‘GENUINE’ REPENTANCE will TURN AWAY God’s ANGER!
March 15 Bible
Reading: Judges Chapters 10-12
‘GENUINE’ REPENTANCE will TURN AWAY God’s ANGER!
Then the
children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served the
Baals and the Ashtoreths, the gods of Syria, the gods of Sidon, the gods of
Moab, the gods of the people of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines; and
they forsook the Lord and did not serve Him. So the anger of the Lord was hot
against Israel; and He sold them into the hands of the Philistines and into the
hands of the people of Ammon...and the children of Israel said to the Lord,
"We have sinned! Do to us whatever seems best to You; only deliver us this
day, we pray." So they put away the
foreign gods from among them and served the Lord. And His soul could no longer
endure the misery of Israel. (Judges 10:6-7, 15-16)
Around 1125 B.C.,
the children of Israel again broke
the very first of the ten commandments of God (Exodus 20:3),
and slid into unrestrained idolatry. They began to worship not only the gods of
Canaan, but also those of surrounding nations (v. 6). Jehovah became so angry at
their disobedience that He sold them out
to two foreign oppressors: the Philistines
from the west and the Ammonites from the east (v. 7). For the next eighteen years these two heathen groups
harassed and oppressed the children of Israel so severely that they cried out to Jehovah out of pain and
frustration (vv. 8–10).
We should
note that this spiritual apostasy of
the children of Israel was not merely a matter of syncretism (the combination of different forms of belief or
practice), but they had totally abandoned
their worship of Jehovah, and had been worshipping the gods of other heathen nations.
When the Israelites now tearfully cried
out to God, He refused their pleadings at
first by citing several instances of how He had delivered them in the past
but how every time they had turned their backs on Him (vv. 11-13). God further
told them to go and cry out to the gods that they had chosen for themselves (v.
14).
Now, we see ‘genuine’ repentance from the children
of Israel. They now totally
surrendered themselves at the mercy of God, and were willing to take any punishment
from Him as long as He delivered them from their oppressors (v. 15). As an outward sign of their repentance, they put
away the strange gods and started serving God (v. 16a). Any true act of repentance is more than a verbal plea, and it will
result in a definite change of actions that can be seen outwardly!
We can also
glimpse the tender heart of God, as
He was moved by the plight of His wayward children. In fact, the plight of the
children of Israel became intolerable
to Him (v. 16b). Despite their constant sinning and backsliding, God still
loved the Israelites and shared their misery just like parents are moved by
their children’s suffering. "As a
father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear Him" (Psalms
103:13). God soon delivered them
through Jephthah (11:32-33) as His
response to their genuine repentance!
Let us be
clear that genuine repentance (turning
away from-sin and towards-God) will truly please God. To have remorse (to be sorry) and regret (to wish otherwise) are not the
same as to repent, even though
they may be the outward manifestations of repentance. Godly repentance will ultimately lead to our salvation (2 Cor
7:9-10). Let us examine our hearts today and turn away from anything we are doing wrong in the sight of God!
This act will bring deliverance in
our lives today!
