1 00:00:02,720 --> 00:00:13,440 Speaker 1: Life Audio. Hello, thank you for listening to your Daily 2 00:00:13,480 --> 00:00:16,919 Speaker 1: Bible Verse, the podcast that examines one verse each day 3 00:00:17,079 --> 00:00:19,680 Speaker 1: to learn more about God and his will for us. 4 00:00:20,280 --> 00:00:22,800 Speaker 1: I'm your host, Jennifer Slattery, and after this short word 5 00:00:22,840 --> 00:00:26,520 Speaker 1: from our sponsors, we'll dive into today's Bible Verse Judges 6 00:00:26,560 --> 00:00:42,360 Speaker 1: one nineteen. Today's Bible versus Judges one nineteen. The Lord 7 00:00:42,479 --> 00:00:44,720 Speaker 1: was with the men of Judah. They took possession of 8 00:00:44,720 --> 00:00:47,879 Speaker 1: the hill country, but they were unable to drive the 9 00:00:47,880 --> 00:00:52,440 Speaker 1: people from the plains because they had chariots fitted with iron. 10 00:00:53,120 --> 00:00:56,320 Speaker 1: When my anxiety spikes, it's often because I've made my 11 00:00:56,640 --> 00:01:00,520 Speaker 1: problems much too big and my God far too now. 12 00:01:00,560 --> 00:01:03,080 Speaker 1: Please don't hear me. I'm not saying all of my 13 00:01:03,320 --> 00:01:06,000 Speaker 1: or your mental health challenges will go away if we 14 00:01:06,080 --> 00:01:09,440 Speaker 1: simply won't have more faith. But when in the middle 15 00:01:09,480 --> 00:01:13,280 Speaker 1: of an overwhelming situation, I'm able to recognize and gain 16 00:01:13,480 --> 00:01:16,840 Speaker 1: comfort from the Lord's presence. He reminds me of an important, 17 00:01:17,040 --> 00:01:21,440 Speaker 1: unchanging fact. Nothing is too hard, too big for him 18 00:01:21,560 --> 00:01:24,679 Speaker 1: to overcome. This helps me acknowledge the reality of my 19 00:01:24,760 --> 00:01:29,160 Speaker 1: fear without allowing it to drown out truth. Phrase differently, 20 00:01:29,200 --> 00:01:32,800 Speaker 1: it allows me to inform my intense emotions with truth, 21 00:01:32,880 --> 00:01:36,440 Speaker 1: and as God lovingly expands those truths within my soul. 22 00:01:36,840 --> 00:01:41,760 Speaker 1: Whatever hopelessness I felt prior lessons, the situation might still 23 00:01:41,800 --> 00:01:46,800 Speaker 1: feel exponentially hard, but I'm better able to see that 24 00:01:46,880 --> 00:01:50,360 Speaker 1: I am held securely by my ever present and all 25 00:01:50,440 --> 00:01:54,760 Speaker 1: powerful Father. When I first read Today's verse, it confused me. 26 00:01:54,880 --> 00:01:58,240 Speaker 1: It seemed to pose a contradiction. How could it state 27 00:01:58,440 --> 00:02:02,280 Speaker 1: that God was with Judah while also conveying their defeat. 28 00:02:02,600 --> 00:02:05,280 Speaker 1: If you followed our Moses series from Fearful to Faithful, 29 00:02:05,320 --> 00:02:08,560 Speaker 1: you might remember all the miraculous ways the Lord had 30 00:02:08,600 --> 00:02:11,600 Speaker 1: protected and provided for his children, from the moment he 31 00:02:11,639 --> 00:02:14,440 Speaker 1: liberated them from one of the mightiest nations in the 32 00:02:14,440 --> 00:02:18,040 Speaker 1: ancient world, to their entrance into the Promised Land and beyond. 33 00:02:18,760 --> 00:02:22,160 Speaker 1: Through the ten plagues, he used to reveal his supremacy 34 00:02:22,200 --> 00:02:25,760 Speaker 1: while dethroning the Egyptian false gods. He showed his superiority 35 00:02:25,800 --> 00:02:29,280 Speaker 1: over all nature and every supernatural force in the unseen world. 36 00:02:29,320 --> 00:02:32,440 Speaker 1: Imparting the Red Sea, he established his authority over all 37 00:02:32,520 --> 00:02:37,119 Speaker 1: creation and his commitment to the welfare of his children 38 00:02:37,160 --> 00:02:39,880 Speaker 1: when he swept their enemies into the sea, when he 39 00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:43,200 Speaker 1: rained manna from heaven, and caused water to gush from rocks. 