One of my favorite Elisabeth Elliot quotes has always been this:
โTo be meek is to have a sane and proper estimate of oneโs place in the scheme of things. It is a sense of proportion.โ
Elisabeth Elliot has been something of a spiritual mother to me. I have read her words in many different seasons, and depending on where I was in life, they have felt like correction, a lecture, encouragement, or sometimes simply a soft place to land. There were times I read her words and felt as though I were being lovingly disciplined by an older woman who had walked through suffering and knew something I desperately needed to learn.
One of the things she helped me understand was that meekness is not weakness. It is strength under control. It is having a right understanding of who I am in relation to God: I am the created, and He is the Creator. I am not sovereign, I am not in control of everything, and I donโt have to be.
That realization changed the way I looked at my life, particularly motherhood.
When my son was very young, during the isolation of COVID and the months surrounding his autism diagnosis, his needs and behaviors were becoming increasingly difficult to understand. He was nonverbal at the time, and sleep became almost nonexistent. There were months when I was getting less than ten hours of sleep in an entire week.
Looking back, it is remarkable to me that I was still functioning. I was caring for my son, tending to our home, continuing to work, and trying to learn everything I could about autism while running on almost nothing.
But I know now that it wasnโt because I was strong enough. God was sustaining me.
I remember one particular night, around three in the morning, after two days without sleep. My son woke me by slapping me in the face. He wasnโt being aggressive or disobedient. He was nonverbal and simply trying to wake Mommy because Mommy wasnโt waking up.
For the first few seconds after waking, I had an overwhelming urge to hit him back.
I was angry. I was exhausted. I was completely at the end of myself.
And as painful as it is to admit that, I am grateful for what God showed me in that moment. I saw my flesh in a way I donโt think I ever had before. I saw how quickly my exhaustion could expose the sinfulness of my heart. I saw how desperately I needed a Savior.
Being at the end of myself became an invitation to stop pretending that I could be sufficient for myself.
I began learning to pursue the Lord even when I didnโt feel like pursuing Him. Sometimes all I had to offer was five minutes of Scripture or ten minutes of prayer. Then five minutes became ten, ten became twenty, and eventually those small pieces of time became hours.
Some of my sweetest times with the Lord happened in the middle of the night while my son paced back and forth or watched the same short documentaries over and over again. I would sit with my Bible and pray, asking God to change me and make me the mother my son needed.
And then there were the bathtubs.
For a long time, water was one of the few things that helped my son regulate and feel safe in his body. So I spent a lot of time sitting beside the bathtub. Sometimes for hours. Sometimes more than once a day. Because of the safety concerns, I couldnโt simply leave him there. I had to stay.
I remember lying beside that bathtub and thinking about all the things I was missing out on. Motherhood was supposed to look so different. I had imagined something quieter and more predictable.
But somewhere in those long hours of forced stillness, I began to realize that maybe motherhood hadnโt gone wrong. Maybe this was simply what motherhood needed to look like in that particular season.
And I remember what felt like the quietest conviction from the Lord:
If you cannot be still before your son, how will you ever learn to be still before Me?
Those moments of stillness, along with the long nights of being completely dependent upon Godโs grace, eventually became the beginning of The Meek Momma.
I didnโt start this blog because I had figured motherhood out. I started it because I hadnโt.
I needed somewhere to put the honest emotions, the questions, the Scripture I was wrestling through, and the things God was teaching me. I hoped that perhaps another woman could read those words and find encouragement before she reached the same place of exhaustion and desperation.
Because the Lord gives us opportunities every day to turn toward Him. His mercies are new every morning.
And I think that is part of what meekness has come to mean to me.
It is recognizing that I am not enough, but also recognizing that I was never meant to be.
It is learning to live within the boundaries of my created place rather than constantly fighting to take Godโs place. It has changed the way I think about my marriage, my motherhood, my work, my leadership, my finances, my service to others, and even the way I respond when I believe I know what should happen next.
It has also changed the way I understand submission.
I believe submission to a husband, rightly understood through Scripture, is a beautiful thing. It does not require a woman to become voiceless, passive, or insignificant. It is not an erasure of strength. Rather, it is one of the places where strength can be brought under control and entrusted to God.
There is something beautiful about a woman who doesnโt have to dominate every room, win every argument, control every outcome, or prove that she is the strongest person present.
There is strength in knowing when to speak and when to be quiet. There is strength in yielding. There is strength in serving. There is strength in trusting Godโs order when our flesh would rather insist on our own.
That is why I love this definition of meekness so much.
A sane and proper estimate of my place in the scheme of things.
Not thinking too highly of myself, but not thinking too little of myself either. Simply understanding that I am Godโs creation, He is my Creator, and my life makes the most sense when I live within that reality.
I am still learning this.
I am learning it in my home, in my marriage, in my work, in the courtroom, in leadership, and in the way I serve families and volunteers. I still wrestle with my desire to control. I still have moments when my flesh gets the better of me. But now I know where to take those things.
Back to Him.
Elisabeth Elliot taught me that suffering is never for nothing. She helped me understand that all things stand in the shadow of the cross, and that when I keep my eyes there, I can begin to count even the hardest things as joyโnot because suffering is enjoyable, but because God is faithful to use even what I would never have chosen.
This is why I chose the name The Meek Momma all those years ago.
Sacrifice of some kind was a nearly universal practice among ancient peoples. Israelโs sacrificial system shared certain similarities with the practices of surrounding nations, but it was also distinctly different in several important ways.
1. Israelโs Absolute Monotheism
Israel worshiped one true God, Yahweh. The sacrificial system was not created by Israel as a means of manipulating multiple competing gods. God Himself gave Israel specific instructions for worship and sacrifice as part of His covenant relationship with them.
2. Sacrifice Was Connected to Holiness, Ethics, and Obedience
Israelโs worship was rooted in the character of God Himself. Because God is absolutely holy, His people were called to holiness.
The sacrificial system was therefore connected to sin, repentance, atonement, forgiveness, and obedience to Godโs covenant commands. Sacrifice was never intended to replace faithful obedience.
โYou shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.โ โ Leviticus 19:2
The prophets repeatedly reinforce this truth: God does not delight in ritual performed apart from righteousness and obedience (1 Samuel 15:22; Isaiah 1:11โ17; Hosea 6:6; Micah 6:6โ8).
3. Israel Was Forbidden to Incorporate Magic and Occult Practices
Israelโs worship was not to be blended with the religious practices of the surrounding nations. God explicitly prohibited magic, sorcery, divination, necromancy, and related practices (Leviticus 19:26, 31; 20:6; Deuteronomy 18:9โ14).
Biblical sacrifice was never magic. It was not a technique for manipulating God or forcing Him to provide a desired outcome.
4. Israelโs Sacrificial System Had a High Moral Character
The biblical sacrificial system was fundamentally different from fertility religions and other surrounding practices. Israel was prohibited from incorporating ritual prostitution, sexual immorality, occult practices, and human sacrifice into its worship (Leviticus 18:21; Deuteronomy 18:9โ14).
Israelโs worship was to reflect the holiness of the God they worshiped.
Sacrifice Before Sinai
Sacrifice did not begin with the Mosaic covenant.
Long before Leviticus, Scripture records people offering sacrifices to God:
Cain and Abel โ Genesis 4:3โ5
Noah โ Genesis 8:20โ22
Abraham โ Genesis 12:7โ8 and following
Job โ Job 1:5
The biblical record clearly demonstrates that sacrifice was practiced among Godโs people long before the detailed sacrificial laws given through Moses.
The Mosaic covenant therefore revealed and regulated Israelโs sacrificial worship within their covenant relationship with God.
Cain and Abel: The Importance of the Worshiper
Genesis 4:3โ5 gives us one of Scriptureโs earliest accounts of sacrifice.
Cain brought an offering from the fruit of the ground, while Abel brought the firstborn of his flock and their fat portions.
God regarded Abel and his offering, but did not regard Cain and his offering.
The text does not explicitly state that Cain offered his โsecond best.โ What it does emphasize is that Abel brought the firstborn and the fat portionsโthe valuable portions of his flock.
The following conversation with Cain makes clear that the issue was not merely the physical offering. God addresses Cainโs conduct and heart:
โIf you do well, will you not be accepted?โ โ Genesis 4:7
The story therefore establishes an important biblical principle:
God cares about both the offering and the heart of the worshiper.
Why Cain and Abel Matter
The story appears remarkably early in Scripture, before Sinai, the tabernacle, the priesthood, or the Levitical system.
Already, Scripture is asking:
What does it mean to approach God rightly?
Cain and Abel introduce a theme that will continue throughout Scripture:
Worship cannot be separated from the heart and conduct of the worshiper.
This becomes essential for understanding the sacrifices of Leviticus. The sacrifices were not empty rituals performed mechanically. They belonged within a relationship of covenant faithfulness, holiness, repentance, and obedience.
Noah: Sacrifice and Covenant Grace
After the flood, Noah built an altar and offered burnt offerings to the LORD (Genesis 8:20โ22).
The LORD received Noahโs offering as a pleasing aroma and then declared His commitment to preserve the regular rhythms of creation:
โWhile the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.โ โ Genesis 8:22
The passage should not be understood as though Noahโs sacrifice manipulated God or changed Him from anger to mercy.
Rather, the sacrifice occurs within the larger story of judgment, grace, and covenant promise. God graciously commits Himself to sustaining His creation despite humanityโs continuing sinfulness.
As we enter Leviticus, we should first ask what each sacrifice meant within Israelโs own covenant relationship with God.
For each sacrifice, consider:
What was being offered?
Who brought the offering?
What was the worshiper required to do?
What did the priest do?
What happened to the blood and offering?
What portion belonged to God?
What portion, if any, belonged to the worshiper or priest?
What problem or need did the sacrifice address?
How did it relate to holiness, sin, forgiveness, fellowship, or thanksgiving?
How does the rest of Scripture develop this theme?
Where does the New Testament explicitly connect these themes to Jesus Christ?
This allows us to trace the sacrificial system toward Christ without forcing meanings onto the text that Scripture itself does not establish.
Key Thought
Sacrifice was never merely about putting something on an altar.
From the earliest pages of Scripture, sacrifice is connected with approaching God, responding to sin, worshiping rightly, honoring Godโs holiness, and living in covenant relationship with Him.
Israelโs sacrificial system was not unique simply because Israel sacrificed. It was unique because Yahwehโthe one true and holy Godโrevealed how His covenant people were to worship and approach Him.
As we study Leviticus, we will see the altar continually teaching Israel that:
sin is serious, God is holy, forgiveness is costly, and fellowship with God is a gracious gift.
The book of Leviticus begins precisely where Exodus leaves off.
The tabernacle has been completed, and the glory of the LORD has filled it. Godโs presence is so overwhelming that Moses is unable to enter the tent of meeting (Exodus 40:34โ35).
