Father, we thank you for these beautiful ancient words that we can sing.
And Father, you know way better than we do how it's easy for us to sing and hard for us to do.
And we give you thanks and praise that you know us perfectly.
You know everything strong about us, everything weak, everything which is just wrong.
You know it all.
And still you love us.
Still you sent Jesus to be our Savior and our Lord.
And still Jesus dwells within us who have put our faith and trust in him as Savior.
Still the Holy Spirit dwells within us.
We ask, Father, that your Spirit, your Holy Spirit, would bring your word and your gospel very deep into who we are.
That we might know ourselves better as we know you better.
And this we ask in Jesus' name, your Son and our Savior.
Amen.
Please be seated.
Last year, this is just one of those things that ministers often know but others don't necessarily follow.
For the first eight weeks of 2019, seven of them had really, really terrible weather on Sunday morning or Saturday night, Sunday morning.
So I guess right now we're two for three in 2020 with bad weather on Sunday mornings.
One of the things, we're going to look at a weird story today.
Actually, we're going to look at two stories and a little statement.
But one of the stories is just really, really, really weird.
And the thing to keep in mind is we're looking at this weird story.
It's very graphic and violent.
It's about a guy who sticks a knife into somebody's stomach and the dung and everything comes out.
And it's one of those stories that probably doesn't get covered in Sunday school very often because I don't know how you'd do the pictures that would go with it or Bible cartoon books or something like that.
One of the things to remember, we're going through the book of Judges.
And as you can see, Amy did a really good job of coming up with a graphic or an image for this series.
It's called Messy People, Faithful God.
And I told her that, you know, trying to help her come up.
It was really hard.
I'm not very artistic at all.
I like images, but I don't know how to do it.
And I told her, I mean, really, this sermon, the book of Judges could really be described as catastrophic people, faithful God, really bad people, faithful God, constantly screwing up people, faithful God.
Like there'd be a whole list of things that the book of Judges is all about.
But it regularly shows people in very, very, very dark places.
And that's sort of the image that she came up with.
It looks almost like a scene from The Walking Dead or something, actually.
But it really captures the book.
So when we're going to look at this very odd and unusual story, but there's a shorter story to look at first.
Just keep in mind that that's what sort of the book of Judges is about.
It's not a book of virtues, not a book of heroes, not a book of really great things to follow and copy.
It's a book about complicated, messy people and God being faithful.
So the way the book is structured, so you turn in your Bibles to Judges chapter 3, verse 7.
Judges chapter 3, verse 7.
And the last two sermons and all the book up until now have been two different introductions to the book
that sort of give a type of 10,000 feet in the air theological and spiritual assessment.
And now we go into a series of stories that sort of encapsulate part of what this analysis is all about.
And here's how it begins.
Actually, it's not up there in the text.
One of the things to grasp as we look at this is just before this, it says,
so the people of Israel, those of you who have Bibles, it won't be up on the screen, verse 5 and 6.
So the people of Israel lived among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites,
the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
And their daughters they took for themselves for wives, and their own daughters they give up to their sons,
and they served their gods.
And then verse 7.
And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.
They forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and the Asherah.
And just sort of pause there before we read anything more.
As we talked about, you're going to see it time and time and time again.
What the Bible portrays is a picture that every single human being worships.
And every single human being serves something.
We don't have an option to not worship.
We don't have an option to not serve.
We can think we don't serve, but we do.
We can think we don't worship, but we do.
We think we don't have loves and desires that form us and motivate us or make us afraid when we don't meet them.
But we do.
And so the option is always whether you will serve and love the living God, the triune God, or something else.
And that's sort of seen in how this book begins.
It begins with them not worshiping the Lord their God, and instead they worship the Baals and the gods and the goddesses of Canaan.
And just one other thing before we go on further.
Notice there the word forgot.
They forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and the Asherah.
That's what I'm saying.
The word forgot is a good word, but the problem with the word forgot is that you might not get the proper sense of forgot.
My wife and I have a very simple rule.
We have lots of simple rules, but this is one simple rule.
Whoever gets out of bed last in the morning has to make the bed.
Simple rule.
Now, I have to confess that occasionally I'll forget.
I'm really pressed for time.
I'm doing things in the kitchen, et cetera, et cetera, and I just forget.
Like, I literally do forget.
I come home and I see the beds unmade, and I say to Louise, I'm really sorry.
I just forgot.
It was just absent-mindedness.
But the word here which they use for forgot is a far deeper and stronger sense of forgot.
It might be better to call, say, paid no regard.
They no longer paid any regard for the Lord God at all.