40 00:02:43,480 --> 00:02:46,840 Speaker 1: He demonstrated that he was a god of abundance, able 41 00:02:46,919 --> 00:02:51,720 Speaker 1: to literally turn famine into a feast. Then came Jericho 42 00:02:51,960 --> 00:02:56,120 Speaker 1: and the Lord's instructions that probably felt irrational but resulted 43 00:02:56,200 --> 00:03:01,520 Speaker 1: in miraculous victory. The people didn't overcome through chariots, brilliant 44 00:03:01,520 --> 00:03:07,320 Speaker 1: military strategies or brute force. Triumph came through obedience and dependence, 45 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:12,000 Speaker 1: not human strength. So why now in Judge's chapter one, 46 00:03:12,200 --> 00:03:17,000 Speaker 1: likely within fifteen years of their leader Joshua's death, did 47 00:03:17,240 --> 00:03:21,839 Speaker 1: iron chariots cause the people to fail? Did the Lord 48 00:03:21,840 --> 00:03:27,840 Speaker 1: abandon them? Did his power prove insufficient? All of scripture, 49 00:03:27,919 --> 00:03:33,000 Speaker 1: including everything the redeemed Israelites experienced prior and after this point, 50 00:03:33,080 --> 00:03:37,200 Speaker 1: verifies that those two things are not possible. God himself 51 00:03:37,240 --> 00:03:40,640 Speaker 1: promised that he would never leave or forsake them, which 52 00:03:40,720 --> 00:03:44,360 Speaker 1: leads us to wonder what happened in Judges Chapter one. 53 00:03:45,160 --> 00:03:48,480 Speaker 1: Could it be that somewhere between their crossing the Jordan 54 00:03:48,600 --> 00:03:52,200 Speaker 1: River at flood stage and this point in their history, 55 00:03:52,240 --> 00:03:55,200 Speaker 1: they forgot or no longer trusted in the power, protection, 56 00:03:55,320 --> 00:03:59,520 Speaker 1: and provision of Almighty God. Obviously we can't know for sure. 57 00:03:59,520 --> 00:04:02,720 Speaker 1: A scripture doesn't tell us, But as I indicated prior, 58 00:04:02,800 --> 00:04:06,400 Speaker 1: the Bible does tell us enough that we can know 59 00:04:06,720 --> 00:04:10,360 Speaker 1: this with certainty. The issue had nothing to do with 60 00:04:10,440 --> 00:04:14,440 Speaker 1: God's abilities or willingness to rescue his people, As the 61 00:04:14,520 --> 00:04:18,240 Speaker 1: late seventeenth century theologian Matthew Henry Wentz wrote, quote, the 62 00:04:18,320 --> 00:04:22,080 Speaker 1: Canaanites had iron chariots, but Israel had God on their side, 63 00:04:22,080 --> 00:04:26,120 Speaker 1: whose chariots are thousands of angels end quote. That's a 64 00:04:26,160 --> 00:04:29,240 Speaker 1: reference to Psalm sixty eight, verse seventeen, which states the 65 00:04:29,320 --> 00:04:35,120 Speaker 1: chariots of God are tens of thousands and thousands of thousands. 66 00:04:35,800 --> 00:04:38,760 Speaker 1: Elsewhere we read that He commands Heaven's armies, which I 67 00:04:38,920 --> 00:04:42,960 Speaker 1: guarantee is greater than the largest fleet ever known to man, 68 00:04:43,400 --> 00:04:49,160 Speaker 1: thousands and thousands and thousands of times over. I wonder, then, 69 00:04:50,200 --> 00:04:54,920 Speaker 1: if the problem in Judge's Chapter one stemmed from the 70 00:04:54,960 --> 00:05:00,720 Speaker 1: strength of the people's fear, an understandable human emotion considering 71 00:05:00,720 --> 00:05:04,720 Speaker 1: their circumstances, particularly when one considers that, according to Judges three, 72 00:05:04,880 --> 00:05:09,719 Speaker 1: verse one, this present generation lacked battle experience, but had 73 00:05:09,760 --> 00:05:13,800 Speaker 1: their fear and their lack driven them to God independent trust, 74 00:05:14,160 --> 00:05:18,400 Speaker 1: A timid and still anxious trust, maybe, But trust. Nonetheless, 75 00:05:18,839 --> 00:05:23,600 Speaker 1: I'm certain everything following would have played out differently. They 76 00:05:23,720 --> 00:05:28,039 Speaker 1: could have experienced God's all sufficiency in their need, his 77 00:05:28,320 --> 00:05:33,760 Speaker 1: power in their weakness, and his victory instead of defeat. 