That detail is important.
Leviticus begins with a question:
How can a holy God dwell among an unholy people?
Leviticus breaks from much of the narrative structure of Genesis and Exodus and moves primarily into instructions concerning sacrifices, priesthood, purity, holiness, worship, and covenant life.
But these laws are not random regulations.
Mosesโ inability to enter the tabernacle establishes the theological problem that drives the book:
God is holy, and His people are not.
God desires to dwell among His people, yet His holiness cannot simply overlook sin and impurity. Leviticus therefore explains how Israel is to approach God, worship Him, deal with sin and ritual impurity, and live as a people set apart for His presence.
The sacrificial system provided God-appointed means of atonement, purification, forgiveness, and restored fellowship within the Mosaic covenant.
Three Major Areas of Leviticus
The laws of Leviticus can broadly be understood through three overlapping areas:
1. Ritual
These instructions govern Israelโs worshipโparticularly sacrifices, offerings, festivals, holy days, and other prescribed rituals.
2. Priesthood
These laws concern the ordination, qualifications, responsibilities, and conduct of the priests, who served in Israelโs worship and ministry at the sanctuary.
3. Holiness
These instructions teach Israel what it meant to live as a people set apart to God. They address worship, morality, relationships, sexuality, food, ritual purity, justice, and everyday life.
And this is important:
Ritual impurity is not necessarily the same thing as moral sin.
Something could make an Israelite ritually unclean without that person having committed a moral offense. The purity laws distinguish between categories of clean and unclean, while the holiness laws also address moral obedience and covenant faithfulness.
Together, these laws teach Israel that life in the presence of a holy God requires distinction, reverence, and holiness.
What Do These Laws Have in Common?
Though the laws of Leviticus address many different subjects, several themes continually emerge.
They call Israel to be holy.
โYou shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.โ โ Leviticus 19:2
They set Israel apart from the surrounding nations.
Israel was not simply another ancient nation with another religious system. They belonged to Yahweh and were called to reflect His character.
They continually remind Israel of their covenant relationship with God.
Their worship, daily lives, bodies, homes, food, relationships, priests, festivals, and sacrifices all existed within the reality that they belonged to God.
And they prepare us to understand the need for a greater and final atonement.
The New Testament explicitly develops the sacrificial and priestly themes of Leviticus and shows their fulfillment in Jesus Christ (Hebrews 9โ10).
We should be careful, however, not to force Christ into every individual detail of Leviticus. Instead, we watch for the connections that Scripture itself develops and allows the biblical storyline to lead us to Christ.
The Day of Atonement
At the center of Leviticus stands Leviticus 16โthe Day of Atonement, or Yom Kippur.
This was the great annual ceremony in which atonement was made for the sins and impurities of Israel and the sanctuary.
Two goats were selected.
One was offered as a sin offering.
The other became the scapegoat. The high priest confessed the sins of Israel over the goat, symbolically placing their iniquities upon it, and the goat was sent away into the wilderness.
These two goats vividly communicate two dimensions of atonement:
sin requires dealing with, and sin is removed from Godโs people.
The New Testament helps us see the greater fulfillment of these realities in Christ, whose sacrifice is not repeated annually but is once for all (Hebrews 9:11โ14; 10:10โ14).
Why Leviticus Matters
Leviticus may require a little more work to understand and apply than some of the more narrative books of Scripture.
But it gives us a profound picture of Godโs character and His purposes.
It teaches us that:
God is holy.
Sin and impurity matter.
God desires to dwell with His people.
Atonement is necessary for sinners to approach a holy God.
God Himself provides the way for His people to draw near.
And as the biblical story continues, these themes lead us toward the ultimate fulfillment of Godโs provision:
Jesus Christ, our perfect and once-for-all sacrifice.
A Simple Outline of Leviticus
Chapters 1โ7 โ The Sacrificial Offerings
Instructions concerning Israelโs various offerings, including the burnt, grain, peace, sin, and guilt offerings.
Chapters 8โ10 โ The Priesthood
The ordination of Aaron and his sons, their responsibilities, and the judgment that falls on Nadab and Abihu for unauthorized worship.
Chapters 11โ15 โ Clean and Unclean
Instructions concerning clean and unclean animals, bodily conditions, skin diseases, bodily discharges, and other matters of ritual purity.
Chapter 16 โ The Day of Atonement
Instructions for Israelโs annual Day of Atonement and the cleansing of the sanctuary and people.
Chapter 17 โ The Holiness of Blood and Sacrifice
Instructions concerning where sacrifices may be offered and the sacred significance of blood.
Chapters 18โ20 โ Holiness in Everyday Life
Commands concerning sexual morality, family relationships, idolatry, justice, and separation from the practices of the surrounding nations.
Chapters 21โ22 โ Priestly Holiness
Additional requirements concerning the holiness and conduct of the priests and regulations concerning acceptable offerings.
Chapter 23 โ Feasts and Holy Days
Israelโs appointed times, including Passover, Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits, Weeks, Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and Booths.
Chapter 24 โ Holy Things and Covenant Community
Instructions concerning the lampstand, the bread of the Presence, and the consequences of blaspheming Godโs name.
Chapter 25 โ Sabbath Year and Jubilee
Instructions concerning the Sabbath year, the Year of Jubilee, land, property, debt, and care for fellow Israelites.
Chapter 26 โ Covenant Blessings and Curses
A covenant call to obedience accompanied by promises of blessing and warnings concerning covenant disobedience.
Chapter 27 โ Vows and Dedicated Things
Regulations concerning vows, dedications, valuations, and things devoted to the LORD.
The Big Picture
Leviticus is not simply a book of strange rules about sacrifices, food, priests, and purity.
It is a book answering a profound question:
How can a holy God dwell among a sinful people?
And as we study it carefully, we begin to see the answer unfolding:
God makes a way for His people to dwell in His presence.
The temporary and repeated provisions of the Mosaic covenant ultimately point us toward the greater reality revealed in Christโthe One whose sacrifice is sufficient once for all.
โFor by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.โ โ Hebrews 10:14
Learning to Pray for Spiritual Growth from Philippians 1:9โ11
Perhaps one of the clearest measures of what we truly desire for the people we love is what we repeatedly ask God to do in their lives.
โAnd it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.โ
โ Philippians 1:9โ11
What do you pray for the people you love?
If someone listened carefully to your prayers for your husband, your children, your friends, your church, or the believers God has entrusted to your care, what would they discover that you most deeply desire for them?
We pray for safety, healing, provision, restored relationships, open doors, protection for our children, strength for marriages, and relief from suffering.
These are good things to bring before our Father.
But Paulโs prayer in Philippians 1:9โ11 confronts us with a deeper question:
Do our prayers reveal that our greatest desire for the people we love is their spiritual maturity and conformity to Jesus Christ?
Paul writes Philippians from imprisonment. He loves these believers deeply. He has invested himself in their lives, labored for their spiritual good, and partnered with them in the advancement of the gospel.
Immediately before recording his prayer, Paul writes:
โFor God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.โ
โ Philippians 1:8
Then Paul allows us to hear what a heart filled with the affection of Christ asks God to do in the lives of others.
He does not begin by praying that the Philippians would escape suffering or experience easier circumstances.
Paul prays for their spiritual growth.
He asks God to increase their love, deepen their knowledge, sharpen their discernment, teach them to recognize what is excellent, make them sincere and blameless, fill their lives with the fruit of righteousness through Jesus Christ, and keep them faithful until the day of Christ.
And all of it moves toward one ultimate purpose:
the glory and praise of God.
This prison prayer gives us more than a glimpse into Paulโs pastoral heart.
It teaches us how to pray for the people we love.
1. A Love That Never Stops Growing
Paul begins:
โAnd it is my prayer that your love may abound more and moreโฆโ
The Greek word translated abound is perisseuล (ฯฮตฯฮนฯฯฮตฯฯ).
It carries the idea of increasing, overflowing, exceeding, or becoming abundant.
Paul is not writing to Christians who have no love. The Philippians have already demonstrated their affection for Paul and their partnership in the gospel.
Yet Paul prays for more.
There is no point in the Christian life when we graduate from the command to love. Spiritual maturity does not mean that we eventually become loving enough.
The more deeply we know Christ, the greater our capacity should become to love the people He has placed around us.
Paul does not explicitly state the object of the Philippiansโ love in verse 9. The Greek text simply says:
แผก แผฮณฮฌฯฮท แฝฮผแฟถฮฝ โ โyour love.โ
Within Paulโs letters, love for fellow believers frequently occupies a prominent place, especially in the opening sections of his letters. Paul commends the saints for their love in Ephesians 1:15, Colossians 1:4, 1 Thessalonians 1:3, and 2 Thessalonians 1:3.
Given Paulโs repeated emphasis upon the love believers should have for one another, and the relational concerns that later emerge in Philippians, love for fellow Christians is certainly included and may be especially prominent here.
But Paulโs prayer reaches even deeper.
He desires a growing Christian loveโlove rooted in God, shaped by truth, and expressed wisely toward others.
When Jesus identifies the greatest commandments, He first commands us to love God with our entire being and then to love our neighbor as ourselves.
Love for God and love for others belong together.
We need love that abounds still more and more.
But Paul does not pray merely for more love.
He prays for a particular kind of love.
2. A Love Governed by Truth
Paul continues:
โโฆwith knowledge and all discernment.โ
The word translated knowledge is epignลsis (แผฯฮฏฮณฮฝฯฯฮนฯ).
It carries the idea of genuine, deep, or full knowledge.
The Reformer John Calvin explained Paulโs meaning:
โPaul means that it is full and complete, not a knowledge of all things.โ
Paul is not praying that the Philippians would simply accumulate more information or become intellectually impressive.
He desires a deepening knowledge that shapes how they live and love.
The word translated discernment is aisthฤsis (ฮฑแผดฯฮธฮทฯฮนฯ).
It refers to moral perception, insight, or the capacity to recognize what is appropriate in a particular situation.
Paul is praying for love with eyes.
Love that sees.
Love that understands.
Love that perceives.
Love that knows how to respond wisely to real people in real situations.
Biblical love is not blind sentimentality.
It is not merely being nice.
It is not avoiding difficult conversations, affirming every decision someone makes, or doing whatever makes us feel loving.
Paul is not praying that the Philippians would become smarter, but wiser in their care for one another.
Genuine love requires spiritual wisdom.
We need discernment to know when to speak and when to remain silent. When to confront and when to comfort. When to intervene and when to wait. When to give generously and when helping in the wrong way might enable destructive patterns.
Without knowledge and discernment, sincere attempts to love can become misguided.
We may offer tenderness without truth.
Or truth without tenderness.
We may give someone what they want when faithfulness requires giving them what they need.
We may avoid necessary conversations because we have confused kindness with silence.
Paul prays for something better.
Love governed by truth and guided by discernment.
