Cover to Cover
Reading: Judges 18:1-19:30
Focus: Judges 19:20-30
I’m speechless. To read about the depths humanity falls to truly renders me speechless. This past Tuesday night, a wheelchair bound man was beaten up by two teenagers at a Sydney railway station, robbed and left for dead. (Link) What thoughts would run through the head of two teenagers to even seriously consider destroying the life of a disabled person? Yet, it happened. Not in a game, not in a movie, but in real life… in our world… in our day…
My response is equally frightening when I look through the book of Judges. Israel has gone off the edge of the cliff, it is absolute anarchy. No longer do they have the figures of Moses or Joshua, their judges seem come and go…there is no leadership in the land and the people do as they so desire. Carved idols are installed within their own homes (cf. Judges 17), installing their own priests and idolatry runs rampant.
It is scary how quickly society degrades itself…the event recorded here hark back to the days of Sodom and Gomorrah (see Genesis 18-19). The hard reality hits when we realise that the world we live, though not a blatantly messed up as what we find in Scripture, is going down the same road. How much longer before the stories of events hidden in the alleys of rape, abuse, theft, crime start spilling out onto the streets? This might be an extreme pessimist view, but the reality is that these things are only getting worse and more daring as the days go by.
When I think about what is to come, I get worried. Worse, I get worried about the generation that grows up in this ever degrading world. I can only pray that we would continue to remain steadfast and firm, building ramparts, walls and towers that will stand against the perils of this world; not that we seek to shelter, but we seek to protect the future of our children and children’s children.
Next Reading: Judges 20:1-21:25