78 00:05:34,839 --> 00:05:37,520 Speaker 1: So what does that mean for us? First, Today's Verse 79 00:05:37,520 --> 00:05:41,359 Speaker 1: and its surrounding passage isn't suggesting we should suppress or 80 00:05:41,360 --> 00:05:45,200 Speaker 1: deny our emotions. That typically intensifies them and causes us 81 00:05:45,240 --> 00:05:49,040 Speaker 1: to live increasingly disconnected from our true selves. But it 82 00:05:49,080 --> 00:05:52,280 Speaker 1: does encourage us to turn to God in our fear, 83 00:05:52,360 --> 00:05:56,680 Speaker 1: to express the depths of our anguish unfiltered, and then 84 00:05:56,760 --> 00:06:01,600 Speaker 1: to remain in his presence until we become aware of 85 00:06:01,760 --> 00:06:06,680 Speaker 1: Him and his spirit expanding within us. The first invites 86 00:06:06,720 --> 00:06:10,000 Speaker 1: him into our experience, and the latter allows us to 87 00:06:10,040 --> 00:06:13,680 Speaker 1: hear the words of assurance he longs to speak to 88 00:06:13,760 --> 00:06:17,080 Speaker 1: our souls. That, my friends, is how we learn to 89 00:06:17,240 --> 00:06:21,679 Speaker 1: choose faith even when our fears grow loud. Or maybe 90 00:06:21,680 --> 00:06:24,800 Speaker 1: a better way to phrase this is how he quiet fears, 91 00:06:24,880 --> 00:06:28,359 Speaker 1: yelling with truth informed faith. For some of you, the 92 00:06:28,360 --> 00:06:31,440 Speaker 1: first step might be cultivating the depth of relationship where 93 00:06:31,440 --> 00:06:35,080 Speaker 1: you're increasingly aware of God's presence in peaceful times, so 94 00:06:35,160 --> 00:06:38,160 Speaker 1: that it's easier to connect with him when you're afraid 95 00:06:38,360 --> 00:06:42,480 Speaker 1: for others, it might mean following the process I described here. 96 00:06:43,560 --> 00:06:48,960 Speaker 1: Come to him, express how you feel and what you need. Pause, breathe, 97 00:06:49,360 --> 00:06:53,080 Speaker 1: or maybe practice another grounding exercise to get your thinking 98 00:06:53,160 --> 00:06:57,919 Speaker 1: brain back online. Rest in his presence, receive his comfort 99 00:06:58,279 --> 00:07:03,480 Speaker 1: and strength, and listens for his assurance the words he 100 00:07:03,960 --> 00:07:08,680 Speaker 1: knows you most need to hear. And even if you 101 00:07:08,880 --> 00:07:13,400 Speaker 1: can't hear him or don't sense him, know this he 102 00:07:13,880 --> 00:07:18,720 Speaker 1: is still with you, working in you, and working through 103 00:07:19,120 --> 00:07:25,160 Speaker 1: your situation. Let's pray, Holy Father, you are always present. 104 00:07:25,200 --> 00:07:28,320 Speaker 1: You are ever present help in times of need. You 105 00:07:28,360 --> 00:07:33,080 Speaker 1: are bigger and stronger, more powerful than anything we could 106 00:07:33,080 --> 00:07:36,200 Speaker 1: ever face. You don't abandon us in our fear, in 107 00:07:36,280 --> 00:07:39,960 Speaker 1: our anxiety. Instead, you meet us in the intensity of 108 00:07:40,000 --> 00:07:43,600 Speaker 1: our emotions. You comfort us, You walk beside us. You 109 00:07:43,640 --> 00:07:47,760 Speaker 1: provide truth to us in ways that we can understand, 110 00:07:47,880 --> 00:07:51,200 Speaker 1: whether that's through a sermon or maybe seeing a sunrise 111 00:07:51,400 --> 00:07:54,320 Speaker 1: or the words of a friend, reading scripture, listening to 112 00:07:54,360 --> 00:07:58,560 Speaker 1: praise music. You know how best to comfort us, to 113 00:07:58,720 --> 00:08:02,200 Speaker 1: grow us, to sh feel us, to transform us, and 114 00:08:02,240 --> 00:08:06,240 Speaker 1: you do it all from a place of love. You 115 00:08:07,000 --> 00:08:12,480 Speaker 1: delight in us. May we receive your delight, believe, and 116 00:08:12,640 --> 00:08:17,840 Speaker 1: receive your delight in us. Even when our fear halts 117 00:08:17,880 --> 00:08:22,800 Speaker 1: our steps. You understand. You don't reject us or turn 118 00:08:22,880 --> 00:08:26,960 Speaker 1: us away. You never abandon us. Instead, you surround us 119 00:08:27,000 --> 00:08:30,280 Speaker 1: with your love and your grace. We love you, and 120 00:08:30,320 --> 00:08:32,120 Speaker 1: we praise you. And it is in the name of 121 00:08:32,280 --> 00:08:35,480 Speaker 1: your son, our savior, Jesus Christ, that we pray Amen.