So it isn't something, oh, dang, yeah, I forgot to make the bed.
No, no, this is like a complete disregarding of the Lord.
It doesn't come into their thinking or how they understand things at all.
It's a deep disregard.
In verse 8,
I'm going to call him King Siar from now on, okay?
So king of Mesopotamia.
And the people of Israel served King Siar for eight years.
Now, just one really small thing here, but it's really important.
It's, you know, when I was speaking the other day to some people about this,
and I've shared this with you many, many times,
you could just say, let's walk to London,
or you could say one foot up, one foot down.
That's the way to London town.
They're both saying the same thing, but one's very poetic and more memorable.
And some of us really like ideas.
We like statements of some perennial truth.
But others of us like stories.
And a story can take an idea and sort of put it into our unconscious.
It can put it into sort of just enter into just how we see the world
without ever maybe being able to articulate the idea very clearly.
But one of the things that the Book of Judges do,
if you could put up the first point, that would be great,
that what we're going to see here is that the Lord has proper anger at evil.
He is never overwhelmed by anger or anger-driven.
He is mercy.
And that's going to be very important.
All the way through all of these series of stories
that we're going to see in the Book of Judges,
it's always going to illustrate that.
If God never got angry at evil, it would mean that he wasn't good.
If God never got angry at evil, it would mean that he's not loving.
Lots of us, and I'm going to talk about this a little bit more later on,
we think that God should be more like a force.
But if you think about it, if you've ever gone to Niagara Falls
and you go and you stand close to the falls,
I remember that I had been there as a kid,
and like 10 years or something ago,
I went there for the first time in like decades.
And I was in the hotel, and I was, I don't know,
like a couple of kilometers away from the falls.
And I thought to myself, what's that noise?
And then you realize as you get closer and closer to the falls,
it's the falls.
And they're just completely, I mean,
the sense of power around the Niagara Falls,
like you feel it in your body, like it shakes you.
But a force like that, it doesn't care about
whether I'm doing a good thing or a bad thing.
It doesn't care if I'm loving or unloving.
It's just a force.
So many of us think that it would be better
if God was just like a force,
but God here, he gets angry, properly angry,
because he loves and because he's good and because he's just,
when he sees injustice,
when he sees people destroying themselves with evil,
he gets angry.
But the thing that the text is going to show
is that he's never overwhelmed by anger.
He's not ultimately described by anger.
The way to always understand the triune God,
the Lord, is mercy.
Mercy.
So even in anger, he is merciful.
Even in his judgments, he is mercy.
There's a very, very, very good book
written about 30 years ago by Sheldon Van Auken
called A Severe Mercy.
And that phrase, A Severe Mercy,
which he got from C.S. Lewis,
is very, very true of all the judgments in the Bible.
Every time you read of God judging,
it is a severe mercy,
but it is a mercy.
And we're going to see that immediately.
If you go on to verse,
the next verse, which is verse 9.
So right, God is anger,
angry at what they've done.
And he allows them to come under the power of King Siar.
Their cry to him in verse 9.
But when the people of Israel cried out to the Lord,
the Lord raised up a deliverer for the people of Israel
who saved them,
Othniel, the son of Kinez,
Caleb's younger brother.
Just sort of pause that.
You see, once again, what's happening here is
the cry out isn't a cry of repentance.
It's a cry of pain.
They cry out in pain towards the Lord.
And the Lord, who has, in a sense,
allowed them to be judged by this king,
come under King Siar's power,
if he was anger-driven,
if he was overwhelmed by anger,
he'd just keep punishing them.
But at the very deepest level
and the highest level of who God is,
he is mercy.
And so he hears their cry,
not even a cry to come back to him,
just a cry of how painful
and miserable their life is.
And in response, not to their faith,
not to their repentance,
not to their religion,
not to their spirituality,
but despite all of those things,
just purely out of their pain,
he provides a deliverer to save them.
Othniel, son of Kinez,
Caleb's younger brother.
Verse 10,
And the Spirit of the Lord was upon him,
and he judged Israel or delivered Israel.
He went out to war,
and the Lord gave King Siar of Mesopotamia
into his hand,
and his hand prevailed over King Siar.
So the land had rest for 40 years.
Then Othniel, the son of Kinez, died.
And it's a very, very simple little story
of the Lord sending somebody to deliver him.
Now, one of the things,
one of the things that's very interesting,
and also looks very much like a hero story, right?
The Lord, Caleb, was like a hero to Israel.
If you go back and you read the books
that come before this,
God brings the people of Israel
out of slavery in Egypt into the Promised Land.
