In Every Age

The Book of Judges in the Old Testament tells the story of the Israelites settling in the Promised Land after crossing over the Jordan River.  Each tribe had its own assigned territory that could not be infringed upon by the other tribes -- it was their own inheritance from the Lord.  So the Israelite tribes lived in peace with one another, each man working his own land.  However, because there was no central place of worship, the individual tribes tended to drift into pagan practices, adapting even sometimes the practices of their neighbors who worshipped other deities.  Invariably, they would leave themselves open to attack from the foreign peoples who lived all around them, especially from the Philistines. 

In every age, in every case, God was mindful of His people when they called to Him in their distress, and He raised up a "judge" to defend the Israelites, to give them direction, or to go to battle against their threatening neighbors.  The story of the Judges in Israel continues down to our own times, though it may be more difficult to see today, in a more pluralistic society.  Throughout the history of the church, whenever the official church seemed to be dying from neglect, idolatry, or corruption, God has raised up "heroes" and "heroines" to restore holiness and to, in the words given to Francis of Asissi, "rebuild My church."  Once we see the pattern and study the lives of the saints, it is amazing to see the counter-balances; we begin to see a powerful and personal force at work in the church, a God who knows His way out of the grave and the almost-certain death of His church.

But it is not only in the formal "church" that we can see this personal Energy, this powerful Deliverance at work.  The hand of God reaches into every corner of the world; it is only because we do not have access to the testimony of private lives that we do not see it.  In hindsight, however, the Deliverance of God in every age becomes more clear. 

Harriet Tubman, for example, was born into slavery on a plantation in Maryland.  As she grew up, however, even as a child, she heard the voice of the Lord, much as did Joan of Arc.  She became convinced that God intended her to be free.  In 1849, she understood that the time had come, and she escaped at night, following the North Star until she reach Pennsylvania.  Once she was free, she returned again and again (19 times) to Maryland, rescuing at least 300 slaves.  The slaves called her "Moses."  She died in 1913.  Like Queen Esther in the Old Testament, she had been raised up "for such a time as this." 

Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, ---- how many "judges" have been raised up to rescue people in times of great evil and threat?  We will never know until we get to heaven and see for ourselves and hear for ourselves the marvelous stories of our own histories, and of the great and powerful and personal action of God in the world through those who trust Him.