[One-Verse Meditation]

Judges 10:16 (NIV) “…Then they got rid of the foreign gods among them and served the LORD. And he could bear Israel’s misery no longer.”

[Meditation]

Once again, Israel does evil by forsaking the LORD and serving idols (10:6). In His anger, God hands them over to the Philistines and Ammonites. In their severe distress, Israel finally seeks God and confesses their wrongdoing. But this time, God turns away coldly, as if to test their sincerity. “Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen!” He says (10:14). Only then does Israel raise both hands in complete surrender. “Do with us whatever you think best, but please rescue us now” (10:15).

This ‘white-flag surrender’ was not just words. They got rid of the foreign gods among them and served the LORD. At that very moment, the Bible records God’s heart like this: “He could bear Israel’s misery no longer.” The Hebrew word translated here, ‘qatsar’ (קָצַר), means ‘to be impatient, to be anxious, to be unable to bear.’ It is the agonizing heart of a parent who cannot stand to watch their child suffer.

This scene makes it seem as if God’s heart was moved only after Israel repented. But that is not so. It was that ‘unbearable’ love for Israel that drove them into hardship in the first place, just to make them return to Him. So, God’s agonizing heart was the beginning and the cause of all these events.

That same heart of God is directed toward us today. His unending zeal and unbearable love, which somehow manage to pull us back to Him when our eyes turn to the world—that is our ‘today.’ So how could we not sing to Him?

[Prayer]

Lord, it is grace that you let me see Your heart for me today. In that agonizing love, let me hum a song and step out boldly into this brilliant new day. Amen.
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(Daily Reading)

Judges 10:1-11:3