October 20, 2023

The book of Judges has a bunch of morally bankrupt characters. And I have some bad news: It’s only going to get worse. A lot worse. 

As I have continued to think about this collection of memorable stories meant to help God’s people remember their God, a question keeps coming back to my mind. If Judges tells the story of Israel’s slow moral decline, 

How do I make sure to avoid that in my own life? To phrase it positively,  

How do I become a person of strong moral character? 

Last Sunday I said that a good starting point would be to 

Pay attention to the trajectory of your life. 

If you continue going in the direction your life is currently headed, where will you end up in a year? Ten years? If you are on a collision course with something bad, then do something to change the trajectory! God will always show up to help when we do. 

 This week, we look at a second critical aspect of character formation. We must be people who 

Intimately know the character of God. 

Here’s the challenge, we have said from the beginning that many readers of Judges walk away from the stories thinking that God himself appears morally bankrupt. That’s where we got the series title, God Did What? This Sunday, we tackle head on the question that has been lurking in the background, 

Does God condone the evil actions of Israel? To put is more broadly, 

Is God good and to be trusted? 

When we see the stories through the lens of the first audience and with an eye to their place within scripture, we discover that, in fact, the goodness of God’s character shines through. And it really needs to because the stories just keep getting darker. 

I pray this study not only helps us understand God’s word, but challenges each of us to seek God’s way in our lives.