The Family Bible Journey Podcast

In this chapter we see four episodes that reveal the wisdom of God's love in different ways. The thread that runs through each miracle is God's wisdom shining forth in His Son. Jesus did not act or react as people expected. Instead of doing as we'd expect, He shows us the better way of God's wisdom, which is love in action.

"Everyone did what was right in his own eyes." A damning judgment of the moral state of Israel at the close of Judges. Immortality and chaos reign as one of the tribes is nearly extinguished in a civil war. Judges ends with no judge and little hope for God's people.

With Israel's champion Samson dead, the tribes are sorely oppressed and wandering aimlessly. A tragic episode of rape and murder shows how far Israel had fallen. Everyone was their own god. They had fallen so far that wrong was right and right was wrong.

It seems quite unfair, on the surface, that God asks His people to bless those who curse them. When He calls us to love those who hate us. But isn't that exactly what He's done for us? As a matter of fact, is there anything more Christ-like than forgiving those and doing good to those who sin against us?

Delilah seduced Samson. In her unholy embrace, he trusted her with the secret of his great strength. She betrayed him. God's blessing left him. But in his lowest moment, Samson turned to the Lord who allowed him, in death, to slay more Philistines than he did during his life.

Samson grows in strength and passion. His weakness for Philistine women puts him at conflict with the oppressors of Israel. God used his weakness for women to spark a rage that led to a mighty victory over the Philistines.

Luke frames the beatitudes differently than Matthew. Mathew spoke only of blessings. Luke speaks of blessings and woes. Here we get to consider how God works on behalf of those who seek to do His will, in the midst of a crooked and evil generation.

Tragically flawed as he was, Samson has much in common with Jesus. Their parents were visited by angels. Both were called to save, albeit in different ways. In this episode, we begin our exploration of one of the central figures in the book of Judges.

God raises another flawed judge to give His people victory over their nemesis. But an innocent girl will pay the ultimate price for her father's rash words. Today we consider how we use our words, because when we speak without thinking, it is often those closest to us who suffer the most.

Jesus didn't come to heal just a few people, but all people. In order to do this, He took all sin upon Himself, and freely forgave all who came to Him in faith. May we not reject Him becuase we think we are good enough, but rather embrace Him and His redeeming love, which forgives all our iniquities and heals all our diseases.

We hear how God gave Gideon a great victory, even though his army was outnumbered 450 to 1. Sadly, despite his courageous leadership, Gideon's family is consumed by conflict. Here we learn how even the best of Israel's leaders are still human and make mistakes. But scripture records these stories so that we can learn from the mistakes of others, rather than suffer the consequences of our own.

Gideon was brought from cowardice to courage, from fear to faith. We consider God's great patience with His people and learn how He uses a small victory to prepare Gideon for greater leadership.

It wasn't miracle or preaching that brought Jesus' first disciples to their knees in faith. It was a miraculous catch of fish. How silly. How fitting. Jesus, the carpenter, caught the attention of three fisherman named Peter, James and John, with an impossibly large catch of fish.

Deborah teaches us how to lead and how to praise in this episode. We learn the blessings of lifting others up in our leadership, sharing and giving credit to others for the successes we see. We also learn of the importance of praise and thanksgiving that gives God credit for who He is and all He does for us.

Deborah is a wonder woman from the Old Testament. We learn of her courage, and the courage of another woman namedd Jael. These two women stepped up in faith, to lead God's people to a mighty victory when the men failed to lead.

Jesus finally finds acceptance in Capernaum. The people hear His gracious words and witness His mighty power. They receive Him and His blessing, even though they don't understand why He can't stay with them.

The story of Judges is the story of "saviors" who rescued God's people from their enemies. We will learn the cycle of Judges and how each judge will show us, in different ways, a lesson of God's faithfulness to His unfaithful people.

Joshua dies in faith as a mighty warrior for God's people. Joseph also speaks of God's faithfulness from beyond the grave as his bones are buried near his childhood home. So the book of Joshua ends. Two faithful witnesses being laid to rest in the land of promise.

One would think that Jesus would be welcomed and hailed by his townspeople when He returned to Nazareth as a teacher. But all they saw was a failed carpenter. Here we learn that the first to conspire against Jesus to take His life were not the religious establishment in Jerusalem, but rather, the people who knew him best, and should've loved him the most!

Joshua charges Israel to be faithful to the Lord, as He has been faithful to them. They promise to follow the Lord. Joshua sets a memorial stone to remind them of the day they promised faithfulness to the Lord, so that if and when they find themselves struggling, they may be brought to remembrance and repentance and come back to the Lord in faith.

We see God working in unseen ways as He scatters the priests and Levites amongst His people. In some ways, their dispersion is counterintuitive. In other ways, it makes perfect sense. God keeps His people close by keeping them close to their spiritual leaders.

Where Adam failed, Jesus succeeded, by thwarting the temptations of the evil one. We learn some similarities between the temptation of Adam and Jesus. Both were the, "son of God." One brought death into the world. The other brought life. We rejoice that not only did Jesus atone for Adam's fall, but for every temptation to which we fall prey.

Joshua teaches important lessons about how to conduct business as the inheritance for the remaining seven tribes is allocated. He is open and fair. He invites the participation of those who are affected by these decisions. Here we learn deft ways to handle sensitive matters.

In a previous episode we learned where you're from matters. Today we consider how what we do matters. Living in a day and age when people are slow to act, yet quick to judge, we consider our own actions and responsibility.

Jesus, even though He is God, submitted Himself to the Law of the Father. This is why He was baptized. As He told John, "to fulfill ALL righteousness." Because He has taken our sin upon Himself, and fulfilled God's law, we are forgiven. Now, what the Father says of His Son in His baptism is true of us in ours, "You are my beloved! With you I am well-pleased."