Biblical love requires more than good intentions.
We need wisdom from God.
3. A Love That Chooses What Is Excellent
Paul explains the purpose of knowledge and discernment:
โโฆso that you may approve what is excellentโฆโ
The word translated approve is dokimazล (ฮดฮฟฮบฮนฮผฮฌฮถฯ).
It means to test, examine, scrutinize, and determine whether something meets the necessary standard.
Paul prays that the Philippians would develop the spiritual ability to examine the choices before them and recognize what is truly excellent.
Steven Lawson observes that some of the most difficult choices Christians face are not between what is obviously good and evil, but between what is good, better, and best.
That is where discernment becomes necessary.
We have limited time.
Limited energy.
Limited resources.
We cannot meet every need, accept every invitation, pursue every opportunity, intervene in every situation, or say yes to every good thing.
Mature Christian love asks:
What is most excellent here?
What will genuinely serve this personโs spiritual good?
What does faithfulness require in this particular situation?
What will matter most in light of eternity?
What must I say no to so that I can say yes to what God has actually entrusted to me?
Paul does not want the Philippians to stumble through relationships guided only by emotion, pressure, guilt, or the expectations of others.
He prays that their growing love, governed by knowledge and discernment, will enable them to recognize and pursue what is excellent.
We should pray the same for our churches, our spouses, our friends, those we disciple, and our children.
Lord, teach them to recognize what matters most.
4. A Love That Produces Integrity
Paul continues:
โโฆand so be pure and blameless for the day of Christโฆโ
The word translated pure or sincere is eilikrinฤs (ฮตแผฐฮปฮนฮบฯฮนฮฝฮฎฯ).
It communicates genuineness, sincerity, purity of motive, and integrity.
Paul is praying for believers whose lives can withstand examination.
Christians without divided loyalties.
Without religious performance.
Without carefully constructed appearances that conceal contradictory lives.
There must not be an inconsistency between what we confess to believe and how we live.
Our theology and conduct belong together.
Our public Christianity and private character belong together.
Our doctrine and love belong together.
Every area of life should increasingly become part of one integrated whole under the lordship of Jesus Christ.
That is integrity.
Paul also prays that the Philippians would be blameless.
The Greek word is aproskopos (แผฯฯฯฯฮบฮฟฯฮฟฯ).
It carries the idea of being without offense or not causing stumbling.
Paul wants their lives to be marked by such integrity that their conduct does not become an unnecessary obstacle in the spiritual lives of others.
It matters to God how we live.
Forgiveness of sin does not give us freedom to continue carelessly in sin.
The grace that pardons us is the same grace that purifies us.
Our hypocrisy can wound.
Our careless words can discourage.
Our uncontrolled anger can harm.
Our dishonesty can destroy trust.
Our selfishness can place obstacles in the spiritual lives of those around us.
Christian love therefore requires personal holiness.
Paul prays that this integrity would characterize the Philippians:
โโฆfor the day of Christ.โ
His prayer stretches all the way to eternity.
There is always more patience to learn, more kindness to practice, more forgiveness to extend, more selfishness to put to death, more wisdom to gain, and more Christlikeness to pursue.
The whole Christian life is lived in preparation for that great day.
When Christ returns, may He find us loving one another.
5. A Love That Bears Fruit Through Christ
Paul continues:
โโฆfilled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christโฆโ
The Christian life produces fruit.
But notice carefully where the fruit comes from.
Through Jesus Christ.
Paul is not praying for self-generated moral improvement.
He is not asking the Philippians to become better people through greater willpower.
The righteousness visible in their lives is produced through their relationship with Jesus Christ.
This connects beautifully with the opening words of Philippians and with the foundation we established in the first blog of this series.
Paul has already addressed these believers as:
โsaints in Christ Jesus.โ
They belong to Christ.
They are in Christ.
They receive grace and peace from Christ.
And now Paul prays that the life of Christ would increasingly bear visible fruit through them.
The spiritual fruit of righteousness begins to grow when God makes a sinner alive in Christ.
We do not love others in order to make ourselves Christians.
We love because God has made us alive in Christ.
We do not produce spiritual fruit in order to earn acceptance from God.
Spiritual fruit grows because we have been united to Jesus Christ.
The first fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5:22 is love.
Rebirth is the root.
Love is the fruit.
The Christian life is not the decoration of a dead tree.
It is the fruitfulness of a living one.
And the source of that life is Jesus Christ.
This should deeply shape how we pray.
When we pray for spiritual growth in the people we love, we are not merely asking them to try harder.
We are asking God to produce through Christ what human effort cannot manufacture.
Lord, bear the fruit of Christ in them.
6. A Love That Ends in the Glory of God
Paul reaches the destination of his prayer:
โโฆto the glory and praise of God.โ
Paul begins with love.
But he ends with glory.
The glory of God.
Choosing what is excellent.
Sincerity and blamelessness.
Perseverance until the day of Christ.
The fruit of righteousness through Jesus Christ.
And ultimately:
The glory and praise of God.
Christian love is not ultimately about making us appear compassionate.
Spiritual maturity is not about producing impressive Christians.
The fruit of righteousness is not intended to build our reputation.
Everything terminates in the glory of God.
Paul writes:
โSo, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.โ
โ 1 Corinthians 10:31
The Puritan Thomas Brooks wrote:
โThe aim of the obedient soul, in prayer, and praises, and talking, and walking, in giving, and receiving, in living, and doing, is divine glory.โ
Godโs glory must become the master passion of the Christian life.
The way we pray.
The way we speak.
The way we love.
The way we forgive.
The way we serve.
The way we parent.
The way we suffer.
The way we work.
All of life should increasingly be directed toward one great end:
the glory and praise of God.
What Do Your Prayers Reveal About What You Want Most?
Paulโs prayer forces us to examine our own.
What do we most deeply desire for the people we love?
Do I merely want my children to be safe, successful, healthy, well-behaved, and happy?
Do I want my husband to change primarily because his change would make my life easier?
Do I pray more frequently for the physical health of the people I love than for their holiness?
Do I pray for my church to grow numerically without praying with equal intensity that we would grow in love, discernment, integrity, and righteousness?
If someone listened to our prayers, would they know that our greatest desire for the people we love is that Christ would be formed in them?
Paul teaches us to pray beyond circumstances.
That does not mean we stop praying for healing, safety, provision, protection, reconciliation, or relief from suffering.
Our Father invites us to bring every burden to Him.
But our prayers should reach further.
Lord, whatever You do with their circumstances, make them more like Christ.
Increase their love.
Deepen their knowledge.
Sharpen their discernment.
Teach them to recognize what is excellent.
Make their lives sincere and blameless.
Fill them with the fruit of righteousness through Jesus Christ.
Keep them faithful until the day of Christ.
And through their lives, receive glory and praise.
Perhaps one of the greatest ways we can love another person is to pray for what God desires to produce in them.
Behold Christ
Paulโs prayer does not leave us staring at ourselves.
It leads us to Jesus Christ.
The love Paul desires is formed in those who know Christ.
The discernment Paul requests is wisdom God must give.
The righteousness Paul desires comes through Jesus Christ.
The perseverance Paul anticipates continues until the day of Christ.
And the glory produced through transformed lives ultimately belongs to God.
Christ is not standing at the edge of this prayer waiting for us to become better people.
He is at the center of it.
He is the source of the righteousness Paul desires.
He is the One whose life increasingly becomes visible in His people.
He is the One toward whose return the Christian life is moving.
We cannot manufacture this kind of love.
We must receive from Christ what we need in order to give ourselves faithfully to others.
So when we pray for the people we love, we are asking God for something only He can do:
Make them like Jesus.
And through their lives, glorify Your name.
Examine Your Heart
What do my prayers reveal that I most deeply desire for the people I love?
Do I pray more frequently for changed circumstances than for transformed character?
Is my love governed by biblical truth and spiritual discernment, or primarily by emotion, fear, guilt, pressure, or the desire for approval?
Is there consistency between what I confess to believe and how I live?
Am I trying to produce spiritual fruit through human effort rather than depending upon Jesus Christ?
Is the glory of God truly the highest aim of my prayers and my life?
Respond
Choose one person God has placed upon your heart.
Your spouse.
Your child.
A friend.
A church member.
Someone you disciple.
Someone who is suffering.
Someone with whom your relationship is difficult.
For the next week, pray Philippians 1:9โ11 specifically for that person.
Ask God to increase their love, deepen their knowledge, sharpen their discernment, teach them to recognize what is excellent,
Pray
Father, teach me to pray for the people I love according to Your priorities and not merely my preferences.
Let our love abound more and more with knowledge and all discernment. Give us wisdom to recognize the real needs of the people You have placed in our lives and teach us to love them faithfully.
Help us recognize what is excellent and give us courage to choose what is best rather than simply what is easiest, most comfortable, or most approved by others.
Make our lives sincere and blameless. Bring every hidden inconsistency under the lordship of Jesus Christ, and keep our lives from becoming stumbling blocks to others.
Fill us with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ. Produce in us what we cannot manufacture ourselves. Keep us faithful until the day of Christ.
And above every other desire, teach us to live for Your glory.
Content note: This study discusses sexual violence, physical abuse, and trauma in the context of Judges 19 and includes a personal testimony of surviving abuse.
There are chapters of Scripture that comfort us.
There are chapters that encourage us.
There are chapters that strengthen our hope, remind us of Godโs faithfulness, and give us words to pray when our own words fail.
Judges 19 is not one of those chapters.
Judges 19 is meant to horrify us.
There is no deliverer.
There is no victory.
There is no miraculous rescue.
There is no repentance.
There is only a Levite, his concubine, an old man, a violent mob, a night of unspeakable abuse, the death of an unnamed woman, and a nation about to tear itself apart.
Judges 19 is one of the darkest chapters in all of Scripture.
And we should not rush through the darkness.
We should not soften the violence.
We should not turn the suffering of this woman into a convenient illustration.
We should not search so quickly for an encouraging application that we fail to sit beneath the weight of what the text is showing us.
Because Judges 19 is here for a reason.
The book of Judges has been showing us what happens when the people of God reject the rule of God.
Again and again, Israel has done what is right in their own eyes.
They have compromised.
They have worshiped idols.
They have reshaped God according to their preferences.
They have pursued comfort.
They have sought blessing without obedience.
They have built religions they could control.
And now, at the end of the book, we are shown where that road leads.
Israel has become indistinguishable from the nations around them.
Worse still, Israel has become like Sodom.
Before We Read
Before going any further, we need to acknowledge what this chapter contains.
Judges 19 describes sexual violence, abuse, dehumanization, and death.
The Bible records these events.
It does not approve of them.
Scripture is painfully honest about the evil human beings are capable of committing. The Bible does not hide the consequences of sin. It does not sanitize human depravity. It does not pretend that rebellion against God remains private, harmless, or contained.