And before they're going to enter into the really fully,
it gets them out of Egypt.
And before they make it to the Promised Land,
just on the edge of the Promised Land,
the people of Israel send out 12 spies
just to sort of map out the land.
And the 12 men come back,
and 10 of the men say,
the Promised Land, we can't go into it.
Everybody there is richer than us,
smarter than us,
bigger than us,
stronger than us.
They have better armies.
They have better technology.
They have everything about them
as better, bigger, faster, smarter, stronger.
We can't do it.
We just can't do it.
And there's only two people who said,
no, no, no, no, no,
with the Lord we can do it.
And one of them was Joshua
who brought them into the Promised Land.
The other one is Caleb.
And as some of you know the story,
as part of God's judgment,
God said that because you wouldn't believe me
and trust me, all those,
that whole generation that refused,
that believed the 10
and wouldn't listen to the two,
that whole generation will die in the wilderness.
And only two out of that entire generation
who was brought out of slavery in Egypt,
only two would be brought into the Promised Land,
and one of them was Caleb.
So he is like a hero.
And he's given land.
And if you go back and read earlier in Judges,
Othniel as well was a hero.
He believes God.
He trusts God.
He's given the land.
He trusts the promises.
He gets his own parcel of land.
He's an important person.
And it's like a very standard hero type of story.
God raises up a deliverer.
He picks like part of the lineage of Caleb.
The Holy Spirit comes upon him.
People recognize him.
They follow him.
The Lord gives, defeats the king,
and the whole land has rest.
And it looks really good.
It looks like that's a great story.
Like Marvel could do something with a story like that.
It's a great story.
One of the things they teach you in counseling,
if you ever take a counseling course,
is there's two or three things you should never say in counseling.
One of the things you should never say in counseling is,
it will get better.
Are you God?
Do you know if it's going to get better?
Another thing you should never say is,
it will work out.
Another thing you should never say is,
it's all over.
And some of us are old enough to know that
we've talked to people,
and it just seems as if something bad happens to them,
and then something worse happens to them,
and something even worse happens to them,
and then they die.
And it's just,
so you never say in counseling,
it's an easy thing for us to say.
We want to say,
we think it will give them comfort.
Oh, it's all over.
Everything's over.
It'll all work out.
It'll get better.
And in a sense,
what we see next with the next story
is that if somebody had said after Othniel,
okay, land has rest.
It's all over.
It's just going to get better.
Things have been sorted out.
We're all following the Lord.
No, if that advice had been given,
it wouldn't have worked out
because look what happens in verse 12.
And the people of Israel again did what was evil
in the sight of the Lord.
And the Lord strengthened Eglon,
the king of Moab,
against Israel
because they had done what was evil
in the sight of the Lord.
He gathered to himself
the Ammonites,
the Amalekites,
and went and defeated Israel.
And they took possession
of the city of Palms.
And the people of Israel
served Eglon,
the king of Moab,
18 years.
Now, there's a couple of things
that have to be sort of
pulled out of all of this.
Notice here that the Lord
strengthens Eglon,
the king of Moab.
And because they had done
what was evil
in the sight of the Lord.
You know,
I'm going to take a big risk.
I hope I don't lose you
for the rest of the sermon.
The United States is doing
way better financially
under Trump
than they were before.
Just,
just,
it's just a fact.
Okay.
Do you think,
and this isn't an anti-Trump thing,
do you think Trump
might ever think to himself,
I wonder if God's
behind things
getting better?
Or do you think
Trump would say,
it's me.
Now,
it's easy for us
to think that about Trump.
But let's just say
that over the next
couple of years
under Trudeau,
the economy
goes really,
really,
really well.
Or let's say it doesn't.
And I'm not picking
any political sides here,
just an easy name.
Trudeau loses
the next election.
Rona Ambrose
leads the conservatives
to a convincing victory.
And under her leadership
over the next four years,
the economy
just goes like that.
Just,
whoa,
way up.
Now,
it's a human problem.
Do you think Rona Ambrose,
I'm not picking on her,
Peter McKay,
pick whoever you want,
pick any politician you want.
Do you think Rona Ambrose
would say,
I wonder if God
is behind our country
getting really prosperous?
Or would she say,
it's me.
You know,
people wonder
why God
allows bad things
to happen to good people.
And they sort of imply
that if God
really wanted to be known,
he should have
good things happen to them.
do you think
there's more Christians
in Rockcliffe
that really love Jesus
than other places?
