The Land at Peace

Well, I am now finished with Joshua and reading into Judges.  I found it interesting that at the conclusion of every passage concluding the conquest of the Israelites over a particular king or tribe, the "Land found rest from war" for x number of years.  I realize that the point of this section of scripture is that whenever the Israelites would follow God, they would be victorious, but when they would reject God and start worshipping the idols of the surrounding cultures, they would lose ground and become enslaved by their neighbors or at least tormented by them.  God was trying to teach his "children" the way we teach ours, with privileges and punishements.

What got my attention, however, is that it is kind of the same thing in my life.  When I am in crisis, I cry out to the Lord for deliverance.  When he helps me, I find "rest from war" for a while.  Then, it seems, I get more lax in my prayer and devotion time and begin to think that somehow I am in charge of my own life and that I have it all together.  On my own.  No need for Him.  Then, the cycle starts all over.

I don't fall into idol worshipping, like the Israelites do, but I might as well.  I fall into the trap of self-sufficiency.  I become my own idol in a way.

I am so grateful for God's word, with the examples of his patient endurance while we mortals struggle to stay on the path he so graciously lays out before us.