Sin spreads.
Sin corrupts.
Sin dehumanizes.
And when people persistently reject the authority of God, other human beings bear the consequences.
The unnamed woman at the center of Judges 19 is not merely a literary device.
She is a human being made in the image of God.
She is sinned against.
She is abandoned.
She is violated.
She dies.
And the men surrounding her repeatedly treat her as though her life exists for their convenience.
We should allow the horror of that reality to trouble us.
The text intends for us to be troubled.
In Those Days There Was No King
Judges 19 begins with words we have heard before:
โIn those days, when there was no king in Israelโฆโ
This statement has become the theological backdrop of the final chapters of Judges.
Israelโs problem is not merely political.
Their deepest problem is spiritual.
There is no human king, but more importantly, Israel is living as though there is no divine King.
God has spoken.
God has given His law.
God has established His covenant.
God has told His people how to worship, how to pursue justice, how to treat the vulnerable, how to order their families, and how to live together as His holy people.
Yet everyone continues doing what is right in his own eyes.
Judges 19 shows us what happens when subjective morality reaches its logical conclusion.
When everyone becomes his own authority, the strong eventually decide what happens to the weak.
When personal desire becomes the highest standard, other people become objects to be used.
When Godโs authority is rejected, human dignity does not increase.
It collapses.
A Levite Who Should Have Known Better
Once again, a Levite stands near the center of the story.
That should trouble us.
The Levites had been set apart for service connected to the worship of God.
If anyone should have known the Word of God, it was a Levite.
If anyone should have understood covenant faithfulness, justice, holiness, and the value of belonging to God, it was a Levite.
Yet the Levite in Judges 19 is not presented as a faithful spiritual leader.
He is part of the problem.
The chapter begins by introducing his concubine, who leaves him and returns to her fatherโs house in Bethlehem.
After four months, the Levite travels to persuade her to return.
Her father welcomes him enthusiastically.
For several days, the men eat, drink, and delay the journey.
Eventually, the Levite insists on leaving.
The decision is made late in the day.
As darkness approaches, the servant suggests that they stop in Jebus, the city that would later become Jerusalem.
But the Levite refuses.
Jebus is inhabited by foreigners.
He does not want to spend the night among people who are not Israelites.
Instead, he chooses to continue to Gibeah.
Surely they will be safer among the people of God.
They are not.
When Israel Became Sodom
The travelers arrive in Gibeah, a city belonging to the tribe of Benjamin.
They sit in the town square.
No one welcomes them.
Eventually, an old man returning from his work in the fields sees them and offers hospitality.
Then the story begins to sound disturbingly familiar.
The men of the city surround the house.
They demand that the Levite be brought outside so that they can sexually assault him.
The deliberate connection to Genesis 19 is difficult to miss.
In Genesis, the men of Sodom surround Lotโs house.
In Judges, the men of Gibeah surround the old manโs house.
In Genesis, the mob demands the male visitors.
In Judges, the mob demands the Levite.
The language is similar.
The circumstances are similar.
The depravity is similar.
But there is one devastating difference.
Gibeah is not a Canaanite city.
Gibeah belongs to Israel.
God had called Israel to be holy.
God had separated them from the nations.
God had given them His Word.
God had placed His name among them.
God had called them to display His character to the world.
But now the people who were supposed to be different have become indistinguishable from the people they were commanded not to imitate.
Israel has become Sodom.
This may be one of the most terrifying warnings in the entire book of Judges.
The people of God can live among the things of God, possess the Word of God, use the name of God, and still become increasingly unlike God.
Spiritual privilege does not make anyone immune to spiritual decay.
A people who repeatedly refuse to listen to God can eventually become unrecognizable as His people.
The Failure of Every Man in the Story
There are no heroes in Judges 19.
The men of Gibeah are wicked.
But they are not the only men who fail.
The old man offers the women of the household to the mob.
The Levite sends his concubine outside.
The men abuse her throughout the night.
In the morning, she collapses at the doorway of the house.
And when the Levite opens the door, he says:
โGet up, let us be going.โ
There is no recorded grief.
No tenderness.
No attempt to help her.
No acknowledgment of what she has suffered.
When she does not respond, he places her body on his donkey and returns home.
The woman at the center of the story is repeatedly acted upon.
Men decide where she will go.
Men decide what will happen to her.
Men sacrifice her safety to protect themselves.
Men violate her.
Men speak over her.
Men use her death for their own purposes.
She is never given a voice.
And that silence is part of the horror.
The further Israel moves from the rule of God, the more vulnerable people suffer.
Throughout Scripture, the treatment of the vulnerable is repeatedly connected to the spiritual condition of Godโs people.
When people love God, they are commanded to love their neighbor.
When people fear God, they are forbidden from using power merely for their own advantage.
When people reject Godโs authority, power becomes something to seize, protect, and use.
Judges 19 shows us a society in which nearly everyone is protecting himself.
And the person with the least power pays the highest price.
The Banality of Evil
One of the most disturbing things about the final chapters of Judges is how ordinary everyone seems.
These are not monsters from another world.
They travel.
They eat meals.
They extend hospitality.
They have families.
They speak about God.
They belong to tribes.
They participate in religious life.
And yet beneath the ordinary surface lies profound moral corruption.
Evil does not always announce itself dramatically.
Sometimes it grows quietly.
Compromise after compromise.
Excuse after excuse.
Desire after desire.
People gradually become accustomed to what once would have horrified them.
Sin becomes normal.
Consciences become dull.
People learn to live with contradictions.
They speak the language of faith while living according to their own desires.
The final chapters of Judges show us what happens when rebellion becomes ordinary.
The people do not merely commit isolated acts of sin.
They inhabit an entire moral world in which everyone is doing what is right in his own eyes.
The Woman at the Door
There is an image near the end of the chapter that is difficult to forget.
Morning comes.
The door opens.
And the woman is lying at the threshold with her hands on the doorway.
She had almost reached shelter.
But the door remained closed.
There are times when careful Bible study requires us to resist the urge to turn every detail into a metaphor.
This woman does not need to become a symbol before we are willing to grieve what happened to her.
She was a person made in the image of God.
And she was treated as disposable.
The text does not give us her name.
But God saw her.
The men in this chapter use her.
Ignore her.
Abandon her.
Violate her.
Dismember her.
But the God who inspired Scripture does not allow Israel to forget her.
Her suffering becomes part of the testimony against a nation that has rejected its King.
Her presence in Scripture reminds us that God does not look away from the suffering human beings would prefer to ignore.
The Bible bears witness to victims whom powerful people would rather leave unnamed.
The God Who Saw Me Too
There is a reason I cannot read Judges 19 from a safe distance.
I know what it is like to be sexually abused.
For a long period of my life, I was sexually abused by my father. I was also sexually and physically abused by other men.
I know something of the deep wounds these kinds of sins leave behind.
I know what it is like to carry questions you do not know how to ask.
Does God see me?
Does He care about what happened?
Will there ever be justice?
Am I still worthy of being loved?
For many years, I did not know how to bring those questions to God. I did not know how to process what had happened to me within my theology.
Then I began learning to slow down when I read Scripture.
I stopped rushing past difficult passages.
I stopped assuming that the darkest stories in the Bible were obstacles to faith that needed to be explained away as quickly as possible.
And I began to see something I had missed.
God does not hide what evil does to people.
He does not call evil good.
He does not ask us to pretend that suffering does not matter.
He does not look away from the people others would prefer to forget.
Judges 19 does not allow us to forget this woman.
The text does not give us her name, but God preserved the testimony of what was done to her.
Her suffering is not hidden.
The evil committed against her is not erased.
Generation after generation has been forced to reckon with what happened in Gibeah because God allowed her story to remain in His Word.
And as I learned to see her, I began to understand more deeply that God saw me too.
I thought about Hagar.
She was a woman caught within the sinful decisions and abuses of power of other people.
She fled into the wilderness.
And there, the angel of the LORD found her.
He called her by name.
โHagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?โ
โ Genesis 16:8
Hagar responded by giving God a name:
โYou are a God of seeing.โ
She said:
โTruly here I have seen Him who looks after me.โ
โ Genesis 16:13
Later, Hagar would find herself in the wilderness again, believing she was about to watch her son die.
She wept.
God heard.
And the angel of God called to her from heaven.
These passages began changing the way I understood God.
The God of Scripture is not the author of evil.
He is good.
He is just.
He sees.
He hears.
He knows.
And because He is faithful, He will keep every promise He has made.
That means evil will not be ignored forever.
Those who have harmed others will answer to Godโs perfect justice.
Some of us may see justice in this life.
Some of us may not.
Human courts may fail.
People may refuse to believe us.
Those who committed evil may never acknowledge what they have done.
But there is no hidden thing that will remain hidden before the judgment of God.
The Judge of all the earth will do what is just.
For me, that truth did not make forgiveness unnecessary.
It made forgiveness possible.
I began to understand that forgiveness does not require me to call evil good.
It does not require me to pretend that justice does not matter.
It does not require me to deny what happened.
I can entrust final judgment to the God who sees perfectly, knows completely, and judges righteously.
And I can bring my wounds to Jesus.
The One who sees Hagar in the wilderness is the same God who came near to us in Christ.
Jesus saw women others ignored.
He welcomed people others rejected.
He touched those others considered unclean.
He drew near to the suffering.
He was betrayed.
He was stripped.
He was mocked.
He was beaten.
He was crucified.
And He willingly bore the judgment for sin so that sinners could be reconciled to God.
The cross taught me that God does not minimize evil.
Sin is so serious that the Son of God gave His life to save sinners from it.
And the resurrection taught me that evil, suffering, and death will not have the final word.
Slowly, the Old Testament and the New Testament began coming together for me.
The God who saw Hagar is the God who saw me.
The God who refused to let Israel forget the unnamed woman of Judges 19 had not forgotten me.
The righteous Judge before whom every evil will one day be exposed is also the Father who received me through His Son.
I began to understand that Jesus loved me deeply.
I began to receive the love of God instead of believing that what had been done to me determined my worth.
I began to seek forgiveness for my own sins.
I began learning to forgive others.
And I began trusting God with the justice I could not accomplish for myself.
These passages did not destroy my faith.
They deepened it.
They taught me that I do not need a Bible that looks away from evil.
I need a God who sees it more clearly than I ever could.
I do not need a God who offers shallow explanations for suffering.
I need the God who enters our suffering, judges with perfect justice, saves sinners through the blood of His Son, and promises that one day He will make all things new.
If you have experienced sexual violence, physical abuse, or other deep wounds, or if you love someone who has, I want you to know why I am willing to remain in difficult passages like Judges 19.
It is because I have found that slowing down in these passages has helped me know God more deeply.
You do not have to pretend that evil is less evil in order to trust Him.
You do not have to silence your grief.
You do not have to be afraid of your questions.
Bring them into the light of Scripture.
