When people read the Bible, they may be surprised to find shocking stories of wickedness mixed with stories of great faith, sometimes in the very same people. In other words, it contains stories of people like us. Judges reports on the chaotic situation in Israel after the death of Joshua during which a series of deliverers rescued God’s people time and time again from self-inflicted problems. At the end of the book, things spiraled out of control, but this failure reveals the main point of the book. In the end, the judges could not have lasting success but were signposts pointing forward to the answer to their failures and ours.
Believers can rejoice with shouts of praise, because God is the king over all the nations.
The same joy that the first disciples experienced upon seeing Jesus again is available to us.
In John 2, Jesus began his public ministry with two incidents that started the countdown toward what he called “my hour.” Turning water into...