JUDGES

Today is Saturday.  It has been a good day.  I enjoyed the Men's Prayer Meeting.  Our men are always a blessing to be around and a joy to speak to.  We have a good time of prayer and a great meal.  Today I have worked around the house in the yard and got several things accomplished.  Here is the end of the book of Judges:

1) PRONOUNCE IT RIGHT- (Judges 12:5,6) When the men of Gilead were battling their brethren in Ephraim, it was hard to tell one from another.  They both came out of the tribe of Ephraim, but a conflict had separated them.  The Ephraimites had attacked the men of Gilead, and the men of Gilead prevailed.  Now they are going after the Ephraimites, but they are not sure who is who.  So they ask them:  "Art thou an Ephraimite? If he said, Nay; Then said they unto him, Say now Shibboleth:  and he said Sibboleth:  for he could not frame to pronounce it right."  It was the subtle difference between properly pronouncing a name.  When people outside of our state say Ore gon, we know they don't live in the state.  If they say:  Ore gun, then we know they have said it right!  So is the case with many states and cities, those who live there know how to properly pronounce it.  Can you properly pronounce and distinguish the difference in these:  I have been born again.  I am saved.  I have been baptized.  I follow Christ.  To say them and to live them are two different things.  Let us be doing both!

2) HOW DO YOU WANT US TO RAISE THIS CHILD?  This is the question that Manoah was asking an angel of God.  Manoah was the father of Samson, who was an answer to prayer by his father and mother.  In Judges 13:12, Manoah asks "How shall we order the child, and how shall we do unto him?"  What a good thought to ask God how to raise our children.  God gives us children, and God knows how they should be instructed.  Samson didn't turn out just like his parents had hoped, but not because of their failures.  They sincerely asked God for direction, and God gave direction, and they followed the directions.  Ask God how to raise your children too!

3) NO KING- Judges 17:6 says:  "In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes."  So sad that people did not have leadership, and did not follow any that they did have.  They made themselves their own authority.  This is not wise to do at all.  We must follow godly leadership, and realize that the Bible promotes it for a reason.  We need leaders!  Israel had to king and so every man became their own king and did what they felt was right.  Though they did what they felt was right, they were so wrong.  Our own feelings betray us.  Let us go by God's Word, and not our feelings!