Discovering God —

This month, we begin our read of the book of Judges. Judges represents a dark time in Israel’s history. Israel had turned their back on the direct covenant they had made with God. It must have been a brutal and unpleasant time to be alive. Through it, we will learn much about how God responds to and confronts His people.

When we directly turn our backs on God’s ways it will always lead to darkness. Sin is enticing, the enemy of our souls would love nothing more than for us to believe that if we serve ourselves then we will be better off.

The problem is that we can’t live good lives apart from God. Sin is too dark. The world is too evil. Life is too short. When we live for ourselves we get stuck in cycles of sin and darkness. That sin and darkness look different for different people, but it always happens. So too with the people in the days of the Judges; they were caught in a cycle of sin and darkness.

Why would God let this be so? Because He is the way out! He freely offers His salvation to all who feel the hopeless sting of sin and want something else, something better. God saves us from our evil, now and forever. We just have to come to Him in honest repentance and ask Him to save us.

As we live with God, He will make us wise to live in this world. As we read through the Scripture this month, my prayer is that He will utilize our study to grow us in Him. May we break our cycles of sin by drawing closer to our God and giving Him our hearts, minds, and strength.