They surrounded them once again and stood between them and the city. They killed the people and leveled the city to the ground. The leading citizens who lived in the tower of Shechem ran to the temple of Baal-berith. Baal didn’t save them. Abimelech had his men burn the temple to the ground killing 1,000 people. Next, Abimelech went to the town of Thebez to capture it. The people ran into the tower so Abimelech thought he would do the same thing to the tower as he had done to the temple in Shechem. As he was piling lumber around the tower a woman from the tower dropped a millstone on his head. He called for his soldier to kill him with his sword so it would not be told that a woman killed him. Thus, the curse of Jotham was fulfilled. The next judge was Tola who ruled for 23 years. He was born and died in Shamir which means “keeping guard” which was what Tola did for Israel. After him, God raised up Jair who judged for 22 years. When Jair died, Israel went into idolatry so Israel was turned over to the Philistines to judge them for 18 years. The Lord told them that he had delivered them from 7 nations and he was not going to rescue them again. They needed to ask the gods that they were so eager to serve to deliver them. The armies of Ammon had gathered to fight them at Gilead. The leaders of Gilead offered the rulership to whoever led the attack. Cliffhanger! In Luke, it was the third day and the women had seen the empty tomb and told the men. Two of the men who heard all this were from Emmaus which was 7 miles from Jerusalem. They were on their way home discussing all the events of Passover when Jesus came up along side them. God hid his identity from them. They were amazed that Jesus hadn’t heard about all that happened and filled him in. Jesus rebuked them for not understanding all the prophecy’s God had given them and taught them about himself starting at Moses. That was one conversation I want to hear when I get to heaven. They hung on every word. Jesus opened their eyes when he blessed and broke bread for them that night. Then Jesus disappeared. They left and went back to Jerusalem and told the disciples what had happened. Suddenly, Jesus appeared in the room. While the disciples were in awe, Jesus asked to be fed. (He probably hadn’t had anything to eat for 4 days!) He then taught them what he had taught the two other men. He told them to go to Jerusalem and wait for the Holy Spirit to come. Then led them to Bethany, blessed them and was taken up to heaven. Lord, may it not be said of us that we didn’t understand what You have written in your Word about your second coming. May we be awake and looking for your return.

Wed.’s Devo - Injustice

Read: Judges 8:18-9:21; Luke 23:44-24:12; Psalm 99:1-9; Proverbs 14:9-10 Gideon asked the two Midianite kings (Zebah and Zalmunna) what the men were like that they killed at Tabor. When they told them they looked like him, he told the kings that they had killed his brothers. He told his own son to kill the two kings but he was too afraid because he was only a boy. The kings told Gideon to kill them himself so he did. The Israelites asked Gideon to be their king since he had been so heroic and led them into battle. Gideon refused and said that the Lord would be their king and yet he asked them each for an earring. This is beginning to sound like what Aaron did when Moses was up on the mountain. He took the earrings and made a sacred ephod from the gold and set it up in Ophrah. It soon became a token of idolatry and became a trap for Gideon and his family. The land of Israel experienced peace throughout Gideon’s lifetime which was 40 years. As soon as he died, the children of Israel began worshipping the god of the covenant - Baal-berith and forgot God and all that Gideon had done for them. Gideon he had had many wives and they had born him 70 sons. He also had a concubine in Shechem who had a son named Abimelech. One day, Abimelech went to visit his brothers in Shechem and asked them if they would rather he rule them than the 70 sons of Gideon. He reminded them that he was their flesh and blood. The people of Shechem decided to fund Abimelech and support him as their king. They gave him 70 silver coins from the temple of Baal-berith. Abimelech went to Ophrah and killed all of Gideon’s son but the youngest, Jotham, who escaped and hid. The leaders of Shechem all met and proclaimed Abimelech to be their king but when Jotham heard what they had done he climbed to the top of Mount Gerizim and gave a speech. Mt. Gerizim is not a mountain but more like a hill that overlooked the town of Shechem. He rebuked them for forgetting all that his father Gideon had done for them and for letting Abimelech kill all of his sons and choose him just because he was their relative. Then Jotham escaped and left Abimelech to fall on his own. In Luke, the sky went dark from noon till three. I wonder how they continued the sacrifices at the Temple. The veil in the Temple was rent exposing the ark of the covenant for all to see and inviting everyone into God’s presence. Jesus gave his spirit to the Lord and breathed his last breath. The Roman officer who had seen everything believed that Jesus was the son of God. Joseph of Arimathea who was a member of the Jewish high council went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. He took Jesus’ body down from the cross and laid him in his tomb that had been carved out of a rock. He did this quickly because the Sabbath was about to begin. The women followed Joseph to see where he was taking the body. They went him to spread the spices and ointments to anoint his body. They had to wait until the Sabbath was over before they could go to the tomb. When the arrived early that morning, they found the stone rolled away and the body got. Suddenly two angels appeared in glory. The women were terrified and bowed to the ground. The angels explained that Jesus was alive just as he told them he would rise on the third day. They ran to tell the eleven disciples. The story sounded crazy to them but Peter jumped up and ran to the tomb to look. He saw the empty tomb and went home wondering what had happened. Lord, there is one word I have for both of these stories and it is “injustice”. It was unjust that Abmelech would kill all of Gideon’s sons and it was unjust that Jesus had to die such a cruel death, but I know that You see everything that happens and You have the last say. Resurrection happened and we are so grateful!

