“They set up camp by them and destroyed the produce of the country all the way to ‘Azah; they left nothing for people to live on, no sheep, no oxen, no donkeys.”-Judges 6:4
Verse 4 paints a dire picture of just how bad things were for Israel after the Midianite nomads got through with them.
These ruthless invaders attacked Israel from the north-central part of Canaan and continued on all the way to the southern territories near Gaza.
Their numbers were huge and we’re told they took EVERYTHING – all the fruit, grains, and animals…literally everything.
Israel was brought to her knees to the point of starvation.
One interesting point we shouldn’t overlook is we’re told these invaders came riding in on camels.
When it came to both travel and warfare, camels were the animal of choice for the descendants of Ishmael.
This made sense because the Ishmaelites dwelled in the deserts…as opposed to the Canaanites who coming from the region of Mesopotamia used horses.
Camels were not as audacious as horse-driven chariots.
But they were still feared and struck terror into the hearts of the Israelites.
We’re told it took 7 long years of suffering before Israel finally cried out to God for help.
Well there’s your takeaway for today’s lesson right there.
This seems to be the normal pattern not only in the Book of Judges but in the lives of millions of believers everywhere.
We always use God as a last resort and call out to Him only when things have hit rock bottom in our lives.
And that’s exactly where Israel was at this point in the Book of Judges: rock bottom!
Things were so bad the general population had taken to eating the most unkosher of foods (most likely insects and bugs) to survive and were living underneath caves and boulders.
It’s from this pathetic state that Israel finally humbled herself and began to cry out to God for help.
Now let me ask you a question.
How would you feel about a “friend” who only came to you when he or she needed something?
You’d feel like you were being used and pretty resentful, right?
So how do you think the Lord feels when you treat Him like a last resort only after you’ve exercised every other existing avenue in existence to solve whatever big problem you were facing?
You get my point?
Turning to God isn’t something we do as a last ditch effort only after all of our human efforts have been exhausted.
No man, God should be both our FIRST and LAST resort.
This was a lesson that Israel still needed to learn.
Remember, God wants us to obey and seek Him at all times, not just sometimes…when things get bad.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“I am the Alpha and the Omega,
the First and the Last,
the Beginning and the End.”
-Revelations 22:13
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