Learn the character of the God who sees.
Learn the justice of the God who will judge rightly.
Learn the mercy of the Savior who receives sinners.
Learn the love of the Father who gave His Son so that all who trust in Him might be reconciled to God.
My prayer is not merely that you will make it through the difficult chapters of the Bible with your faith intact.
My prayer is that, as you slow down and see the God who has revealed Himself there, your faith will deepen too.
The God who saw Hagar sees.
The God who preserved the testimony of the unnamed woman remembers.
The God who gave His Son saves.
And the King who is coming will judge the world in righteousness.
Come and see the God who sees.
Where Is God?
One of the unsettling realities of Judges 19 is the apparent silence of God.
There is no divine speech.
No angel appears.
No miracle interrupts the violence.
No deliverer arrives.
Where is God?
The answer is not that God has disappeared.
The entire book has shown us a people repeatedly refusing to listen to Him.
God has spoken.
Israel possesses His covenant.
Israel has His law.
Israel knows His commands.
The tragedy is not that God failed to reveal what righteousness looks like.
The tragedy is that Israel has rejected what God has revealed.
We must also be careful not to confuse Godโs silence in the narrative with Godโs indifference to suffering.
The chapter itself stands as testimony against Israel.
God has preserved the record of what happened.
The evil in Gibeah is not hidden from Him.
The suffering of the woman is not forgotten.
Judges 19 shows us what life looks like when human beings insist upon doing what is right in their own eyes.
And it leaves us longing for judgment, rescue, and a righteous King.
Outrage Is Not Repentance
The Levite takes the womanโs body and divides it into twelve pieces.
He sends the pieces throughout the territory of Israel.
The act is horrifying.
The response is immediate.
The people of Israel say:
โSuch a thing has never happened or been seen from the day that the people of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt until this day; consider it, take counsel, and speak.โ
Israel is finally shocked.
After years of idolatry.
After generations of compromise.
After repeated rejection of Godโs covenant.
After everyone has done what is right in his own eyes.
Israel has finally found a sin terrible enough to produce national outrage.
But outrage is not the same thing as repentance.
It is possible to be horrified by the sins of others while remaining blind to the sin within ourselves.
It is possible to correctly identify evil and still respond to evil in ways that reveal our own estrangement from God.
That is where Judges 20 will take us.
The nation will gather.
The people will demand justice.
A civil war will begin.
Thousands will die.
And the people who are outraged by Gibeah will continue demonstrating that the deepest problem in Israel cannot be contained within one city.
The problem is everywhere.
The Road to Gibeah Was Longer Than One Night
Israel did not become Sodom overnight.
The violence of Judges 19 is the fruit of seeds planted throughout the entire book.
Israel compromised with the Canaanites.
Israel tolerated idolatry.
Israel abandoned covenant faithfulness.
Israel repeatedly cried out to God when suffering became unbearable, only to return to rebellion when relief arrived.
Israel treated God as a means of obtaining blessing rather than as their King.
By Judges 17, Micah has created his own religion.
By Judges 18, the tribe of Dan has established institutionalized idolatry.
By Judges 19, Israel has become Sodom.
This is the trajectory of sin.
Sin rarely tells us where it intends to take us.
It asks only for the next compromise.
The next excuse.
The next small act of disobedience.
The next moment when we decide that what seems right in our own eyes matters more than what God has said.
Judges 19 forces us to see the destination.
We Need a Righteous King
The book of Judges has shown us judge after judge.
Some were faithful.
Some were deeply flawed.
Some delivered Israel from external enemies while remaining unable to change the hearts of Godโs people.
But now there is no judge.
There is no deliverer.
There is no faithful leader standing between the vulnerable and those who would destroy them.
The repeated refrain tells us what Israel lacks:
โIn those days there was no king in Israel.โ
But Israel does not merely need someone wearing a crown.
Israel needs a righteous King.
A King who will not exploit the weak.
A King who will not sacrifice others to save Himself.
A King who knows the Word of God and obeys it perfectly.
A King who sees the forgotten.
A King who defends the vulnerable.
A King who judges evil without becoming evil.
A King who can deal not only with the enemies surrounding Godโs people, but with the sin dwelling within them.
Judges leaves us longing for such a King.
The gospel tells us His name.
The King Who Gave Himself
The men in Judges 19 preserve themselves by giving up someone else.
Jesus does the opposite.
Christ does not sacrifice the vulnerable to save Himself.
He gives Himself to save sinners.
The Good Shepherd does not abandon the sheep when the wolves come.
He lays down His life for the sheep.
Jesus does not use His power to protect Himself from suffering.
He willingly enters suffering.
He is betrayed.
He is mocked.
He is beaten.
He is condemned.
He is crucified.
Not because humanity is innocent.
But because humanity is guilty.
At the cross, we see both the horror of human sin and the holiness of God.
The cross does not minimize evil.
It reveals how serious sin truly is.
The righteous King bears judgment in the place of His people.
Judges 19 shows us human beings sacrificing others to save themselves.
The gospel shows us the Son of God giving Himself to save sinners.
Jesus Christ is the King Israel needed.
And He is the King we need.
The King Who Sees
Judges 19 reminds us that human beings can overlook suffering.
Communities can normalize injustice.
Religious people can become indifferent.
Powerful people can protect themselves.
Victims can remain unnamed.
But God sees.
God hears.
God knows.
And God will judge rightly.
The gospel does not ask us to pretend evil is less terrible than it is.
The gospel tells us that evil will not have the final word.
Jesus Christ was crucified.
Jesus Christ was buried.
Jesus Christ rose from the dead.
Jesus Christ reigns.
And one day the King who sees every injustice will judge the world in righteousness.
Every hidden thing will be brought into the light.
Every wrong will be answered according to perfect justice.
For those who belong to Christ, the promise of His kingdom means that suffering, violence, injustice, and death will not endure forever.
The King is coming.
Behold Him, Not Me
Judges 19 is difficult to read because it shows us what human beings become when we reject the rule of God.
Israel was called to be holy.
Israel was called to be different.
Israel was called to display the character of God among the nations.
Instead, Israel became Sodom.
The warning should humble us.
We should never assume that religious language, biblical knowledge, church attendance, ministry involvement, or spiritual heritage makes us immune to compromise.
We need more than outrage over the sins of the world.
We need more than moral reform.
We need more than better circumstances.
We need new hearts.
We need forgiveness.
We need righteousness we cannot produce for ourselves.
We need a King.
Judges leaves us searching for Him.
The rest of Scripture tells us His name.
Jesus Christ.
The righteous King.
The faithful Shepherd.
The One who sees the forgotten.
The One who judges with perfect justice.
The One who gave Himself to save sinners.
When everyone does what is right in his own eyes, look to the King.
When the world becomes accustomed to evil, look to the King.
When religious people fail, look to the King.
When human justice proves insufficient, look to the King.
When the darkness seems unbearable, look to the King.
Behold Him.
Heart Check
Am I more skilled at identifying the sins of others than examining the compromises within my own heart?
Have I become comfortable with things that Scripture calls evil?
Are there areas of my life where personal preference has become more authoritative than the Word of God?
Do I assume that being surrounded by Christian things is the same as faithfully following Christ?
How do I respond when obedience to Jesus requires me to protect, serve, or speak for people who have less power than I do?
Do I merely feel outrage over evil, or does the reality of sin lead me toward repentance, prayer, obedience, and trust in Christ?
Where am I tempted to protect myself at the expense of others?
Do I truly believe that Jesus is the righteous King I needโnot only to judge the evil around me, but to save me from the sin within me?
Prayer
Father,
Judges 19 is difficult to read.
The violence is horrifying. The suffering is real. The depth of human sin is difficult to comprehend.
Yet Your Word refuses to hide what happens when people reject Your rule and do what is right in their own eyes.
Search my heart.
Show me where I have become comfortable with compromise.
Show me where I am quicker to condemn the sins of others than to repent of my own.
Guard me from a faith that knows Your Word but refuses to submit to it.
Teach me to see people as those made in Your image.
Give me courage to protect the vulnerable, speak truth, pursue justice, and refuse to make peace with evil.
For those reading who carry wounds caused by the evil of others, draw near to them.
Help them know that You see.
Help them know that You hear.
Help them know that evil is not hidden from You and that Your justice will not fail.
Lead them to the Savior who receives sinners, binds up the brokenhearted, and will one day make all things new.
And when the darkness of human sin feels overwhelming, turn our eyes toward Christ.
Thank You for giving us the King we could never produce for ourselves.
Thank You that Jesus did not sacrifice others to save Himself, but willingly gave Himself to save sinners.
Thank You that He sees the forgotten, receives the repentant, judges rightly, and reigns forever.
Finding joy in the creatures God made, celebrating progress that doesnโt always look big, and learning to recognize His kindness in the middle of ordinary family life.
There are some family trips where you come home rested.
This was not one of those trips. ๐
This past weekend, our family headed down to Newport for two full days at the Oregon Coast Aquarium. By the time we came home, our feet hurt, our bodies were tired, and according to how my legs felt, we had walked approximately 100,000 steps.
Okay, maybe that number is slightly dramatic.
But my feet would like it entered into the official record anyway.
And if you know Jackson, you already know exactly why we went:
Sea creatures. Allllll the sea creatures.
Sharks. Rays. Fish. Tide pools. Anything swimming, crawling, floating, or lurking beneath the surfaceโJackson wants to see it, learn about it, and probably tell you something about it that you didnโt know.
Seeing It Through His Eyes
One of my favorite things about being Jacksonโs mom is getting to experience the world through the lens of whatever has captured his attention.
And sea creatures have certainly captured his… for the last 7 years.
There is something special about watching your child stand completely captivated by an animal God createdโstudying how it moves, noticing tiny details the rest of us might walk right past, and wanting to soak in every bit of it.
As we walked through the aquarium, I found myself thinking about just how wildly creative our God is.
The strange ones.
The beautiful ones.
The tiny ones we almost miss.
And the ones with enough teeth that we are perfectly content admiring them through very thick glass. ๐
Every single one displays something of the creativity, wisdom, and imagination of its Creator.
โO LORD, how manifold are your works! In wisdom have you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.โ โ Psalm 104:24
What a gift that God did not simply create a functional world.
He created one overflowing with wonder.
And what a gift to experience some of that wonder through the eyes of our son.
But This Trip, We Noticed Something Else: Growth
We visited the aquarium last fall, so Zac and I had a pretty recent trip to compare this one to.
And this time, we could see it.
Jackson has grown.
Not just physicallyโalthough somehow these children insist on doing that no matter how many times we tell them to stop.
We saw growth in things that might seem incredibly ordinary to another family but felt huge to ours.
Jackson ate really well throughout the entire trip.
He was able to sit down and take breaks.
He handled two very full days of walking, stimulation, excitement, transitions, and activity in ways he simply could not have before.
