Do you feel like you work hard, but something always happens and you never have success? Like all your work is for nothing? You work and you work and you work, but there never seems to be a harvest after all the work?
If that’s you, you have no idea how absolutely perfect the timing of today’s devotional is! We will be looking at a story of God’s people who were stuck in a season of suck, absolutely struggling to survive, never reaping a harvest after all their hard work. And this story is going to show us the WHY behind it all, then the way OUT of it all. And my friend, it may just be your answer.
We’re in Judges 6, let’s first read the story in verses 1-6. “The Israelites did evil in the Lord’s sight. So the Lord handed them over to the Midianites for 7 years. The Midianites were so cruel that the Israelites made hiding places for themselves in the mountains, caves, and strongholds. Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, they would be attacked. They left the Israelites with nothing to eat, taking all the sheep, goats, cattle and donkeys. These enemy hordes, coming with their livestock and tents, were as thick as locusts; they arrived on droves of camels too numerous to count. And they stayed until the land was stripped bare. So Israel was reduced to starvation by the Midianites. Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord for help.”
If you’ve been following our study this week of the book of Judges, you remember how this is an account of God’s chosen and treasured people whom he continually rescued. But each time after he rescued them and they lived in peace for a while, they would eventually go back to their old evil and stubborn ways. And that’s precisely what has happened here. In their time of peace while life was easier, they grew complacent and they drifted their way back into sin.
What was their sin? They had once again elevated other things into God’s place. They stopped worshiping God and instead gave their lives to things that had no power to help them, only power to destroy them. So, they were destroyed. In their sin, God handed them over to their enemy for 7 years. That enemy was the Midianites.
The Midinites were ruthless and without mercy. They were cruel beyond all measure, absolutely starving the Israelites.
So now the Israelites were not living in their beautiful blessed land promised to them by God, they were instead hiding in caves fighting for survival. This wasn’t God’s best plan for them, it wasn’t his promise for them, but it became his plan of redemption.
You see, God has a Plan A for your life. It is his best plan. A plan where you live up to your fullest potential and walk in his promises. But, because he has given us free will instead of making us brainwashed robots without choices, we have the power of choice. You can choose to follow God’s best plan for your life, or you can choose not to. When you choose not to, then God must resort to Plan B. Plan B is harder. Plan B takes much longer. But, plan B redeems our allowed bad choices. Thank you God for writing a Plan B instead of just writing us off.
God handed his people over to their enemies for absolute hardship as his Plan B. His eye never left them. He saw them as they hid in caves. He saw them as a they struggled so hard to plant food and harvest even a single meal before their enemies would steal it. And in his plan of redemption, he knew eventually this hardship would bring them back to him.
This is a picture of what sin does in our lives. Sin robs us of all we work hard for. Sin never allows us to see a good harvest. Sin creates problems that leave us hiding in dark places, forcing us to forfeit blessings and promises. But never forget, there’s a way back from that.
Notice verse 2 says, “The Midianites were so cruel that the Israelites made hiding place for themselves ...