I Love You This Much

Posted On April 10, 2023

“God did not send his Son into the world to judge the world guilty,
but to save the world through him.”

John 3:17 NCV

Happy Easter, my friends! This week we are still examining the book of Judges, which may seem like an odd choice for a post about Jesus’ resurrection. But as I thought about it, I realized Judges actually gives us a good picture of God’s ultimate plan, a plan that was fulfilled through Christ . . .

Our plan for 2023 is to journey through The NeverEnding Story of the Bible and discover how we fit into it along the way. Our plan for this year is loosely based on The Story, an abridged chronological version of the Bible, and the accompanying study guide The Heart of the Story by Randy Frazee.

Here is where we are in The Story:

MOVEMENT TWO: The Story of Israel (Genesis 12-Malachi)

Chapter 8 – A Few Good Men . . . and Women

This chapter in The Story includes Judges 2-4, 6-8, 13-16. As Israel settles into life in the promised land, they continually struggle with disobedience. Enticed by the exotic ways of their pagan neighbors, Israel quickly forgets the Lord and begins serving the evil gods of the nations around them. To remind them of the consequences of this sin, God no longer fights for them, and they are easily defeated by their enemies. In the midst of their oppression, they repent and cry out to God for help. Then God raises up a judge — a leader who will deliver them — and Israel prospers once again. Sadly, after the judge dies, they quickly return to their evil ways, and the cycle begins again.

“Whenever the Lord raised up a judge over Israel, he was with that judge and rescued the people from their enemies throughout the judge’s lifetime. For the Lord took pity on his people, who were burdened by oppression and suffering. But when the judge died, the people returned to their corrupt ways, behaving worse than those who had lived before them. They went after other gods, serving and worshiping them. And they refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways.”

Judges 2:18-19 NLT

Whenever I read Judges in the past, I focused more on the Israelites and their repeating pattern of sin, and it always made me sad. Israel continues to turn away from God, and God continues to call them back. He forgives them and rescues them over and over, but still they persist in their “stubborn ways.” They just can’t seem to get the message! The Israelites keep messing up, no matter how many times God rescues them. And reading about their continual disobedience made me feel a little discouraged. After all, they were God’s chosen people. If they can’t do better than that, what hope do I have?

I guess I’ve always seen the book of Judges as a lesson about faithfulness: Be faithful to God or suffer the consequences. This is certainly true. But as I considered the book this time, I noticed something else. I discovered an even more important lesson about faithfulness: God is faithful no matter what. Rather than focusing on Israel’s pattern of sinfulness, I began to see God’s pattern of forgiveness. And I realized that in this book, God is showing us that He will never give up on us no matter how many times we fail:

“God is revealing his character and his plan to provide the way for all people from every nation to come back into a relationship with him. He is accomplishing this mission through the nation of Israel, who now resides in the promised land of Canaan. Over the course of the next 330 years, Israel finds itself in a long season of disobedience. Six times we see a cycle throughout the tribes of Israel — sin, oppression, repentance, deliverance. God allows Israel to fall captive to other nations so they can be tutored in the ways of God. When they repent, God is faithful to raise up judges who lead Israel’s deliverance from oppression. He continues to rescue them because he made an unconditional promise that the blessed solution for all people to come back into a relationship with him would come through Israel.”

Randy Frazee, The Heart of the Story

“For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his love for those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our transgressions from us.”

Psalm 103:11-12 NIV

God is faithful, and He continues to forgive the Israelites because He made a promise that the entire world would be blessed through them. But is that all there is to it? Is God just grudgingly following through out of obligation?

I think sometimes we have a picture of God sitting “up there” somewhere, arms folded, with a frown on His face, wishing He could just give up on all of us. I mean, I wouldn’t blame Him. We have all messed up — a lot! It’s easy to picture an angry God who demands our obedience because He’s tired of having to deal with our sinfulness. It’s easy to imagine He’s just going through the motions. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. God’s not just tolerating us. The book of Judges shows us that God doesn’t ever give up on us, not out of obligation, but because He loves us.

“Much of God’s character shines in this text: His faithfulness to His covenant with the people . . . His patience with them, His willingness to forgive, His compassion toward them. But above all, we see how much He loves them. He’s not just trying to force obedience without relationship. He’s after their hearts.”

Tara-Leigh Cobble, The Bible Recap

“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.”

1 Peter 2:24 ESV

The story of Judges points to the story of Jesus. The message of Judges is not that we are sinful. We already know this, and so does God. The message of Judges is that God forgives us. Over and over again, as many times as it takes, God delivers us because He loves us.