Do you think
that if you went
into a poor community,
there'd be very few people
who love and trust Jesus,
but you go to Rockcliffe,
it's filled with people
who love and trust Jesus,
who every day
when they get up,
say,
Lord,
I thank you so much
that you have blessed me
so mightily and powerfully.
I know it came
from your hand,
not mine.
If you put it so baldly,
most of us probably
would not be surprised
to find out
that there's vastly more
poor people
who follow Jesus
than rich people.
This is a very,
very tiny little thing
within this story.
I just pointed out
because many of us
sort of think
that somehow blessings
will lead us to God,
despite all the evidence
to the contrary,
including in our own lives.
That we might ask,
why am I as a good person
having these hard times?
And we never say,
why am I having good times?
Somehow,
if it's a bad time,
it's somebody else's fault.
And if it's a good time,
it's all my accomplishment.
And we never stop
to think about it.
And what we're going to see
in the story here,
this weird story,
is that the good things
that happen to Eglon
don't create any sense
that there is a God
that he must give an account to
and that he should give thanks to.
But his good things
make him arrogant.
And the arrogance
is what drives the story.
So verse 14
ends with
he's conquered
the people of Israel.
In fact,
he's done it
in a very, very powerful way.
Moab isn't actually
even part of the promised land.
Moab is out of the promised land.
And what it means
is that the Moabites
with their allies
have come in
and the part of Israel
that they took over
would have been
especially galling
and humbling
to the Israelites
because it was the first place
that the Israelites
had triumph
in the promised land.
City of Palms
is Jericho.
A great moment
of God's victory.
And here now
it's under
pagan control.
They're completely
and utterly
under the thumb
of this
pagan king Eglon.
And verse 15
then the people
of Israel
cried out.
Once again
it's a cry of pain.
It's not a cry of repentance.
They cry out
to the Lord.
And the Lord
raised up for them
a deliverer.
Ehud
the son of Gerah
the Benjaminite
a left-handed man.
The people of Israel
sent tribute
by him.
Actually it's literally
by his hand
to Eglon
the king of Moab.
And we have to pause here.
This verse is the key
to the whole story
but it's
I have to confess
I've never preached
on this story
and so I didn't know this
but you actually
do research
there's a bit of a debate
about it
but the majority
of scholars
would say that
they translated
his left hand
but literally
it means
a man whose right arm
doesn't work.
In other words
he's handicapped.
He has a crippled
or withered
right arm.
The only arm
he can use
is his left hand.
So it's not
that he's ambidextrous
it's not that
he is a very
very clever guy
who trained himself
to use his left hand
so that he can fool people
he
well he wouldn't be
standing like this.
he would be
standing
like this
and his left hand
would be
his left arm
would be
something
like this
that doesn't work
I can't illustrate it
and maybe it would be
bound in some way
like this
and it would just
flop around
and he only has
one hand
and he's handicapped
and it's
a very very
powerful thing
in the original language
because
it's by his hand
his
in a sense
his withered
crippled hand
that he is to
hand over
the tribute
on behalf
of Israel
he is
from Eglon's
point of view
a completely
safe person
to bring
because Eglon
number one
and Ehud
with no right hand
and it's a bit
of a story
about Israel
for 18 years
their strength
is withered
and they're
crippled
and God
is raising up
this
handicapped
man
to be
the deliverer
and you'll notice
in the story
it isn't that
the people of Israel
said
ah
God
is going
to choose
that man
that handicapped
man
to deliver us
so we will
send him
to go and
pay the tribute
there's no
spirit of the
Lord coming
upon him
there's no
general sense
that he can
be the leader
to lead
the people
of Israel
against their
oppressor
he's probably
chosen
to lead
them
because
it would
serve
Eglon's
pleasure
to think
ah
this is like
a walking
parable
of the
people
of Israel
a non-warrior
with a crippled
fighting arm
representing
