Good morning and happy Thanksgiving!! As you noticed, I didn’t blog yesterday, so to keep up to date, I will move right into day 7.

yesterdays scripture was Deuteronomy 11:13-21   “Obedience from love”

Today

Scripture: Judges 2:10-19

10 After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel. 11 Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord and served the Baals. 12 They forsook the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They aroused the Lord’s anger 13 because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. 14 In his anger against Israel the Lord gave them into the hands of raiders who plundered them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist. 15 Whenever Israel went out to fight, the hand of the Lord was against them to defeat them, just as he had sworn to them. They were in great distress.
16 Then the Lord raised up judges, who saved them out of the hands of these raiders. 17 Yet they would not listen to their judges but prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped them. They quickly turned from the ways of their ancestors, who had been obedient to the Lord’s commands. 18 Whenever the Lord raised up a judge for them, he was with the judge and saved them out of the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived; for the Lord relented because of their groaning under those who oppressed and afflicted them. 19 But when the judge died, the people returned to ways even more corrupt than those of their ancestors, following other gods and serving and worshiping them. They refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways.

Observation: such a clear picture of God’s forgiveness and grace. The book of judges is just story after story of Isreal following God and being in God’s favor while the judge was alive and leading, the judge dies, Isreal falls away from God, God giving them a new judge to lead them, Isreal repents and follows God again, and repeat. This pattern still exists today doesn’t it? The only difference is God has already sent the final judge, Jesus, to lead the people to repentance. And He is still alive, and so is God’s favor and grace. We still see us rebel and fall away from God, but we also see God grace at work. We come back to him, ask forgiveness, try again. And sometimes we fail again. But forgiveness always happens. and God promises that His forgiveness is eternal if we accept and embrace what Jesus did on the cross.

Application: It’s thankgiving, let’s be thankful today for the incredible grace we all receive every single day from our Lord.

Prayer: We thank you God for your plan of salvation. You showed us the need for a savior, a judge that would not die, so that we would always be in your favor. Thank you for what Jesus did for each one of us on the cross, thank you for forgiving me each day for my sins. God help me to be strong and able to resist when sin knocks at the door. I thank you for your incredible unending grace. Today, I remember the blessings you give me, thank you for the important things like family, friends and an incredible church. I am truly blessed. Amen.