This is also the Gospel message. As humans, we continually struggle with sin. We get ourselves into hot water and cry out to God. But when we turn away from our sins and turn back to Him in faith, we don’t find condemnation. We find mercy. We find a loving God who willingly sacrificed His Son in order to save us, a Son who says: “Take heart, child; your sins are forgiven” (Matthew 9:2 NRSVUE).

“As Christians, we get ourselves into all sorts of trouble because we want to live life the way we want, not the way God wants. We think in our Lower Story nearsightedness that God has abandoned us, turned his back on us. But in the Upper Story, God’s 20/20 vision always keeps us in his view. He is always waiting for us to return to him when we stray. Like the loving Father he is, God opens his arms and says, ‘I will take you back. Always. No matter what you’ve done. I will deliver you because I love you.'”

Randy Frazee, The Heart of the Story

“Like God wanted with Israel, he wants us to make his name known by the way we live our lives. We can avoid discipline by following God’s ways. However, if we do sin and fall into trouble, we should confess our sins, and Christ, our deliverer, will forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Randy Frazee, The Heart of the Story

A couple of days ago as I was working on this post, I was also trying to catch up on laundry. At one point, in the middle of searching online for heart photos that I could use, I heard the dryer buzz. So I went to get the clothes and found a nice surprise when I pulled out the lint filter. I called over my husband to see it, too, and he snapped a picture, which I have posted above. That’s exactly how the filter came out of the dryer. I’ve never seen it do anything like this before, but that day, there was a clean perfectly-shaped heart in the middle of all the yucky lint.

What an object lesson! It was an amazing reminder that God is not “up there” somewhere judging us. He’s right here in the midst of our ordinary, mundane lives with a message of love. He shows up in the middle of all our sinful filth, offering to make us clean.

“Jesus is not in the business of making you feel guilty; rather, He is working to clean up your life so you will no longer have to wrestle with shame and unworthiness. So if you would like to be free from the false feelings of condemnation that hold you captive, you must accept one very important fact: Jesus has already forgiven you; therefore, you are accepted by God forever. You must take it to heart that He knows your life from beginning to end — every trial and triumph, every fear and failure, every stumble and every success — and He accepts you completely for eternity.”

Charles F. Stanley, God’s Purpose for Your Life

So, if God accepts us and forgives our mistakes, then why does He still discipline us? The Israelites suffered greatly because of their disobedience. We suffer, too, because of our own sins or the sins of others. So, what happened to God’s mercy and grace? Doesn’t He still love us even when we fall short? Yes. Absolutely. God loves us no matter what. We can never do anything to lose His love. But He loves us too much to see us suffer, and that’s what sin causes.

God is a loving Father who disciplines His children out of love for their own good. Like children, we often don’t like this. We may push back in defiance or conclude that God is punishing us. But God is always working for our good, whether we choose to believe it or not. And we will save ourselves a lot of grief if we’ll just accept His correction out of obedience, trust, and respect. God had big plans for the Israelites, and He has big plans for us, too. Let’s trust His training and remember how much He loves us. When we do, He can use us to bless the world!

“God is working in you and on you today because He desires to work through you. Take that to heart, regardless of what you’re facing. His love for you hasn’t changed. . . . However, understand that the Lord has a great plan and purpose for you life — and that takes discipline and training. Like an athlete preparing for an Olympic game, it takes instruction, works and refinement. God is doing something good in you.”

Charles F. Stanley, God’s Purpose for Your Life

This week’s Scripture passages focus on God’s love, compassion, and forgiveness. As we discover more about God, we realize more and more how much He loves us. Even when we make mistakes, even when we turn away, even when we rebel against Him, God never gives up on us. Let’s respond in gratitude and obedience so that He can form us into the people He knows we can be. Let’s allow Him to work through us to share His love with the world.

God’s mercy is amazing! The story of Judges teaches us that. The story of Christ does, too. ❤️

“God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son so that whoever believes in him may not be lost, but have eternal life.”

John 3:16 NCV

References:

• Cobble, Tara-Leigh. The Bible Recap: A One-Year Guide to Reading and Understanding the Entire Bible. Bethany House, 2020.
• Frazee, Randy.  The Heart of the Story: Discover Your Life Within the Grand Epic of God’s Story. Zondervan, 2017.
• Stanley, Charles F. God’s Purpose for Your Life: 365 Devotions. Thomas Nelson, 2020.
• The Story: Read the Bible as One Seamless Story from Beginning to End. Rev. ed., Zondervan, 2008.

Images:

• Heart Rock featured image by Ayu21839 from Pixabay
• Three Crosses on a Hill image by Tumisu from Pixabay
• Heart Clouds image by Helena Sushitskaya from Pixabay
• Tree image by NoName_13 from Pixabay
• Dryer Filter image by my husband
• Heart Cross image by congerdesign from Pixabay