Were there still meltdowns?
Yep.
Were there still struggles?
Absolutely.
Did all three of us have moments when we were tired, overstimulated, frustrated, or just plain done?
Oh yes.
This wasnโt one of those magical family vacations where everyone smiled peacefully at one another for 48 consecutive hours while inspirational music played softly in the background.
We are still us. ๐
There were hard moments tucked between the smiles in these pictures.
But this weekend reminded me of something I donโt want to forget:
The presence of struggle does not mean there hasnโt been progress.
Sometimes growth doesnโt mean the hard things disappear.
Sometimes growth means something that was impossible six months ago is now possible for ten minutes.
Then twenty.
Sometimes it looks like sitting down long enough to eat a good meal.
Sometimes itโs being able to take a break in the middle of an exciting day.
Sometimes itโs recovering from a hard moment just a little faster.
Sometimes itโs tolerating one more transition.
And sometimes, itโs watching your childโs world get a little bigger.
A Little Detour That Was Actually a Really Big Deal
One of my favorite examples of that happened when we decided to fit in an extra stop at Ripleyโs Believe It or Not.
On paper, it wasnโt anything extraordinary.
It was just a little one-hour excursion squeezed into an already very full weekend before heading back to the aquarium.
But for our family?
It was a really big deal.
Jackson was nervous and hesitant at first.
He wasnโt particularly excited about going in. This wasnโt what he had come to Newport for. The aquarium and his beloved sea creatures were familiar territory; this was something different, unexpected, and full of unknowns.
There was a time when that alone would have made an extra stop like this impossible.
But he went in.
And little by little, we watched something change.
There were so many hands-on and sensory experiences inside that his hesitation began to give way to curiosity.
He started exploring.
He engaged.
He let go.
He had fun.
He was nervousโand he was brave enough to push through that nervousness and discover something new on the other side of it.
And then came something equally significant:
When our little adventure was finished, we transitioned back to the aquarium and continued our day.
An unfamiliar place.
An unexpected addition to the plan.
A completely different sensory environment.
Walking into it despite being unsure.
Enjoying it.
Leaving it.
And then transitioning back to the original plan.
To someone looking from the outside, it might simply look like:
We went somewhere for an hour.
But we knew.
This little one-hour excursion would have been impossible before.
Not difficult.
Not inconvenient.
Impossible.
And this weekend, it was possible.
Not necessarily easy.
But possible.
And there is something incredibly beautiful about realizing that something that once felt impossible has quietly become possible.
When His World Gets a Little Bigger
I think this may be one of the ways I want to remember Jacksonโs growth:
His world is getting a little bigger.
We arenโt measuring progress by whether everything suddenly becomes easy.
We arenโt measuring it by whether meltdowns disappear.
They havenโt.
We arenโt pretending that autism somehow becomes less real simply because we had a wonderful weekend.
There are still hard moments.
There are still accommodations.
There are still things we navigate differently than other families might.
But those realities do not cancel out progress.
Instead, we are learning to notice when Jacksonโs capacity to experience the world expands just a little more.
When something that once felt impossible becomes possible.
When uncertainty doesnโt completely prevent curiosity.
When he can experience nervousness and still be brave.
When he can try something unfamiliar and discover that he actually enjoys it.
When we can add one more experience to the day.
When we can transition awayโand then transition back.
These things may look small from the outside.
But when you remember when they werenโt possible?
They donโt feel small at all.
Sometimes you donโt realize just how far your child has come until you suddenly find yourself standing in the middle of something you once couldnโt do.
And you think:
Wait.
Weโre doing it.
Donโt Let Todayโs Hard Moment Make You Forget How Far Youโve Come
There were still difficult moments this weekend.
And when you are in one of those moments, it can be easy to feel as though nothing has changed.
A meltdown can feel very big while youโre standing in the middle of it.
A difficult transition can temporarily overshadow everything that went beautifully before it.
But then I remembered last fall.
And suddenly, I could see it.
Progress.
Growth.
Maturity.
Capacity.
Grace.
Not perfection.
Growth.
And isnโt that so often how God works in all of us?
We tend to want transformation to happen in giant, unmistakable leaps.
We want to wake up one morning and discover that the difficult things are no longer difficult.
But so often, the Lord faithfully works through thousands of tiny moments that donโt seem remarkable while weโre living them.
A little more endurance.
A little more courage.
A little more patience.
One more thing that becomes possible.
And then one day, we look backward and realize:
We arenโt where we used to be.
Sometimes we have to look back to see just how faithfully God has carried us forward.
Sea Creatures, Small Victories & a Very Full Two Days
So we explored.
We walked.
And walked.
And walked some more.
We watched sharks glide through the water.
We admired creatures from the deep.
We learned.
We laughed.
We ate.
We rested when we needed to.
We tried something new.
We navigated meltdowns.
We regrouped.
And then we kept going.
By the end of our two days, our feet hurt, our bodies were tired, and I think we had collectively seen enough fish to qualify for honorary marine biology degrees.
But our hearts were full.
Because tucked inside an ordinary family weekend at the aquarium were a hundred little reminders of Godโs kindness.
The kindness of watching our son experience something he genuinely loves.
The kindness of seeing his face light up over creatures God made.
The kindness of noticing growth that can be difficult to recognize when you are living life one day at a time.
The kindness of realizing his world is getting a little bigger.
The kindness of getting another adventure togetherโeven when adventures with our family donโt always look effortless.
And the kindness of a Creator who filled His world with creatures so strange, beautiful, intricate, and fascinating that we could spend a lifetime discovering them and still have more to see.
Praise the Lord for Progressโand for Really Cool Sharks
Iโm learning not to wait until everything is easy before calling something good.
This weekend was good.
It was also tiring.
There were meltdowns.
There were struggles.
There were probably moments when all three of us needed a timeout.
And there was so much joy.
Those things can exist together.
The hard does not erase the good.
And the presence of struggle does not mean there hasnโt been progress.
So today, Iโm thanking God for two days in Newport.
For a little boy who loves all things sea creatures.
For a daddy who explores alongside him.
For sharks swimming overhead.
For meals eaten well and breaks successfully taken.
For an unexpected one-hour adventure.
For the courage to walk into something unfamiliar.
For transitions that once would have been impossible.
For tired feet.
For small victories that really arenโt so small.
And for growth that sometimes can only be seen when we turn around and look at how far weโve come.
Most of all, Iโm thankful for the beautiful, bizarre, magnificent creatures our God dreamed up and spoke into existence for His gloryโand that He graciously allows us to enjoy.
Praise the Lord for making such a wonderfully wild world.
And praise Him that, little by little, Jacksonโs world is getting biggerโand we get the privilege of watching him discover it.
โIt is possible to seek Godโs blessing while refusing Godโs authority.โ
The Most Dangerous Kind of Religion
If someone asked you what spiritual rebellion looks like, what would you picture?
Would you imagine someone abandoning church?
Rejecting Christianity?
Walking away from God altogether?
That is often what we think rebellion looks like.
Yet Judges 17 presents a far more subtle danger.
Micah does not reject religion.
In fact, he becomes increasingly religious.
He has a shrine.
He has idols.
He has an ephod.
He has household gods.
Now he wants a priest.
The problem is not a lack of religious activity.
The problem is that everything revolves around Micah.
The religion is designed for his convenience.
His preferences.
His control.
And if we are honest, that temptation remains alive in every generation.
A Levite Looking for a Better Opportunity
The story introduces a young Levite from Bethlehem in Judah.
This should immediately raise questions.
The Levites were the tribe set apart by God for spiritual service. Their inheritance was not land but the privilege of serving the Lord and teaching His people.
Yet here we find a Levite wandering the countryside looking for a place to settle.
Why?
The text does not tell us directly.
But it reveals something troubling.
The spiritual leadership of Israel has become just as unstable as the people they are meant to shepherd.
The Levite arrives at Micahโs house, and Micah quickly sees an opportunity.
He offers him a position:
โStay with me, and be to me a father and a priest.โ (Judges 17:10)
Notice the language.
Micah does not ask what God desires.
He asks what will benefit him.
He wants a personal priest.
Someone attached to his private shrine.
Someone who can provide religious legitimacy to a system God never authorized.
And the Levite accepts.
Not because it is faithful.
But because it is profitable.
For ten shekels of silver, clothing, and food, he becomes Micahโs employee.
The arrangement appears spiritual.
But underneath it is a business transaction.
Micah gets religious credibility.
The Levite gets security.
Neither appears concerned with obedience to God.
Religion on Our Terms
What Micah is building is not true worship.
It is personalized religion.
God had already established where and how Israel was to worship.
The tabernacle stood as the place where sacrifices were offered and Godโs presence was uniquely displayed among His people.
Yet Micah decides that Godโs arrangement is inconvenient.
He creates his own.
His own shrine.
His own priest.
His own system.
His own rules.
Everything is customized according to his preferences.
This is the natural progression of the human heart.
When we begin reshaping God, we eventually begin reshaping worship.
Tim Keller summarizes the problem well:
โGod says, worship Me as I am, not as you want Me to be. Worship Me as My Word directs, not as your heart suggests.โ
That is precisely what Micah refuses to do.
And before we judge him too harshly, we should recognize how often we are tempted to do the same.
We may not build shrines in our homes.
But we frequently approach faith as consumers rather than disciples.
We ask:
What works for me?
What makes me comfortable?
What fits my schedule?
What aligns with my preferences?
The modern world encourages us to customize everything.
Our entertainment.
Our news.
Our shopping.
Our social media feeds.
And if we are not careful, we begin treating Christianity the same way.
Instead of asking, โWhat has God commanded?โ
We ask, โWhat do I like?โ
Wanting Godโs Blessing Without Godโs Authority
The climax of the story comes in verse 13.
Micah proudly declares:
โNow I know that the Lord will prosper me, because I have a Levite as priest.โ
This statement reveals the true condition of his heart.
Micah believes he has found the formula for blessing.
He has assembled all the religious pieces.
He has the shrine.
Yet Micah has misunderstood something fundamental.
He has the idols.
He has the priest.
Surely now God will bless him.
Godโs blessing is not a reward for manipulating religious systems.
God cannot be controlled.
He cannot be purchased.
He cannot be managed.
Micah treats worship almost like a superstition.
As though gathering enough religious objects and religious people will guarantee divine favor.
Yet genuine faith is not about controlling God.
It is about surrendering to Him.
This temptation remains incredibly common today.
We can begin treating prayer like a formula.
Church attendance like a transaction.
Bible reading like a spiritual insurance policy.
We subtly convince ourselves that if we perform the right activities, God owes us certain outcomes.
But God is not interested in being used.
He desires to be worshiped.
The Better Priest
Micah wanted a priest who belonged to him.
A priest who would serve his interests.
A priest he could hire.
A priest he could control.
But Godโs people do not need a priest of their own making.
