So the Lord became angry with the people of Israel. He handed them over to people who robbed them. He also used their enemies around them to defeat them.
Judges 2:14
The wake-up call: something that happens in your life to get your attention. Sometimes hard times come from the world, sometimes they come from your sinful choices, and sometimes they come from God. Whatever their source, their cure is always God’s presence. Trials and suffering should never be a time for you to freak out or give up but should be a time to take a spiritual inventory and to look at God and his Word to find out what direction to go next.
All through the history of Israel you can see a people bouncing back and forth from faith to disbelief. They struggled with focus, and a lot of times they would get off track by looking only at what they could see instead of at the invisible hand of God. But the beauty of history is that you get to see God’s hand at work in the lives of other people and to learn about his nature and his love for his children from what you see thousands of years later. Though God never saved his people from the consequences of their actions, he was always willing to send help their way.
When your life takes a detour and you find yourself somewhere you never thought you’d be, don’t give up hope: he is near and ready to take you back. You might not know today how to change your life and get closer to the God you love, but as you read his Word you’ll find that you’re not alone. Though your life might seem like a joke, it can change. You just have to be willing to cry out to him, confess your sins to him, and then wait for him to do what only God can do: save you from your sin and the mess it’s gotten you into.