Judges 10:14 Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen; let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation.
All of us live with a hierarchy of needs. The better you have things, the more you can afford to think about things that you want, not merely things that you need. If you are healthy, wealthy, and everyone loves you, then you might have the luxury of getting something you really want but don’t necessarily need. But, the dynamics quickly change when things become more severe in life. Imagine yourself in a beautiful ship in the Atlantic on a sunny day. You might not be worried about the phone calls at the office, the kids, or the bills, but you might be worried about whether you want a second lunch of lobster and steak. But, if that ship happened to be the Titanic, then all of a sudden breathing would become your greatest need and thought. Calamity is very clarifying. It often helps us to see what is acting as a god in our lives.
In Judges 10 you see the same old cycle that is repeated over and again. Verse 6 says, “And the children of Israel did evil.” Then the last part of verse 9 says, “So that Israel was sore distressed.” They were judged by God through the enemies of God and of Israel. The Bible says the children of Israel cried unto the LORD and said, “Help!”
In verse 14 we have God’s reply, “Go and cry to the gods which ye have chosen; let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation.” He says, “You’ve chosen gods. Let them take care of you.” The Israelites were sorry for the consequences of what was happening, but they had not turned back to God. Now before the chapter is over, they had an actual change of heart and they put away their false gods to serve God. The Bible says that God was “grieved for the misery of Israel.”
“Where are your gods now?” was essentially God’s question to Israel. That is a good question for you and me to consider today whether we are enjoying a time of plenty or we are in some kind of a crisis. Who is your god when push comes to shove?
There are things that we sometimes substitute for God in times of plenty. One of these things is money. You are only as able as the god you serve, and God has given us richly all things to enjoy. So, money is not evil, but the love of it is. Money can take care of a lot of problems, but if you really want to know how rich you are, think about what you would have if everything that money can buy was taken away. All you would have is that which money cannot buy, and you would realize very quickly that there is much that money can’t solve. Jesus said that you cannot serve God and mammon. You cannot serve God and possessions at the same time.
How about friends? Friends are a gift of God, yet you don’t know how many friends you have until you have no friends. When you are popular and everyone is nice to you, you don’t really know who your friends are. When it is not cool to be your friend and someone still sticks up for you, you know who your friend really is. Israel really had no friends. The Bible gives a whole list of enemies, the Egyptians, the Amalekites, the Philistines. God had given Israel victory over each of these, but you realize that Israel had no friends. When push came to shove, Israel realized that God Jehovah was indeed God.
Sometimes we don’t think we need God because of our strengths. The Bible tells us in Judges 10:9, “The children of Ammon passed over Jordan to fight also against Judah, and against Benjamin, and against the house of Ephraim; so that Israel was sore distressed.” Israel came to the end of her resources. When you come to the end of your resources, you realize Who God really is.
Money is a gift of God as are friends and our very strengths, but peace and contentment only come in the long haul by giving God His place in your life. It doesn’t mean you have health and wealth with no problems. Often it means precisely the opposite. You have a God Who is not just your God to provide and protect in the times of plenty but also in the times of great need. So, who is your God when push comes to shove? That is a question we ought ask ourselves today.