the people
of Israel
as to how
they are
my vassal
and I am
their Lord
and I am
their conqueror
and I have
grown fat
by oppressing
them
now we are
going to
unpack this
in a moment
but we need
to go through
the rest
of the story
so verse 16
just fairly
quickly
and this is
where the
story gets
very graphic
quite quickly
and Ehud
made for
himself a
sword with
two edges
a cubit
in length
in the
original
language
this can
end up
being anywhere
from about
18 inches
long to
about 19
inches
about 9
inches
long
and those
of you
who like
reading
American
crime
novels
and stuff
like that
it would
really be
like a
shiv
it's just
a piece
of sharpened
metal
sharpened
on both
sides
without a
hilt
and it's
strapped
on the
right hand
side
normally
of course
a right
handed
person
if they're
going to
get a
sword
would be
on their
left
side
he has
something
here
his arm
just
hanging
down
obviously
handicapped
this
shiv
this 9
to 18
inch
piece
of sharpened
double edged
metal
on his
right
thigh
easy
to use
with a
left
hand
but
it's
not
where
you
would
normally
have
something
hidden
so to
speak
and
verse 16
again
and Ehud
made for
himself
a sword
with two
edges
a cubit
in length
and he
bound it
on his
right
thigh
under his
clothes
and he
presented
the tribute
to Eglon
king of
Moab
now Eglon
was a very
fat man
verse 17
and when
Ehud
had finished
presenting
the tribute
he sent
away the
people who
carried the
tribute
that he
there is
Ehud
but he
himself
turned back
at the
idols
near Gilgal
and said
I have a
secret message
for you
oh king
and the
king commanded
silence
and all of his
attendants
went out
from his
presence
and just
sort of
pause there
for a second
just a little
tiny mess
a little
tiny
detail
but in
Gilgal
which is
under
nominally
Israelite
control
although
ultimately
Eglon
is their
over ruler
there's
idols
and it's
just
mentioned
as a little
bit part
of it
just showing
how
idol worship
has become
part of the
people of
Israel
Ehud
goes past
this spot
sends everybody
else away
he goes back
to Eglon
all by himself
handicapped
man
obviously
looking
unarmed
and he goes
back
an unarmed
handicapped
man
to the
great and
mighty
Eglon
the king
of Moab
and he says
I have a
private message
for you
and in
verse 20
and
Ehud
came to him
as he was
sitting
that's
Eglon
the king
and the
king
is sitting
alone
in this
cool
roof
chamber
and Ehud
says
I have a
message
from God
for you
and
Eglon
rises
from his
seat
and as
Eglon
rises
from his
seat
Ehud
reached
with his
left
hand
took
the
sword
from his
right
thigh
and
thrust
it
into
the
king's
belly
and
the
hilt
also
went
in
after
the
blade
and
the
fat
closed
over
the
blade
for
he
did
not
that is
Ehud
did not
pull
the sword
out
of
the
king's
belly
and
the
dung
came
out
he
soiled
himself
you can
see
why
it's
probably
not
in
most
Sunday
school
curriculums
be an
interesting
craft
time
for the
teachers
after
the
part
of
the
class
then
Ehud
went
out
into
the
porch
and
closed
the
doors
of
the
roof
chamber
behind
him
and
locked
them
so part
of the
story
here
of
course
is
the
arrogance
of
the
arrogance
of
Eglon
he's
the
great
and
mighty
he's
a
big
guy
he's
a
prosperous
looking
guy
he's
powerful
he has
this
handicapped
guy
in front
of him
handicapped
in a
way
that
affects
his
ability
to
fight
he has
no
sense
of
danger
nothing
to
do
he
doesn't
worry
about
it
all
he sends
out
his
attendants
his
guards
he lets
this
guy
get
really
close
to
him
and
this
handicapped
nobody
kills
him
and
while
Eglon
had
no
sense
that
maybe
his
prosperity
and
maybe
his
power
was
something
that
was
being
given
to
him
as
a
gift
from
God
but
he
takes
it
upon
himself
to
think
it's
all
his
and
it
makes
him
arrogant
it
makes
him
think
he's
competent
when
he's
not
and
all
of the
rest
of the
story
just
shows
incompetence
upon
incompetence
and
incompetence
upon
incompetence
and in
fact
in the
next
little
bit
when
it
talks
about
stout
or
strong
men
it's
a
word
in
Hebrew
which
can
either
mean
stout
or
strong
or
fat
in
other
words
it
ends
up
emphasizing
that
they
go
into
this
thinking
that
they're
big
and
powerful
but
it
ends
up
revealing
that
they're
just
easily
killed
look
how it
continues
in
verse
24
when
he
that is
Ehud
had
