Mercy expected (Judges 10)

When Mercy is Expected 

When I was in high school, I took the 6am bus to school every morning. I got up, had breakfast, and walked the 2 minute distance to my bus stop. I expected the bus to show up on time. If the bus driver did his part and if I did mine, I would be at school before the bell rang. I expected this every day of the week and was sometimes met with absences from my bus driver or late arrivals on winter mornings - those were the worst.

I have been slowly reading through Judges with a student that I disciple and it has been an experience I did not expect. It has been like looking at my reflection in a mirror especially with regard to what I expect from God. I have reflected on some things from chapter 10 and would like for you to do the same as you read on. 

Hey God, it’s me again, Israel 

We are at chapter 10 in Judges and some pretty interesting things have already happened in the lives of the Israelites. In chapter 2 from verses 11 to 19, we are given what I like to think of as a ‘trailer’ to the whole book. Here we get what the Israelite life looked like. It can be broken up into different steps: 

Step 1: The Israelites do what is evil in the sight of the Lord. 

Step 2: God punishes them by allowing them to be brutally oppressed by their enemies. 

Step 3: The oppression is not fun, they want out and so they cry out to God for deliverance. 

Step 4: God hears their cry for help and raises up a judge to deliver them. 

When we get to Judges 10:6, Israel is at step 1 again. This is after all the ways God has shown his patience towards them as they worshiped other gods, his mercy as he heard their cry for help, and his enormous power as he raised up unlikely and weak judges to deliver them from their oppressors. Whenever they sinned against God, he heard and answered their cry for help without fail. 

Verse 10 explains their sin: 

And the people of Israel cried out to the Lord, saying, “We have sinned against you because we have forsaken our God and have served the Baals.”

But it is not just the Baals that they worshiped. Israel had served the gods that the other nations exposed them to.  They served the Baals and the Ashtaroth, the gods of Syria, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites, and the gods of the Philistines (10:6). So, what now? On to step 4, mercy from God and deliverance? 

As you continue reading, think of the times when you have said the words “Hey God, it’s me again”. With what attitude did you approach God? Were you as expectant of mercy as the Israelites? 

Israel? You again? 

Just like I expected the bus at 6 am every day of the week, I expected God to do what he always did when the Israelites cry out for help - deliver them from their oppression. But I was wrong. God’s response caught me off guard. You may think that God could just be a bit more kind and patient and just rescue them because they are obviously going through a lot. But God builds his case against them. He has delivered them from every other oppressor and they still chose to not serve him. Here are God’s words to them: 

“Did I not save you from the Egyptians and from the Amorites, from the Ammonites and from the Philistines? The Sidonians also, and the Amalekites and the Maonites oppressed you, and you cried out to me, and I saved you out of their hand. Yet you have forsaken me and served other gods; therefore I will save you no more. Go and cry out to the gods whom you have chosen; let them save you in the time of your distress.” (10: 11-14)

God had saved them in the past but was now he giving them what they wanted. He was giving them over to the gods they wanted to serve. Paul says a similar thing in Romans. He says that because of people’s rejection of God, he gave them up to the lusts of their hearts, to the gods they worshiped instead of God (Romans 1:24). God does not tolerate continued rejection of him. Yes, he is a patient God, but his kindness and patience are meant to lead people to repentance (Romans 2:4), not to continue in rebellion and rejection of him. 

Are you continuing in your rejection of God? After God has forgiven you again, do you go running back to sin or do you cling to God instead?  Do you take advantage of his kindness and patience? 

My mercy is more 

Praise God with me because the story does not end here. God is good. Our God’s steadfast love never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is his faithfulness (Lamentations 3:22-23). 

Is this not such great news?

Verse 16 of chapter 10 is a beautiful verse. It says; “So they put away the foreign gods from among them and served the Lord, and he became impatient over the misery of Israel”. 

This is not something new. Israel has been here before but always went back to worship other gods. God is aware of this, he knows their hearts, their unfaithful track record, and their future in the very same way that he is aware of ours. But what is beautiful is that God became impatient over the misery of Israel. It does not say that because they put away the foreign gods, fasted for 1000 days, crawled on hot coal, then God decided to eventually raise up a judge to deliver them. Instead, it says that God was impatient over their misery. 

Even in the midst of a cycle of sin and rejection, God is merciful towards them because this is his nature.

It is the same for us today. It is not the sincerity or the extent of our repentance that causes God to forgive us. Yes, God requires us to be truly repentant of our sins, but our forgiveness is ultimately based on who he is. He is the Father of mercies (2 Corinthians 1:3), a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness (Exodus 34:6). What a relief this is! The extent of our sins simply means that there is absolutely nothing we could do to earn God’s favour. But you know what? Because of who he is, not because we feel bad for our sins or really want a different life, he sent his Son to die for us so that we could be forgiven. The Lord the Lord, a God merciful and gracious. 

What now? Do we go on sinning because we know that God will forgive us and that it is not dependant on us? Absolutely not! This is the response Paul gives in Romans 6. Swim in the sea of God’s mercy as his child. Swim and be grateful. But that is not it. We are not to feel entitled to his mercy in a way that leads us to be like Israel,  expecting mercy and choosing to sin because of the mercy given to us. 

Instead, the truth about God’s mercy is to encourage and empower us to be godly and holy. To be those that aim to please him with our word, thoughts, and deeds while being secure in the hold he has on us as his children. His mercy is more. Rejoice in this and live for him because of this. 

Ask God to forgive you for taking advantage of his mercy. Ask him to help you enjoy it and be motivated to do good works because of it.