Sunday, March 4, 2012

Judges 20

Thus all the men of Israel were gathered against the city, united as one man.

United as one man.  The unconscionably grievous and tragic crime against a young woman and her husband combined with the egregious response of dismembering her remains for national distribution to incite a visceral reaction to the situation; this is what brings unity for most of Israel?  And this to undertake a civil war. Oh, my.  

Lord God, I pray that unity is never this far away or that we will never need something so heinous as to stir unified sentiments within the Body.  Holy Spirit, keep us in Your rhythm, compliant and excited about the Kingdom agenda and focused on bringing holy glory to the great Name of our King.

I don't know if these descendants of Abe, Ike and Jake had trouble with the concept of holy or if they had keen understanding which I lack; but the desiring of the man by the townsfolk, the giving of the young woman, the matter of fact response to her corpse, the message her husband sent...where is the holy, where is their fear of You, where is their decency, their hospitality?  They had no fear of You or respect for Your divine law and that disregard manifested itself in the brutalization of a guest to their town.  And then, to have absolutely no repercussions from the local authorities is shocking and unbelievable.  

We need You, Father, we need Your holiness, Your wisdom and Your law.  We need You Holy Spirit, to cultivate in us the appetite for holy, the high view of our Lord, the desire and commitment to follow all the days and nights of our lives the Truth.  Jesus, my Messiah and Example, we need You to continue speaking Your way to us, to demonstrate that the holy path is noble, narrow; but very accessible if we choose to follow.  My Lord Rabbi, we need You to teach and illumine our minds and hearts with vision of the True.  Encourage us with Your humble example of triumph and resistance.  My Triune God, if You do not continue with us, we will be no different that the Gibeah-ites.   How I pray that we do not need such a severe jump-start on unity.  I praise You and thank You for the unity which is found only in You.  If we are not unified, we are untied.  So keep us  braided in Your strong cord of purity, holiness and integrity, to the praise of Your infinitely Wise and Good Name.  And please show me where I need to repent and how to pray regarding of the atrocities in my life.

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