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HAPPY ANNIVERSARY – TO MY BELOVED BOBBI FOR 25 WONDERFUL YEARS!

Something that will help us all stay connected is to keep up the discussion on the Live Stream. Don’t forget to like, follow, and Share these devotions. And comment today where you’ve seen God lately, look for God sightings.

Judges 2:4-5

We are going to see here in the book of Judges, a pattern that will repeat itself - throughout at least in the first half of book. Here in chapter 2, the angel of the Lord approaches the people of God and wants to know what they have done.

I believe here it’s appropriate to note, that God knew what they did. Just in the same way God was not surprised that Adam and Eve had disobeyed and had eaten the fruit. But in the same fashion as He had talked with them, God sends an angel to ask them what they did, and here’s how the account unfolds.

Judges 2:4-5 (NIV) When the angel of the Lord had spoken these things to all the Israelites, the people wept aloud, and they called that place Bokim. There they offered sacrifices to the Lord.

I believe that we have lost the tradition of confession within the traditions of the Protestant Church. I get that we do not need a priest, but I have to say that there is a benefit lost from having to confess our sins.

James 5:16 (NIV) Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

John Wesley knew this. The early Methodists practiced this. Why did we ever give it up, just something to think about.

Turning back to our story at hand, Israel realizes the errors of their ways, weeps, and gives sacrifices to God. In essence they repent, which is to turn away from sin - and turn towards God.

Sometimes we can become unaware of how strongly we have compromised our faith. Like right now I have many friends who are wrapping their faith up in nationalism, or turning their religion into political-ness. You can’t wrap the cross in the American flag – Jesus is so much bigger than that.

But when we compromise our faith, and we become aware and we realize how much we have compromised, what we need to do is make the choice to step out of that cycle. And how we step out of the cycle, is through repentance. That is what the Israelites do here through their weeping. They realize that the path they have chosen is wrong and so they turn. They change directions and go back to God. That’s what repentance is.

We should all take a moment and look introspectively and have a moment of honesty with yourself and God. Ask Him to show you where He wants to work, then confess that you are wrong and resolve to do right. The good news here is that God is a God of grace and mercy, and He is always waiting for us no matter where we have gone.