Judges-Ruth-I Samuel

I'm on my second cup of coffee and very excited about the day because we start our Missions Conference this evening.  It will be a wonderful time for God to speak to our hearts about the needs of a lost world. 

Today, I finished up Judges and then read Ruth (only four chapters), and the first ten chapters of I Samuel.  Judges begins with God raising up Judges to fight the battles of Israel and then it finishes with stories of particular tribes and what happened to them.  Four times the phrase is found:  "There was no king in Israel", and twice the phrase: "every man did that which was right in his own eyes".  Without leadership, every one does his own thing.  This is the pattern of humanity.  This is why Christ called a pastor to lead the church.  It is interesting that those who never follow the leadership of a pastor do "that which is right in their own eyes".  People get so self deluded if they do not follow a biblical pattern. 

In Ruth, the thing that once again impressed me is the phrase "went to sojourn".  Naomi and her family went to "sojourn" in the land of Moab.  Sojourn, means to visit.  There was a famine in the land so they went to visit a heathen land.  It lasted for many years.  There her husband died.  There her sons married heathen women.  There her sons got sick and died.  There one daughter in law stayed behind.  But... Ruth clave unto her and went back to the land of Naomi.  The story is simple:  Don't visit outside of the will of God, it will last longer than you think.

I Samuel is full of great stuff, but I close with this thought:  When Saul was anointed King, there went home with him "a band of men whose hearts God had touched".  A leader is nothing with "a band of men whose hearts God had touched".  I'm so thankful to pastor so many men and women whose hearts God has touched to follow the leadership of their pastor.  Well, I have so much more to say, but my time is all gone.  May God bless.

Dr. Mike Mutchler, Pastor & Friend

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