YEAR 2, WEEK 25, Day 7, Sunday, 22 June 25

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Observations from today’s readings and today’s S-WOD, Sunday, 22 June 2025:

Psalm 77:1–3 — I cry aloud to God, aloud to God, and he will hear me. In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord; in the night my hand is stretched out without wearying; my soul refuses to be comforted. When I remember God, I moan; when I meditate, my spirit faints.

The psalmist begins in deep distress, calling out to God in the night, unable to find comfort even in remembrance of God. This emotional transparency mirrors the anguish of many faithful believers who go through seasons of doubt, silence, and suffering. Yet even here, the act of crying aloud to God is an act of faith. It teaches that genuine spiritual maturity is not the absence of struggle but the direction of it—turning to God in the midst of inner chaos. Jesus Himself, in the Garden of Gethsemane, wept and cried out in anguish to the Father (Luke 22:44), showing us that seeking God through tears is not weakness, but worship.

Psalm 77:4–9 — You hold my eyelids open; I am so troubled that I cannot speak…. Will the Lord spurn forever…?

The psalmist questions God’s faithfulness. Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has His steadfast love ceased? These questions echo the honest cries of believers who feel abandoned. But doubt directed toward God, rather than away from Him, becomes a doorway to deeper faith. The psalmist is not abandoning God—he is wrestling with Him. Like Job, or Thomas, or even John the Baptist in prison, he is not unbelieving but struggling to understand. Jesus does not rebuke sincere questions—He answers them with His presence.

Psalm 77:10–15 — Then I said, “I will appeal to this, to the years of the right hand of the Most High.” I will remember the deeds of the Lord….

Here the tone shifts dramatically. The psalmist chooses to remember God’s faithfulness in the past—the Red Sea, the mighty wonders, the God who works miracles. Faith grows through remembering. In seasons of silence, we recall seasons of God’s power. Christians today should make it a regular practice to reflect on God’s past deliverances in their lives. Memory becomes a weapon against despair. This is precisely the spiritual discipline Paul recommends in Philippians 4:8—focusing our minds on what is true, noble, and praiseworthy. When you begin to doubt God’s faithfulness, remember His perfect record of love and faithfulness. God is always good, loving, and faithful.

Psalm 77:16–20 — When the waters saw you, O God…. Your way was through the sea, your path through the great waters; yet your footprints were unseen.

God’s path is often hidden—His footprints invisible—but His power is unmistakable. This section recalls the Exodus, the ultimate demonstration of God’s faithfulness and power to save. In times of fear and doubt, the Exodus becomes the template of trust. For Christians, this foreshadows the greater deliverance of Christ. Even when we cannot trace God, we can trust Him. The cross and resurrection are our ultimate reminders that God saves—not always by removing the storm, but by walking with us through it.

Judges 3:1–2 — Now these are the nations that the Lord left, to test Israel by them… It was only in order that the generations of the people of Israel might know war, to teach war to those who had not known it before.

God left enemies in the land intentionally, to test and train His people. He didn’t clear every obstacle all at once. Why? Because testing produces strength. This is a critical spiritual principle: God allows trials not to punish but to prepare. The Christian life is not about escape from difficulty but endurance through it. James 1:2–4 reinforces this: “Count it all joy… when you meet trials… that you may be perfect and complete.” God will leave you with adversaries to test you and to develop your ability to handle adversity. God’s tests are expressions of His grace.

Judges 3:4 — They were for the testing of Israel, to know whether Israel would obey the commandments of the Lord….

The test is whether or not, in the face of personal adversity, you will obey God, not whether or not you can get what you want. Sometimes you will have to lose the human contest of wills in order to remain faithful to God’s commands.

Judges 3:5–7 — So the people of Israel lived among the Canaanites…. and they forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and the Asheroth.

Compromise begins with proximity. The Israelites didn’t immediately renounce God—they simply got comfortable living near ungodliness. Before long, they intermarried, adopted pagan customs, and forgot the Lord. Forgetting God is not usually a dramatic event—it’s a slow drift. Christians today must be vigilant about cultural compromise. We are called to live in the world but not of it (John 17:14–15). A failure to maintain holy distinction often leads to spiritual forgetfulness.

• Exodus 34:12-16 — Take care, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land to which you go, lest it become a snare in your midst. You shall tear down their altars and break their pillars and cut down their Asherim (for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God), lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and when they whore after their gods and sacrifice to their gods and you are invited, you eat of his sacrifice, and you take of their daughters for your sons, and their daughters whore after their gods and make your sons whore after their gods.
• 1 John 2:15-17 — Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
• James 4:4 — You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
• 2 Corinthians 6:14: Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?

Judges 3:8 — Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia.

