Judges 9 – Brandon Hatmaker “Evil Pursues”
Austin New Church – South Austin Cares
Tuesday, September 9th, 2008
It’s easy to mistake the progress of selfish pursuit and even sinful gain with true success. When we see it in others, we are often left wondering why God would allow it. In our weakness, we might even covet that success and allow images of our own personal plights to flood our minds.
Such can be the case with Abimelech. He had experienced much advance. But when God had had enough and his time came, it simply came. Vs. 52-53 reminds us of how quickly it can end, “Abimelech went to the tower and stormed it. But as he approached the entrance to the tower to set it on fire, a woman dropped an upper millstone on his head and cracked his skull.”
He even begged his armor-bearer to run him through with his sword so that a “woman” didn’t take his life. How pathetic. Quite an ending to his journey, huh?
The chapter closes with a reminder of what really happened: “Thus God repaid the wickedness that Abimelech had done to his father by murdering his seventy brothers. God also made the men of Shechem pay for all their wickedness. The curse of Jotham son of Jerub-Baal came on them.”
Abimelech’s ways eventually caught up with him. I read in a commentary today about Judges 9 that, “Evil pursues sinners, and sometimes overtakes them, when not only at ease, but triumphant.”
I had a conversation with a friend recently about success in the church and how we measure it. Wow is it a slippery slope. I guess one of the reasons we should be thankful that God allowed Abimelech success for so long is because of the precedence of His patience and grace. Thank God He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He often extends the same Grace to us... even at times when our successes are from our own pursuits. The question is, how long before we listen?
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I think judgement is just like anything else when it comes to time tables. We want it on ours but, we want it to be God's. God has a plan for everybody. We don't what He has instore for people. Most of the time these days, I don't even know what He wants me to do. Judgement is the same thing. God will judge people on His time table. Who are we to say that the greedy person does not deserve the grace of God just like each one of us has experienced?
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