Walk and Talk with God #13

 

16 Then the Lord raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them. 17 Yet they did not listen to their judges, for they whored after other gods and bowed down to them. They soon turned aside from the way in which their fathers had walked, who had obeyed the commandments of the Lord, and they did not do so. 18 Whenever the Lord raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge, and he saved them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge. For the Lord was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who afflicted and oppressed them. 19 But whenever the judge died, they turned back and were more corrupt than their fathers, going after other gods, serving them and bowing down to them. They did not drop any of their practices or their stubborn ways. 20 So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he said, “Because this people have transgressed my covenant that I commanded their fathers and have not obeyed my voice, 21 I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations that Joshua left when he died, 22 in order to test Israel by them, whether they will take care to walk in the way of the Lord as their fathers did, or not.” (Judges 2)

Yesterday we saw Joshua addressing those who were left on the east side of the Jordan River, as he reminded them to continue walking and talking with God after he was no longer with them. He is now off the scene completely, and we see how well the nation as a whole did: they turned away from walking with God; they were stubborn and rebellious and forgetful.  What ensued was indeed a time of great chaos, with sin and corruption everywhere, and, as the historian tells us elsewhere, everyone doing what was right in his own eyes.  The only way we will all be on the same page is if we all keep on walking and talking with God.  It has an effect not just on us individually, but as God's people, and on all of society around us.  The nation of Israel at that time was spiraling downward through this cycle of sin, with people not caring until it hit home, and their region, their town, their family suffered. Let's reverse the cycle, with each of us in our lives, our homes, our churches, all walking and talking with God.