3.146 Turn Away vs Turn Towards

In Matthew 5, Jesus calls us the salt of the earth and the light of the world, reminding us that our lives are meant to preserve, illuminate, and point others to Him. This season on Savory Salt, we'll walk through the Old Testament, one verse and one thought each day. Perhaps these moments will add greater savor and brighter light to our lives as we seek to truly live as Savory Salt.

Hello, my friends, it's a new day with new opportunities. Choose ye this day whom you will serve. Do you remember in the New Testament, the man asking Christ how many times we needed to forgive those that had done wrong to us?

Do you remember the Lord's answer? He said something interesting. He said 70 times 7.

Now, we don't interpret that as a literal context. We tend to interpret that saying, as many times as they make mistakes, you should forgive them. But I think there's more inside of our reading as we're reading the book of Judges this week, inside of that New Testament story that we can pull from the Old Testament here.

And that's what I want to dive into in today's episode. We see in the book of Judges, the Bible says that the Lord raised up judges, which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them. Now, there's more to this than just that sentence, and it certainly happens many times throughout the book of Judges.

So I want to kind of give you an understanding of why I chose this verse particularly. First of all, it references who these were. These guys were called judges, right?

Or these heroes in verses, or I guess I should say in chapters three and beyond. We also have another term deliverer that's given. So these are their deliverers, the Lord is raising up to help them in their time of need.

But just how often does the Lord do that as the children of Israel turn away from Him and then after their folly turn towards Him? In my research here, I hope I come across an accurate statement here, but it appears that in the book of Judges, the children of Israel turn away from the Lord seven times, and the Lord delivers them out of their issues seven times. Now, that's not to be mistaken with the number of judges it refers to in here in the book of Judges.

I think there's 12 or 13 of them, but some of them are considered minor stories versus these major stories. So my friends, could there have been, or is there any way that Jesus Christ, knowing the Old Testament, could have been throwing out this 70 times 7 in the same context that 7 is used in other parts of the Bible? I tend to think so.

We see this story of the Israelites turning away from the Lord and then realizing that they need Him and they turn towards the Lord. What does the Lord do in those instances? He sends a deliverer.

Isn't that an amazing context for us in our own lives? We make mistakes. We have those moments when we turn away from the Lord.

How often can we turn towards Him and ask for His help and seek for a deliverer in our lives? I would tend to say 70 times 7 or basically infinitely. My friends, while you and I do our best every day trying to live as savory salt, may we also remember that in our times where we trip up, where we fall down, where we turn and forget the Lord for a space and a time, know that as you turn towards Him, you too have an opportunity to partake in the same thing that the people of Israel partook of here in the book of Judges: A deliverer, a rescuer, a hero, a healer, a helper, even that of Jesus Christ, our Savior and Redeemer.

I hope that as we read these stories and we look at the Israelites and say, what were you guys thinking? Thank you for watching. That's all for today, my friends.

You and I have come here for such a time as this. Step forward in faith and let's be savory salt. We will be here tomorrow, and we hope you are too.