gone
the
servants
came
and
when
they
saw
that
the
doors
of
the
roof
chamber
were
locked
they
thought
surely
the
king
is
having
a
poop
in
the
closet
of
the
cool
chamber
and
they
waited
till
they
were
embarrassed
but
when
he
still
did
not
open
the
doors
of
the
roof
chamber
they
took
the
key
and
opened
them
and
there
lay
their
lord
dead
on
the
floor
Ehud
escaped
while
they
delayed
and
he
passed
beyond
the
idols
and
escaped
to
Sarah
when
he
arrived
he
sounded
the
trumpet
in
the
hill
country
of
Ephraim
then
the
people
of
Israel
went
down
with
him
from
the
hill
country
and
he
was
their
leader
and
he
said
to
them
follow
after
me
for
the
Lord
has
given
your
enemies
the
Moabites
into
your
hand
so
they
went
down
after
him
and
seized
the
fords
of
the
Jordan
against
the
Moabites
and
did
not
allow
anyone
to
pass
over
and
just
sort
of
pause
there
for
a
second
you
know
we're
just
so
used
to
the
fact
that
after
something
like
this
you
can
hop
in
your
car
drive
125
kilometers
an
hour
down
the
Queens
way
if
it's
the
right
type
of
day
and
you
could
be
a
far
distant
you
know
back
then
you
would
have
walked
and
one
of
the
funny
things
if
any
of
you
have
ever
lived
in
rural
areas
is
gossip
travels
faster
than
you
can
walk
I
mean
I
don't
know
how
it
works
but
even
without
phones
it
just
travels
really
quick
and
so
the
news
of
the
fact
that
the
king
of
Moab
has
died
has
spread
and
so
because
of
this
they
rally
around
this
handicapped
guy
they
go
down
to
the
fords
and
we'll
look
what
happens
in
verse
29
to
the
end
and
they
killed
at
that
time
about
10,000
of
the
Moabites
all
strong
able-bodied
men
strong
able-bodied
men
literally
means
stout
and it
could
either
mean
stout
or
fat
not
a
man
escaped
so
Moab
was
subdued
that
day
under
the
land
of
Israel
and
the
land
had
rest
for
80
years
and
just
before
I
read
the
next
little
bit
when
you
read
the
book
of
Judges
every
time
you
read
it
you
have
to
ask
yourself
a
question
about
a
number
do
they
mean
the
number
in
a
numeric
sense
or
a
symbolic
or
metaphorical
sense
so
it
probably
wasn't
10,000
people
who
heard me
say
a
couple
of
times
maybe
I'll
talk
about
what
it
was
like
when
I
was
a
kid
and
I'll
say
100
million
years
ago
and
I
31
the
next
deliverer
after
him
was
Shamgar
the
son
of
Anath
who
killed
600
of
the
Philistines
with
an
ox
goad
and
he
also
saved
or
delivered
Israel
and
just
before
we
sort
of
sum
it
up
it's
a
very
interesting
thing
there's
a
good
chance
that
Shamgar
is
not
Jewish
so
the
next
deliverer
so
God
goes
from
like
the
stereotypical
deliverer
who
has
good
lineage
and
has
land
and
has
some
recognition
as being
a
person
of
substance
and
importance
the
next
deliverer
is a
handicapped
man
and
the
next
deliverer
worships
Baal's
sister
who
is the
goddess
of war
who
is
worshipped
because
people
believed
that
if you
shed
blood
on
land
it
would
make
it
more
fertile
and
there's
good
reason
to
think
that
if
he
was
Jewish
he
wasn't
a
very
good
Jew
because
he
was
understood
to
serve
the
goddess
Anath
but
by his
name
he
might
have
in fact
not
even
been
Jewish
and
God
uses
them
to
deliver
him
so
how
do we
sort of
wrap up
all of
this
stuff
in terms
of
the
power
of
the
story
you
know
actually
Andrew
if you
could put
up
the
second
point
you
long
for
a
left
handed
God
to
provide
a
left
handed
savior
who
saves
you
in
a
left
handed
way
and
I'll
try to
explain
what that
means
like the
average
Canadian
like when I
get a chance
to actually
talk to a lot
of non-Christians
about the
Christian faith
in the
gospel
you can
see that
it
disappoints
them
it's a
letdown
they were
hoping for
something
more
and that's
because
at the
level of
our
imagination
at the
level of
our
surface
how we
think
what we'd
like is
one of
three
things
or some
combination
of three
types of
things to
solve our
problem
we'd
either
like
God
to be
sort of
like the
force
in
Star Wars
like
wouldn't
that be
cool
you know
you can
feel
things
going on
in the
force
and you
can
fight
blindfolded
and you
can
make
people
do
things
and we
sort of
feel
that God
should be
sort of
like
something
like
the
force
or
we'd
like
we'd
really
wish
that it
would be
something
as if
God
gave us
some
simple
steps
that we
always
follow
so that
