Victory

“I am Yahweh your God. Do not fear the gods of the Amorites whose land you live in. But you did not obey Me” ~Judges 6:10 HCSB

In the book of Judges, in the Old Testament God would hand the Israelites over to an enemy to bring them back to Him. God then would rise up judges to lead the people to victory and for a time the people would have peace.  In this case it is the Midianites that are oppressing the people and God is about to rise up Gideon, one of my favorite of the judges.  But the question I can’t help to think about is, did the people need judges at all?  We know the reason for the judges “The Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the LORD” (Judges 6:1 

So the people in Israel are in a cycle of sin.  They sin, God rises up an enemy to oppress them and they call out to God.  God rises up a judge and defeats the enemy and the people have peace, the people sin again and it starts all over. As I think about this I realize we still do the same thing today.  We allow sin to come into our lives, we compromise.  Sin does what it does best, kills relationships with God and others, steals our joy and destroys our peace and we cry out to God for forgiveness and repent.  But we don’t stop there we find something else to compromise with and it starts all over again.  The great thing about being a Christian is that the cycles of sin can be broken through Christ.  “So, you too consider yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 6:11)  By putting our faith in Christ, keeping our eyes on Christ, allowing Christ to live through us, Christ can defeat sin in our lives.  It is by living in this great gift of grace that the cycle of sin can be broken. 

O victory in Jesus,
My Savior, forever.
He sought me and bought me
With His redeeming blood;
He loved me ere I knew Him
And all my love is due Him,
He plunged me to victory,
Beneath the cleansing flood.

Lord I thank you for your Son Jesus Christ.  Through Him I can have victory over sin once and for all.  Lord please forgive me of my sin and Lord I repent and turn to you.  I pray you would help me to live victoriously in You and You alone.  Lord help to share You with others!  Amen!