God will intentionally use other people, often bad people, to teach you a lesson. In Judges, God uses the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, the Jebusites, the Moabites, and Philistines, to discipline the Israelites. The Bible offers many other examples where God intentionally used unexpected people — including wicked, unjust, or pagan individuals — to teach, discipline, or develop His people. This reflects both His sovereignty and His desire to shape the character and faith of His people through trials, correction, and even confrontation with evil:

• Pharaoh (Exodus 5–14) — But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.” (Exodus 9:16) God hardened Pharaoh’s heart (Ex. 9:12) so that He could display His mighty power and make His name known throughout the earth (Ex. 9:16). Though Pharaoh was wicked and oppressive, God used him to show Israel (and Egypt) who He is — the Deliverer and Sovereign Lord. “
• Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon (Jeremiah 25:8–11; Daniel 1–4) — “Now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant.” (Jeremiah 27:6) God called Nebuchadnezzar, a pagan king, “My servant” (Jer. 25:9), using him to bring judgment on Judah for their idolatry and disobedience. The exile was a long lesson in humility, repentance, and trust. Even Nebuchadnezzar eventually recognized God’s sovereignty (Daniel 4:34–37).
• Assyria (Isaiah 10:5–15) — “Shall the axe boast over him who hews with it?” (Isaiah 10:15 ESV) Assyria was a brutal empire, but God used it as the “rod of My anger” (Isa. 10:5) to punish Israel. Then, because Assyria arrogantly thought it was acting by its own power, God later judged Assyria too, teaching Israel and the nations that no one can exalt themselves above the Lord.
• Joseph’s Brothers (Genesis 37, 39–50) — “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good…” (Genesis 50:20) Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery out of jealousy, but God used their evil for good, raising Joseph to power to preserve many lives during a famine — including theirs.
• Cyrus the Great (Isaiah 44:28–45:7; Ezra 1) — “I call you by your name, though you do not know me.” (Isaiah 45:4) God called the Persian king Cyrus “My shepherd” and “My anointed” to return the exiles to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple — even though Cyrus didn’t know God (Isa. 45:4).
• The Cross of Christ (Acts 2:23; Isaiah 53) – Ultimately, God brought salvation through human injustice: “This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed…” (Acts 2:23) “Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him…” Isaiah (53:10) God used wicked men to crucify Jesus, yet it was His sovereign plan to save sinners. God is sovereign over both good and evil agents; He can use anyone — even enemies — to accomplish His purposes (Proverbs 16:4). God uses hard circumstances and difficult people to refine the faith, character, and obedience of His people (Romans 5:3–5; Hebrews 12:5–11). God’s judgments are often restorative, designed to bring repentance and spiritual growth, not simply punishment (Ezekiel 18:23).

How is God acting sovereignly, justly, but also mercifully, gracefully, and lovingly through your challenging relationships and circumstances? Don’t just seek relief, seek God’s will in your life, which is ultimately increased intimacy with Him and Christlike character.

Judges 3:9, 15 — But when the people of Israel cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer…

Despite their unfaithfulness, God’s response to repentance is mercy. When they cry out, He answers. This consistent pattern throughout Judges (and all of Scripture) reveals God’s longsuffering grace. Even when discipline is necessary, His heart is restoration. Jesus told the parable of the prodigal son to show this very truth: the Father is always ready to receive the repentant heart. No matter how far we drift, if we cry out, God hears.

• 2 Peter 3:9 — The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
• 2 Chronicles 7:14 — …if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
• Isaiah 55:7 — …let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

Judges 3:14 — And the people of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years.

God’s discipline may be long-lasting. It will take as long as it takes to make the change needed in your heart. With a reasonable pace, it only takes 2-3 weeks for a person to walk from Egypt to the land of Israel, but it took 40 years of wandering and discipline for the Israelites to be ready as a people to arrive. How long will you continue to hold onto those sins which have kept you from God’s best for you?

• Acts 26:14 — And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’
• 1 Corinthians 3:1-3 — But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?
• Hebrews 5:11-14 — About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

Judges 3:31 — After him was Shamgar the son of Anath, who killed 600 Philistines with an oxgoad, and he also saved Israel.

Shamgar is a little-known judge, but his brief story teaches a big lesson: God uses ordinary tools in the hands of available people. An oxgoad was a farming tool, not a weapon—but with it, Shamgar saved Israel. It’s not about the size of your gift, but the size of your God. God loves to use unlikely people and unconventional means to display His glory (1 Corinthians 1:27–29).

“Cross” Fit S-WOD (Spiritual Workout of the Day) – 22 June 2025: Psalm 77 and Judges 3 remind us that God often chooses not to remove trouble, but to walk with us through it. Trials are not proof of God’s absence—they are invitations to remember His faithfulness and experience His power. Today, resist the urge to avoid your trial. Instead, cry out to God. Remember His past faithfulness. Stand firm in your assignment, even if your tools seem small. Where you are tested, God is training. Where you are weak, He is strong.

• 1 Thessalonians 5:18 — …give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Pray: “Lord, help me see my trials as your perfect will for me and to be thankful for them, though I, in my limited understanding, would never have asked for them. Teach me to remember Your faithfulness and trust Your purposes even when I cannot trace Your hand. Keep me from compromise, and help me to walk faithfully where You have placed me. Make me strong through Your Spirit, and let Your power be made perfect in my weakness. In Jesus’ name, amen.”