Tues.’s Devo -Gideon’s Obedience - God’s Victory

Read: Judges 7:1-8:17; Luke 23:13-43: Psalm 97:1-98:9; Proverbs 14:7-8 Gideon set out to fight the Midianites after his confirmations from the Lord. On his way the Lord told him he had too many in his army. When they won, they would think they did it in their own strength and God would not get the victory. Gideon told all the men who were afraid to go home. He lost 22,000 men. He was left with 10,000 and God said it was still too many. He told Gideon to take them to the spring and the Lord would tell him who to take with him. God chose the 300 who drank from their hands. He told Gideon to send the others home. That night, God was ready for Gideon to attack but he told Gideon that if he was afraid, he should go down to Midian’s camp and listen. He took Purah and went down to their camp. They saw the thousands of Midianites and Amalekites camped. They hid and listened as a man was telling his friend about a dream he had had. In his dream a loaf of barley bread came tumbling down into their camp. It hit a tent, turned it over and knocked it flat. His friend interpreted the dream to mean that God had given Gideon’s army victory over them. That was the confirmation Gideon needed. He went back to camp and woke his 300 men and told them to wake up because God had given them victory over the Midianite hordes. He divided them into three groups. Each man held a ram’s horn and a clay jar with a torch in it. They encircled the camp and when Gideon gave the signal they all blew their horns and broke their clay jars exposing the torches. The Midianites were so frightened, they fought each other. All Gideon’s army did was to stand and blow their horns. Some escaped to towns in Gad, but Gideon sent for the warriors of Naphtali, Asher and Manasseh and Ephraim and they cut them off. They captured Oreb and Zeeb two of the Midianite commanders. Ephraim was mad at first that they hadn’t been invited to fight in the battle, but Gideon assured them that their part was the most important so they calmed down. Gideon continued chasing the kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna. They came to two different towns in Gad asking for food for his men. They both gave him the same answer: when you catch the kings we will feed you. Gideon was ticked but had no other choice but to keep chasing them. He left them both with a promise to return and repay their cruelty. He finally caught the kings and brought them back to both city and repaid them exactly what he had said he would do. In Luke, the Roman political heads had finished examining the Lamb of God and Herod agreed with Pilate that Jesus was innocent. When they told the crowd, they were not satisfied. They asked that Barabbas be released to them and Jesus be crucified. It was becoming a riot so Pilate turned Jesus over to them to do what they wanted. Simon was chosen to carry Jesus’ cross while the crowd followed. Grief-stricken women also followed. Jesus comforted them and told them not to weep for him but for themselves and their children. If they would do that to Him, what would they do when he was gone? Jesus foresaw the day when they would have to run to the hills to be safe. Jesus was taken to Golgotha, The Skull, and hung between two thieves. Jesus forgave his accusers because he knew they didn’t understand what they were doing. He was mocked with words and their sign which said King of the Jews. Even the criminal on his side mocked him, but the other one repented and asked Jesus to remember him when he came to his kingdom. Jesus told him that he would join him there.

