Day 97/365- Judges 19:29, Judges 21:25

"Deja Vu All Over Again"

When he got home, he took a knife and cut his concubine's body into twelve pieces. Then he sent one piece to each tribe throughout all the territory of Israel. (Judges 19:29 NLT)

In those days Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes. (Judges 21:25 NLT)

The last few chapters of Judges is difficult to swallow. They paint a vivid picture of the moral decay of the people. There is no King in Israel & everyone lives how they want to live. No one is governing or setting standards for how the people should live. No one is giving direction or ensuring that the law of God is obeyed. In fact, it seems that the law is never even mentioned among the people. Godlessness abounds & there is none to restrain it!

Although these accounts of moral decline are horrifying they are not too terribly unfamiliar. All you have to do is watch an episode of CSI to see all of the morbid ways that people are killed & various crimes are committed. Our day is not unlike the time of the judges. They did what was right in their eyes & so do we. It's deja vu all over again.

The ruling philosophy of the day is that there is no philosophy. There is no standard of right & wrong in the minds of people. For example, few people would say it's ok to kill innocent people but every year our nation alone kills 1,000,000 babies. Our country is more concerned about the life of whales & trees than children. The ruling standard of the day is self. Whatever I want to do I will do. Whatever is right for me is right for me. I don't tell you how to live & what to believe, why should you tell me? In fact, this is just who I am.

All of these things are familiar to us. Our world is in moral decline. We are in this decline not because we can't behave but because we don't know God. God sets the moral compass for humanity. He is the center of what our lives should reflect. If we have him as the authority, ruler, even King of our worlds, then everything else just flows from that. But if we don't have him at the center, immorality flows from that.

Our world is crying out in deep need of something. Our blatant wickedness is proof of our need for God. What used to be done in the dark is now done in the clear light of day. It's our role to engage this darkness with the light of Christ & bring them into the true light!