we get
the types
of things
that we
want to
have
happen
and don't
have the
things that
we don't
want to
have
happen
to happen
that there
be some
steps
that allow
us to
always be
happy
or successful
and he
just
delivers to
us the
keys to
these types
of successes
these steps
or we
want God
to be
really like
a very
powerful
type of
emotion
so that
we only
have good
emotions
we only
have good
emotions
all the
time
something
that just
sort of
comes upon
us
we know
God
and we
receive
God
or we
trust
in God
or we
believe
the Bible
or whatever
it is
we get
baptized
we get
confirmed
whatever it
is
for my
non-Christian
friends
in our own
hearts
we have
the same
desires
and if
that just
happened
this
constant
type of
good
emotion
would be
present
and we
hear
instead
about the
gospel
and it
just
seems to
be a
bit of
a let
down
but if
you think
about it
for a
second
to meet
somebody
who always
seems to
have the
same type
of emotion
all of the
time
you're
describing
somebody
stoned
or
drugged
and none
of us
look up
to them
none
of us
look up
to them
and the
fact of
the matter
is
is that
when you
think of
just
God as
being something
like a
force or
a power
it's just
like I
said it
would be
like going
to
Niagara
Falls
and it's
just there
and it
doesn't
love you
it doesn't
care about
you
it's not
good
it's not
bad
would we
really
like it
that God
gave people
power like
Niagara Falls
like I
don't
do the
Star Wars
thing very
much
I
personally
I know
I've just
not a lot
of you
won't like
me
I find
it a bit
boring
but now
I know
a lot
of you
don't like
me anymore
but I
just do
find it
boring
but the
fact of
the matter
is
would we
really
like it
if people
had that
type of
power
don't you
think
that at
some
point
in time
people
with that
power
would do
it to
get rid
of that
stupid
person
driving
too slow
in front
of them
or get
their boss
and have
something bad
happen to
them
like don't
we think
that if
God was
just like
a power
that gave
it to
us
he ends
up just
being impersonal
and amoral
and it
actually
wouldn't
really be
good for
us
or for
society
or for
other
people
and it's
the same
type of
thing
like what
would it
really be
like if
God
just told
us a
couple
of things
it meant
that we
were always
going to
be successful
and never
bad
that never
unsuccessful
but like
surely
sometimes
what we
think of
as successful
as just
another language
for selfishness
and narcissism
and actually
isn't good
for other
people
it would
just end
up making
me more
and more
like God
so on
one hand
the surface
desires
that we
have of
God
that we
find
when God
describes
how he
actually
acts
towards us
and it
seems to be
a bit
of a left
it seems
to be
a bit
of a let
down
but the
fact of
the matter
is
is that
every single
one of us
are left
handed
in the sense
of the
Bible
and I'm
not trying
to
I'm not
minimizing
the fact
that some
people have
really extreme
types of
handicaps
but I mean
the fact of
the matter
is
is that
we
are morally
broken
in big
ways
at some
times
and at
some
point
in time
physically
our bodies
will just
break down
and
the fact
of the
matter
is that
God
could
effortlessly
just say
you just
ask this
word of
me
and I'll
give you
whatever
you want
he could
do that
God
could
just
come
and
say
to
you
I'm
going
to
give
this
overwhelming
power
to
you
and
whatever
you
want
it's
going
to
happen
and
he
could
come
and
just
overwhelm
you
in
some
type
of
emotion
or
awe
of
him
or
worship
of
him
or
whatever
it is
he
could
make
every
one
of
us
just
like
a
puppet
if
he
wants
but
the
fact
the
matter
is
is that
at
a
deeper
level
of
what
we
deeply
more
deeply
really
want
is
we
want
we
want
God
to
love
us
and
we
want
him
to
care
for
us
and
we
want
him
to
understand
us
and
we
want
him
to
understand
that
we
can't
do
this
religion
thing
right
all
the
time
and
we
can't
just
do
the
moral
thing
or
the
money
thing
and
example
things
all
the
time
that
we
mess
up
and
we
want
a
God
who
forgives
us
and
we
want
a
God
who
doesn't
overwhelm
our
freedom
but
makes
us
more
free
we
want
in
a
sense
a
God
who
limits
himself
for
our
good
and
saves
us
in
a
way
which
isn't
what
we
think
we
want
but
is
actually
what
we
really
want
and
that's
what
we
see
in
the
gospel
