Judges 9 - The story of after Gideon

First of all, let me apologize for my hiatus. I had a series of morning meetings that threw me off my routine and then spent the next several days just trying to catch up with the reading schedule, which took away from my blogging time. Which I really missed. For me, blogging is accountability and sharing of thoughts, but it is also the opportunity to really process what I just read and hopefully listen better to whatever God is telling me through the passage. It's good to be back!

Today's reading on the schedule (I'm using youversion.com and the plan the OT and NT in a year) is Judges 9 and 10. First let me say that I have found Judges to be a little depressing to read. It seems to be a series to blessings, fall away into sin, cry to God for help, get saved, follow the Lord and have blessing, fall away into sin, cry to God for help, etc. etc.

Almost as soon as they got the land and Joshua passed away they fell away into sin. Then, a neighboring king made them slaves for 8 years and then they called out for help (it took them 8 years!) and so the Lord rose up Othniel (Caleb's younger brother) and they have peace until he died and they fell away again. The king of Moab took them as slaves and this time it took them 18 years to call out to the Lord. The Lord rose up Ehud, who killed the fat king and they had peace. Then Shamgar, then Deborah. Then Gideon. I love the story of Gideon because it is the story of God using us in our weakness to show his own strength. I should've blogged that day because I find it pretty inspiring.

Judges 9, however, is what happened to Gideon's children. Gideon had many wives and 70 children. His son Abimelech wants to rule the place and so he kills all his brothers, except for one that escapes. Later, he is killed in battle. Verse 56 says "Thus God repaid the wickedness that Abimelech had done to his father by murdering his seventy brothers." And then after all of his evil that he commits against Israel the Lord raises up Tola and then Jair.

The thing about Judges 9 that struck me is really just my own ignorance. I remember the story of Gideon so well, but the story of his rebellious son I have absolutely no memory of! This is why actually reading through the Bible is so important! I'm learning how easy it is to fall away from God when times are good. I'm learning that God uses hard times to bring us back to him. Honestly, I don't especially like hard times. I want to learn his ways in good times as well! But, I am seeing where the hard times are really the times of blessing in that God is our best reward.