Reading the Book of Judges Keeps Reminding Me of the Ugly Reality of Sin Cycles
The Book of Judges' final verse got it right that there was no king in Israel that day and everyone did what was right in their own eyes. Every time I read that verse I just feel like hitting myself, It's because of the truth that people do what is right only in their own eyes and not in God's eyes. The sin cycle goes with peace, Israelites do evil, God punishes the nation, Israel cries out for help, God raises a judge to deliver Israel, peace is restored and the next generation repeats the same sin all over again.
Isn't this an ugly reality in society today? I read the newspapers. I've even noticed how easy it is to want God out of your life until something bad happens. Something bad happens and the same people who wanted God out of their lives are asking where God is. Wait a minute - didn't these people want God out of their lives? It's really ironic how people want God out until the consequences of their sins backfires at them. You can sin all you want but you can't avoid the consequences of your sin. Worse, some people just want to be saved from the consequences of sin but not from sin itself. It's like wishing to be freed from the consequences of drug addiction and alcoholism yet you don't want to be freed from the addiction because it feels pleasurable to their sinful selves.
The reality that people do what is right in their own eyes may have been mentioned in Romans 10:2. You have people trying to establish their own righteous while they are ignorant of God's righteousness. Notice that in the Book of Judges, you have a new generation of Israelites that knew not the LORD. They have been tainted by the dangerous religion of the Canaanites. Many of the men married the Canaanite women in their idolatry. Rahab and Salmon could marry by God's standards because of the latter's repentance. It's the same pattern where you have the descendants of Seth intermarrying with the descendants of Cain. This raises the question of when will people ever learn?
What's worse is that as long as we live in this fallen world is that the sin cycles will keep going on and on. Everything right now is happening because of Bible prophecy. You cannot prevent prophecy from happening. You can see Matthew 24 and 2 Timothy 3 happen at a daily basis. People continue the same foolishness. They are wise in their own eyes. Yet there will come a time when one day Jesus will be the Judge of the world. The question is right now will He be your Lord and Savior or will be your Judge?