We have been given a perfect High Priest.
The book of Hebrews tells us that Jesus Christ serves as our great High Priest before the Father.
Unlike Micahโs priest, Jesus cannot be bought.
Unlike Micahโs priest, Jesus never compromises.
Unlike Micahโs priest, Jesus perfectly represents God to His people and His people before God.
The wandering Levite points us toward humanityโs need for a faithful priest.
Jesus fulfills that need completely.
The Better Temple
Micah built a shrine.
God provided something better.
Throughout the Old Testament, Godโs presence was associated with the tabernacle and later the temple.
But even these pointed beyond themselves.
Jesus declared:
โDestroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.โ (John 2:19)
He was speaking about His own body.
Jesus is the true meeting place between God and humanity.
Micah attempted to create a sacred space that would guarantee Godโs favor.
God gave us Christ.
We do not travel to a private shrine to find Him.
We come to Jesus.
The Better King
The repeated refrain of Judges reminds us:
โIn those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.โ
Micahโs story illustrates exactly what happens when people become their own authority.
They reshape God.
They reshape worship.
They reshape truth.
They reshape morality.
They become kings of their own lives.
Yet the Bibleโs answer is not better self-help.
The answer is a better King.
Jesus does not simply offer advice.
He reigns.
And unlike every human leader, His rule is good.
His commands are good.
His authority is good.
True freedom is not found in doing whatever seems right in our own eyes.
True freedom is found in joyful submission to the King who sees clearly.
Behold Him, Not Me
Micahโs religion looked impressive.
He had all the right pieces.
A shrine.
A priest.
Religious language.
Religious activity.
Religious confidence.
Yet none of it brought him closer to God because it was ultimately centered on himself.
The danger of Judges 17 is not merely false religion.
It is self-centered religion.
A faith that uses God rather than worships Him.
A faith that seeks blessings without surrender.
A faith that wants Godโs gifts more than God Himself.
The gospel offers something infinitely better.
Not a convenient religion.
Not a customized spirituality.
Not a God made in our image.
But Jesus Christ.
Our better Priest.
Our better Temple.
Our better King.
The One who does not exist to serve our preferences.
The One who came to rescue us from ourselves.
May we learn to stop asking how God can fit into our plans.
And instead ask how our lives can be shaped by His.
Behold Him, not me.
Heart Check
โข Are there areas where I want Godโs blessings more than Godโs authority?
โข Have I been treating faith as a relationship or as a transaction?
โข Do I approach God seeking surrender or control?
โข Are there parts of my life I have customized according to my preferences rather than Godโs Word?
โข What would joyful submission to Christ look like in my life today?
Prayer
Father,
Forgive me for the ways I seek Your blessings while resisting Your authority. Forgive me for the times I have approached faith as a transaction rather than a relationship.
Thank You for giving me something far better than self-made religion. Thank You for Jesus, my perfect High Priest, my true Temple, and my rightful King.
Teach me to surrender areas of my life that I have kept under my own control. Help me to trust Your wisdom more than my preferences and Your Word more than my feelings.
May my faith not be built around convenience, comfort, or personal gain, but around knowing and worshiping You.
Teach me to behold Christ more clearly and to follow Him more faithfully.
As I continue studying verse by verse through the book of Judges, I find myself increasingly amazed by how often God chooses to work through the weak, the overlooked, and the seemingly impossible.
Judges 13 introduces us to one of the most important mothers in Israelโs history, yet we are never told her name.
We know her husbandโs name. We know her sonโs name. We know the nation she lived among and the oppression she endured. Yet the woman through whom God would begin Israelโs deliverance remains unnamed.
At first glance, that may seem insignificant. But for many women, especially those who have walked through seasons of loneliness, infertility, disappointment, or feeling unseen, there is something deeply comforting here.
We may not know her name.
But God did.
And that is enough.
As someone who has wrestled with infertility myself, this passage immediately drew me in. For twelve years my husband and I prayed for a child. Then, in Godโs kindness, He gave us Jackson. Yet even now, as Jackson grows older, there are still moments when I feel the ache of unmet expectations and unanswered prayers.
Perhaps that is why this woman feels so familiar.
She was barren.
She knew disappointment.
She understood waiting.
And yet she was not forgotten.
Samsonโ Mom
Israelโs Need and Godโs Mercy
Judges 13 opens with a familiar refrain:
โAnd the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.โ
We have seen these words throughout the book of Judges.
Israel sins.
God disciplines.
Israel suffers.
God raises up a deliverer.
The cycle repeats.
This time, God gives Israel into the hands of the Philistines for forty years.
Israelโs greatest problem, however, was not the Philistines.
It was their sin.
And the same is true for us.
The greatest danger we face is never ultimately outside of us. It is the rebellion that resides within our own hearts.
Yet even as Israel continues its downward spiral, God is already preparing a rescue.
Not because Israel deserves it.
Not because they have repented.
But because God is merciful.
The God Who Sees the Unseen
The angel of the Lord appears not to a king.
Not to a priest.
Not to a military leader.
He appears to a barren woman.
And the first words she hears are words of hope:
โBehold, you are barren and have not borne children, but you shall conceive and bear a son.โ (Judges 13:3)
The world often overlooks people who seem insignificant.
God does not.
Scripture repeatedly reminds us that God sees those whom others forget.
Hagar in the wilderness.
Ruth in the fields.
Hannah in her grief.
Elizabeth in her barrenness.
And here, Manoahโs wife.
The God of Scripture is not drawn to the impressive. He delights in displaying His power through weakness.
Her barrenness was not evidence of Godโs absence.
It became the stage upon which His grace would be displayed.
A Child Set Apart Before Birth
The angel gives unusual instructions.
Manoahโs wife is not to drink wine.
She is not to eat anything unclean.
Her sonโs hair must never be cut.
Why?
Because the child would be a Nazarite from birth.
The Nazarite vow described in Numbers 6 was ordinarily voluntary and temporary.
A person would willingly set themselves apart for a specific season of devotion to God.
The vow included three primary restrictions:
No cutting of the hair.
No produce from the vine.
No contact with dead bodies.
These were outward signs of an inward dedication to the Lord.
But Samsonโs situation was unique.
He never chose this vow.
God chose it for him.
Before he was born.
Before he could speak.
Before he could understand.
Before he could make any decisions for himself.
God had already set him apart.
Notice how far back Godโs claim on Samson extends.
The vow begins while he is still in his motherโs womb.
What she consumes affects him.
What she does impacts him.
Godโs purpose for Samson begins before birth.
That reality should cause us to pause.
In a culture that often treats unborn life as insignificant, Scripture consistently presents the child in the womb as a real human being known by God.
Samson is not viewed as a potential person.
He is already a person with a divine calling.
Godโs instructions concern him even before he takes his first breath.
The Lordโs care for life begins long before birth.
The Nazarite Vow
When God Writes a Story We Didnโt Choose
As I studied Samsonโs lifelong Nazarite calling, I found myself wondering something.
Have you ever known someone whose life seemed planned out before they were born?
Perhaps their family had certain expectations.
Certain traditions.
Certain goals.
Certain dreams.
Sometimes those expectations can become burdens.
They can produce resistance.
Even rebellion.
And I cannot help but wonder if that contributed to some of Samsonโs struggles.
As we will soon see, Samson repeatedly pushes against the very calling God placed upon his life.
He breaks every aspect of the Nazarite vow.
He pursues what God forbids.
He treats holy things casually.
He resists the identity God gave him.
And if we are honest, we often do the same.
How frequently do we push against Godโs design for our lives?
How often do we resent the circumstances He has chosen for us?
How often do we look at His plans and secretly wish for different ones?
The problem is not merely that we dislike His plans.
The problem is that we often believe our plans are better.
That has been a painful lesson for me.
There have been moments in my infertility journey when my heart has quietly insisted that I know what would be best.
A larger family.
More children.
A different path.
A more โnormalโ experience of motherhood.
None of those desires are inherently sinful.
Children are blessings from the Lord.
Yet even good desires can become dangerous when they become demands.
When I insist that God must give me what I want in order for His plan to be good, I am placing myself in the position of judge.
I am declaring that my wisdom is superior to His.
And that is not trust.
It is idolatry.
The God Who Gives Life
One of the most beautiful themes in Scripture is Godโs habit of bringing life from impossible situations.
Samson is not the first miraculous child.
Long before him, there was Isaac.
Sarah was barren.
Yet God gave life.
Then Samuel.
Hannah was barren.
Yet God gave life.
Then John the Baptist.
Elizabeth was barren.
Yet God gave life.
And finally Jesus.
Not conceived through a barren womb but through a virgin.
An even greater miracle.
Each birth announces the same truth:
Salvation belongs to the Lord.
God is demonstrating that His purposes do not depend upon human ability.
He is showing us that redemption is His work from beginning to end.
As Romans 4:17 declares, He is the God:
โwho gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.โ
Every miraculous birth points us to that reality.
Every impossible pregnancy whispers the same message:
God alone saves.
God gives Life
Samson Points Beyond Himself
Yet there is something striking in the angelโs announcement.
The angel does not say Samson will completely save Israel.
Instead he says:
โHe shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.โ (Judges 13:5)
Begin.
Not finish.
Samsonโs salvation would be incomplete.
Like every judge before him, he would ultimately fail.
His victories would be real.
But partial.
His strength would be impressive.
But insufficient.
His life would point beyond itself.
In many ways Samson prepares us for David.
David would accomplish what Samson could not.
He would establish peace and defeat Israelโs enemies.
Yet David would also fail.
His greatest enemies were not outside him but within his own heart.
And so David points beyond himself as well.
Both Samson and David leave us longing for a greater Deliverer.
One who would not merely begin the rescue.
One who would finish it.
The Better Samson
Jesus is everything Samson was supposed to be.
Samson was set apart from birth.
Jesus was set apart before the foundation of the world.
Samson possessed great strength.
Jesus possesses all authority in heaven and on earth.
Samson repeatedly failed.
Jesus never sinned.
Samson began a deliverance he could not complete.
Jesus finished the work completely.
As the angel told Joseph:
โHe will save his people from their sins.โ (Matthew 1:21)
That is the salvation every judge pointed toward.
That is the salvation every king pointed toward.
That is the salvation every miraculous birth pointed toward.
The story was never ultimately about Samson.
It was always about Christ.
Behold Him, Not Me
The longer I study Judges, the more convinced I become that the book is designed to leave us dissatisfied with human heroes.
Every judge disappoints us.
Every deliverer fails.
Every leader falls short.
The need for a Savior keeps growing.
And that is precisely the point.
Judges is teaching us to stop looking horizontally for salvation and start looking upward.
โThen he told her all his heartโฆโ โ Judges 16:17
Iโve read the story of Samson and Delilah many times.