Mon.’s Devo - The Call to Be Courageous

Read: Judges 6:1-40; Luke 22:54-23:12; Psalms 95:1-96:13; Proverbs 14:5-6 The cycle continued and the Israelites went back into idolatry so they were under the rule of the Midianites for seven years. The Midianites were so oppressive that the Israelites had to hide out in caves and the mountains. The word “Midian” means “strife.” They would always attack them at harvest time and steal their harvest ,leaving them starving. The people cried out to the Lord and God sent a prophet to tell them they must stop worshipping the gods of the Amorites. God sent an angel to Gideon who was at the bottom of a winepress threshing wheat so the Midianites couldn’t see him. The angel addressed Gideon as a mighty hero, who the Lord was with. Gideon didn’t understand that greeting since nothing he could see agreed with it. The angel told him to go with the strength he had and rescue Israel from the Midianites. Gideon gave all his excuses and asked God for a sign. He went to cook the angel a meal and brought it to him. He told Gideon to place it on a rock and when Gideon did, the angel touched the food. Fire flamed up and consumed everything., then the angel disappeared. This got Gideon’s attention. He built an altar to the Lord and named it “the Lord is peace” (Yahweh-Shalom). That night God told him to take a second bull from his father’s flock that was seven years old and to pull down his father’s altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah pole and use them as fuel for the sacrifice. He took 10 servants and did it at night so no-one would see him. In the morning when the people saw the remains of their altar and the new altar they asked around until they knew that Gideon had done it. They wanted to kill him for destroying their Baal altar but Gideon called on Baal to defend himself. He never did. Soon after that, the armies of Midian and Amalek crossed the Jordan and camped in the valley of Jezreel. The Spirit of the Lord clothed Gideon with power and he blew the ram’s horn summoning Manasseh, Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali together to fight. Gideon needed a confirmation that God was going to give them victory so he put a wool fleece on the threshing floor that night. If the fleece was wet with dew in the morning but the ground was dry the he would know that God was with him. The next morning the fleece was so wet he could wring out a whole bowl of water yet the ground was dry. Just to make sure he asked for the opposite the next night and it happened. They ground was wet and the fleece was dry. God had asked Gideon to do a very daring deed so He was glad to confirm it as much as Gideon needed. I think this is such a great encouragement to us who need confirmations along the way. God is gracious to give us what we need to be courageous. In Luke, Peter denied Jesus three times, just as Jesus had seen he would. The guards began mocking and beating Jesus. They tried to get him to admit he was the Messiah. Jesus refused to say he was the Messiah, but he did say that the Son of Man would be seated in the place of power at God’s right hand and that was enough to get them really angry. Next, the religious leaders took Jesus to the Roman governor. Pilate. They stated their case to him. Pilate questioned him and could find nothing worthy of arrest. He pronounced him innocent. When they told him that Jesus was from Galilee, Pilate sent him to Herod Antipas who was over Galilee. Herod was delighted to see Jesus because he had heard so much about him and wanted to see him perform a miracle. He questioned Jesus but Jesus refused to answer. Herod and his men mocked him by putting a royal robe on him and sent him back to Pilate. Jesus was not afraid to offend people. He knew who he was and refused to be intimidated. Lord, may we learn from Gideon’s humility and Jesus’ tenaciousness that there is a time for both. But in the end, we must be clothed with your power.

Sun.’s Devo - The Battle is the Lord’s -

Read: Judges 4:1-4:31; Luke 22:35-53; Psalm 94:1-23; Proverbs 14:3-4 After Ehud died, the people went back into sin so God turned them over to King Jabin, who Joshua had defeated in Joshua 11. King Jabin of Hazor’s name means “he will understand enclosures.” In other words, he would understand how to enslave people. The commander of his army was Sisera who oppressed Israel with his 900 iron charitots for 20 years. Finally the people cried out to God and he sent them Deborah. Deborah lived in the hills Ephraim and was a wise judge of the people and many would come to her to settle their arguments. She could be found sitting under a palm tree and was the “Judge Judy” of her day. One day, God moved upon her to send for Barak who lived in Kedesh in the land of the Naphtali. Kedesh was a city of refuge so Barak might have been a priest or a person who was seeking asylum there. She told Barak to gather an army of 10,000 from Naphtali and Zebulun and have them meet at Mt. Tabor. She would tell Sisera to go to the Kishon River which was at the bottom of Mt. Tabor. It was also a place of quick sand which would make it impossible for Sisera’s iron chariots to be functional. This was also the place where Elijah killed the false prophets of Baal. Deborah told Barak that God would give him victory over Sisera and his army. Barak was afraid and refused to go unless Deborah was went with him. Deborah agreed but told him that because he relied on a woman then a woman would get the victory. On the day of the battle, the army of Sisera came to Kishon and were attacked by the army of Barak. They were thrown into a panic. When Sisera realized his predicament, he ran away on foot. I think his chariot got stuck in the quicksand. Barak’s men chased the army of Sisera and killed them. Only Sisera got away alive. He ran to the tent of Jael. Her family lived outside of the town of Kedesh because they had disassociated themselves with the city and its people. They were on friendly terms with King Jabin of Hazor so Sisera was not afraid to come in when Jael invited him. She gave him water and some milk and covered him with a blanket. She stood at the door to keep watch while he fell asleep from exhaustion. Jael crept up to him and drove a tent peg through his temple nailing him to the ground. When Barak arrived, she showed him where Sisera lay dead. Deborah sang a song commemorating the whole event. She called Reuben out for being so indecisive that they didn’t help. She called out Dan for not helping. And, she called out Asher for staying safe in their harbors. But, she commended Zebulun and Naphtali for going to battle and she gave the victory to Jael who killed the king. They had peace for 40 years. In Luke, Jesus explained why they would now need a sword. Before, the enemy was afraid to arrest them but after that day, the disciples would be considered rebels since they associated with Jesus. He led his disciples to the Mt. of Olives where he asked them to pray that they not be led into temptation. He asked God to take his cup of suffering away, yet he wanted God’s will above his own comfort. He sweat drops of blood, he was in such torment of soul. His disciples ended up sleeping until Judas arrived with the soldiers. Judas kissed Jesus and they were about to take Jesus away when Peter remembered what Jesus had said about the sword. He took his and struck at the high priest’s slave, slashing off his ear. Jesus touched it and it was healed. Jesus did ask the men who came for him why they hadn’t done this in the day light. He pointed out that they did this at night because they were children of the night and night was when the power of darkness reigns. Lord, may we follow your commands and fight when you say to fight and pray when you say to pray.