Like many people, I often focused on the obvious lessonsโthe danger of temptation, Samsonโs pride, Delilahโs betrayal, or the cutting of his hair. But this morning, one small phrase stopped me in my tracks:
โThen he told her all his heart.โ
Suddenly, Samson felt less like a larger-than-life judge and more like a deeply lonely man.
Behind all the strength, bravado, and reckless choices was someone desperately craving intimacy.
Samson wanted to be known.
He wanted to be loved.
He wanted someone to hold his heart.
The tragedy is not that Samson desired intimacy. God created us for relationship. The tragedy is that Samson sought from Delilah what he could only receive from God.
Isnโt that often our story too?
How often do we go to people first for validation, security, comfort, approval, or identity? We carry empty places in our hearts and expect spouses, friends, children, ministry, success, or relationships to fill what only God was ever meant to satisfy.
Psalm 118:8 reminds us:
โIt is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man.โ
The problem isnโt loving people.
The problem is asking people to be what only God can be.
When we come to others looking for them to fill our deepest needs, we eventually place a weight on them they were never designed to carry. But when we first come to the Lord, allowing Him to satisfy our hearts with His steadfast love, we are free to love others not out of need but out of service.
That is exactly what Samson never learned.
Many of us were taught that Samsonโs strength was somehow hidden in his hair. Almost as if his hair possessed some magical power. But Scripture tells a different story.
After Delilah had his head shaved, Samson awoke expecting to defeat the Philistines once again.
โBut he did not know that the Lord had left him.โ (Judges 16:20)
The hair was never the source of his strength.
The Lord was.
Psalm 28:7 says:
โThe Lord is my strength and my shield.โ
Samsonโs strength did not leave when his hair was cut.
His strength left when the presence of the Lord departed.
As I reflected on this passage, my mind kept returning to Psalm 118. Again and again the psalmist repeats truths we need to hear:
โThe Lord is on my side.โ
โThe Lord is my helper.โ
โThe Lord is my strength.โ
โHis steadfast love endures forever.โ
The Christian life is not about becoming stronger versions of ourselves.
It is about learning to depend on the One who is already strong.
Unlike Samson, we do not need to rip city gates from their hinges and carry them up a mountain. We do not need to prove ourselves through our own strength.
Instead, we are invited to enter the gates of the Lord with thanksgiving, humility, and trust.
The steadfast love of the Lord endures forever.
And because it does, we can bring Him our whole hearts.
As I closed my Bible this morning, I realized that Samsonโs story isnโt only a warning for meโitโs a mirror.
Like Samson, I know what it is to crave being seen. I know what it is to long to be known, understood, chosen, and loved. There are days when I look to people for what I should first seek from God. Days when the approval of others feels more tangible than His presence. Days when I wish someone would notice the burdens I carry without me having to speak them aloud.
And if Iโm being honest, sometimes the presence of the Lord doesnโt feel like enough.
Not because He isnโt enough, but because my heart is still learning to believe that He is.
That is part of living in a broken world. We were created for perfect fellowship with God, yet we live east of Eden, still feeling the ache of longing, loneliness, and unmet desires.
This morning I found myself praying:
โLord, return to me the joy of my salvation. Remind me that You are my refuge and my strength. Teach me to wait patiently for You. When I am tempted to run to others for what can only be found in You, turn my heart back toward Your steadfast love. Hear my cry and turn to me. Let me find in You what I keep searching for everywhere else.โ
The good news is that unlike Delilah, the Lord never betrays the heart that is entrusted to Him.
Judges 12-13, Infertility, Idolatry, and the Deception of Sin
One of the things I love most about studying Godโs Word verse by verse is that it often confronts me in places I didnโt expect.
Recently, I found myself praying and talking with a friend about a struggle that has resurfaced many times throughout my life: infertility.
For twelve years, my husband and I prayed for a child. Then, in His kindness and perfect timing, God gave us Jackson. What a gift he has been. Yet as Jackson approaches eight years old, our family has not grown in the way I once assumed it would.
Like many women, I was told that once you have one child, having more often becomes easier. That has not been our story.
And if Iโm honest, there are days when grief sneaks in.
I see beautiful growing families around me. I celebrate them sincerely because every child is a gift from God. Working in foster care has only deepened that conviction. There is not a single child I believe was born outside the knowledge and purpose of our good Father.
Yet sometimes I still find myself asking, โLord, why?โ
Why do some families grow effortlessly while others wait?
Why are some prayers answered quickly while others seem to linger unanswered?
As always, when I earnestly seek the Lord about the condition of my heart, He faithfully meets me in His Word.
Some Are Increased, Others Are Diminished
As I was studying the minor judges in Judges 12, I noticed an interesting contrast.
Ibzan had thirty sons and thirty daughters (Judges 12:9).
Earlier in Judges, Jair also had thirty sons.
Yet Jephthah had only one childโa daughterโand through his foolish vow and tragic actions, she never married and left no descendants.
Seventeenth-century commentator Matthew Henry observed:
โSome are increased, others are diminished; both are the Lordโs doing.โ
Those words are not easy to accept.
Our hearts naturally want explanations.
We want formulas.
We want reasons.
We want to know why God gives one person abundance while another experiences loss.
Yet Scripture repeatedly reminds us that Godโs wisdom exceeds our own.
Isaiah tells us:
โFor my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.โ (Isaiah 55:8-9)
That was exactly the reminder my heart needed.
God knows what He is doing.
God knows me.
God knows what will bring Him glory.
God knows what will make me more like Christ.
And that must be enough.
The Forgotten Judges and the God Who Is Remembered
As I continued reading, I noticed something else.
The Bible gives us only a few details about Ibzan, Elon and Abdon. We learn how long they judged Israel. We learn a few facts about their families. Then their stories end.
At first glance, it almost feels unsatisfying.
We want more details.
We want their stories fully told.
But perhaps that discomfort reveals something about us.
The Bible is not ultimately about human greatness.
It is about Godโs greatness.
The focus of Scripture is not the lives of judges, kings, prophets, or even ordinary believers.
The focus is Christ.
Every page points to Him.
Even Abdonโs wealth and the mention of his sons riding on donkeys subtly remind us of a greater King who would one day ride into Jerusalem on a donkey, fulfilling prophecy and declaring His kingship.
The judges fade into the background.
Christ remains.
And that leads me to ask an uncomfortable question:
Does my life say, โBehold me,โ or โBehold Godโ?
Character profiles of the 3 Minor Judges discussed
The Beginning of the Final Cycle
As we enter Judges 13, we begin the final cycle of the book.
The chapter opens with familiar words:
โAnd the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.โ
We have seen this refrain over and over throughout Judges.
The people sin.
God disciplines them.
They cry out.
God delivers them.
Then the cycle repeats.
Yet there is something particularly significant about this final occurrence.
The phrase โevil in the sight of the Lordโ highlights a truth our culture desperately needs to hear.
Notice what the text does not say.
It does not say Israel did what was evil in their own eyes.
In fact, later in Judges we encounter another repeated phrase:
โEveryone did what was right in his own eyes.โ
The two statements are connected.
The Israelites did not wake up every morning thinking, โToday I will rebel against God.โ
They believed their choices were reasonable.
Understandable.
Justified.
Acceptable.
In their own eyes, much of their behavior probably seemed perfectly fine.
Yet God saw things differently.
And therein lies the danger.
What Is Sin?
This passage teaches us something foundational about sin.
Sin is not ultimately defined by my feelings.
Sin is not determined by cultural approval.
Sin is not established by majority opinion.
Sin is not measured by whether my conscience happens to bother me.
Sin is defined by God.
Something is sinful because it violates Godโs will and Godโs design.
This truth directly contradicts modern thinking.
Our culture continually tells us:
โFollow your heart.โ
โLive your truth.โ
โYou define what is right for you.โ
But Scripture says something very different.
If morality is determined only by personal perception, then no one can meaningfully condemn evil.
History itself demonstrates the flaw in that thinking.
People can sincerely believe terrible things.
Groups of people can collectively justify horrific actions.
Human perception is not a trustworthy standard.
Only God is.
The eyes that ultimately matter are not my eyes.
They are Godโs.
The Deception of Sin
The second truth we learn is how deceptive sin really is.
The Israelites had convinced themselves they were fine.
They had explanations.
Rationalizations.
Justifications.
At the conscious level, everything seemed acceptable.
But beneath the surface, they had drifted far from God.
That should concern all of us because we are no different.
The most dangerous sins are often not the obvious ones.
The most dangerous sins are the ones we have learned to justify.
Pride.
Bitterness.
Materialism.
Worry.
Control.
Self-reliance.
These sins rarely look sinful in our own eyes.
And this is where the Lord began pressing on my own heart.
When Good Desires Become Ultimate Desires
As I thought about my longing for more children, I realized something uncomfortable.
The desire itself is not sinful.
Children are a blessing.
Family is a gift.
Wanting those things is good.
But good things become idols when they become ultimate things.
The line between loving something and worshiping something is often thinner than we realize.
And I began to wonder:
Had I crossed that line?
Had my desire for more children subtly become a demand?
Was I saying, โGod, I know what would be best for my lifeโ?
Was I acting as though Godโs gifts were somehow insufficient?
Was I placing myself in the judgeโs seat?
Because when I insist that God must give me what I want in order for His plan to be good, I am no longer trusting Him.
I am attempting to replace Him.
That is the essence of idolatry.
An idol is not always a bad thing.
More often, it is a good thing that has become an ultimate thing.
Tim Keller famously described idols as good things turned into god things.
Family can become an idol.
Ministry can become an idol.
Work can become an idol.
Even motherhood can become an idol.
Anything we place above trustful submission to God becomes a rival to Him.
As the Puritan Thomas Brooks wisely wrote:
โSatan paints sin with virtueโs colors.โ
The idol never announces itself as an idol.
It disguises itself as wisdom.
Responsibility.
Love.
Good stewardship.
Common sense.
And before we realize it, our hearts have drifted.
Bible Study Notes
Behold God
That is why we must constantly evaluate ourselves through Scripture.
Not through culture.
Not through emotions.
Not through popular opinion.
Through Godโs Word.
The Word reveals what our hearts often hide.
And when it does, our response should not be despair.
It should be worship.
Because the goal of our lives is not ultimately to get everything we want.
The goal is not to have our preferred story.
The goal is not even to be remembered.
The goal is to behold God.
The minor judges came and went.
Their stories occupy only a few verses.
Yet Godโs purposes prevailed.
Their significance was not found in the size of their role.
It was found in the God who authored the story.
The same is true for us.
Whether God increases or diminishes.
Whether He gives or withholds.
Whether our stories look ordinary or extraordinary.
He remains worthy.
And so today, I find myself returning once again to Isaiah 55.
His ways are higher than my ways.
His thoughts are higher than my thoughts.
He knows what is best.
He knows my heart.
He is trustworthy.
And when I preach that truth to myself, it changes everything.
The Meek Momma 