this
whole
series
of
stories
with
its
fact
that
they
keep
sliding
back
into
idolatry
and
they
can't
fix
themselves
so
really
describing
what
goes
on
in
every
single
honest
human
heart
that
we
can't
fix
ourselves
and
we
need
God
but
in
a
way
that
is
with
us
and
respects
us
and
loves
us
and
deals
with
what
we
can't
deal
with
for
ourselves
and
in
a
sense
the
book
of
Judges
is
setting
up
a
riddle
that
only
the
gospel
will
solve
and
it's
a
riddle
that
answers
the
riddle
of
every
one
of
our
hearts
that
God
saves
us
not
by
shouting
and
showing
how
powerfully
is
his
God
but
by
emptying
himself
of
all
of
his
appearance
as
God
and
taking
into
himself
our
human
nature
and
being
in
the
womb
of
Mary
and
living
amongst
us
and
he
reveals
himself
and
saves
himself
by
living
an
ordinary
life
and
he
reveals
himself
and
at the
same
time
saves
us
by
dying
upon
a
cross
by
taking
upon
himself
in a
sense
all of
that
arrogance
and
dung
and
he
takes
it
upon
himself
and
he
takes
me
as
his
own
because
he
loves
me
he
takes
you
because
he
loves
me
and
he
died
for
you
and
for
me
and
he
died
for
you
and
me
knowing
that
the
fact
of
the
matter
is
that
there's
always
these
things
about
us
that
are
just
broken
that
are
just
wrong
and
he
uses
people
like
us
who
are
imperfect
and
our
temper
or
other
things
are
just
broken
and
still
he
loves
us
and
uses
us
that
in
fact
at
a
deeper
level
we
actually
really
long
for
a
left
handed
God
to
provide
a
left
handed
savior
who
saves
you
in
a
left
handed
way
not
by
being
powerful
or
very
religious
or
very
spiritual
but
just
crying out
to him
in our
pain
and
asking
that he
would
just
save us
and
come in
and
he would
do
whatever
has to
be done
to make
us
right
with him
and know
that he
has done
that in the
person of
his son
and he
loves us
and
and that he
can
and that he
will
follow him
in a
left
handed
way
because
every
single
one of
us
follows
Jesus
left
handed
every
single
one of
us
follow
him
left
handed
and
part
of the
reason
you
and I
struggle
with
despair
or
cynicism
is
because
we
want
to
pretend
we're
not
left
handed
this
two
points
very
quickly
just
to
close
if you
could
put
them
both
up
just
really
read
them
what we
see in
the
story
is
that
the
Lord
is
faithful
reliable
and
sovereign
but
he's
never
tame
see
all
of
the
types
of
God
that
we
think
we'd
really
want
are
tame
God
he
gives
I've
tamed
God
so
he
can
give
me
those
steps
to
success
I've
tamed
God
so
he
gives
me
the
force
that
I
think
I
want
when
I
need
it
and
I've
made
God
tame
so
I
want
them
and
every
one
of
them
is
a
tame
God
and
the
book
of
Judges
shows
us
time
and
time
and
time
again
God
is
never
tame
but
he's
faithful
and
he's
reliable
and
he's
sovereign
and
the
final
one
if
you
could
put
it
up
that
would
be
great
and
we
see
that
the
Lord
will
keep
his
word
his
way
and
his
time
for
your
good
and
his
glory
and
that's
what
we
see
in
the
story
he
says
he's
going
to
keep
delivering
them
because
he'll
never
leave
them
or
forsake
them
and
one
time
he
uses
a
hero
he uses
somebody
who
has
the
right
parents
and
has
the
right
education
and
the
right
power
and
all
that
right
stuff
and
the
next
time
he
takes
somebody
who's
maybe
not
even
Jewish
and
if
he
is
Jewish
he's
the
worst
possible
Jewish
person
of
all
because
he
worships
the
goddess
of
war
to
make
fertile
like
how
sick
is
that
and
but
you
see
and
that's
how
God
works
with
every
single
one
of
us
he's
not
tame
he
hears
our
prayers
in
heaven
one
of
the
things
that
we
will
probably
praise
God
for
is
how
many
times
we
are
now
how
thankful
we
are
that
he
didn't
answer
so
many
of
our
prayers
because
they
came
out
of
pride
and
arrogance
and
hatred
and
racism
and
classism
and
we'll
go
and
say
God
oh
I
prayed
that
oh
thank
you
didn't
answer
it
or
you
answered
it
in
some
left
handed
way
that
humbled
me
and
was
really
ultimately
for
my
good
and
the
book
of
Judges
will
time
and
time
and
time
and
time
and
time
and
time
and
time
again
show
he
keeps
his
word
but
he
keeps
his
word
his
way
in
his
timing
but
it's
always
for
your
good
and
for
his
glory
can
you
please
stand
just
bow
your
heads
in
prayer
father
we
give
you
thanks
and
praise
that
you
do
not
wait
until
we
become
ambidextrous
or a
super
warrior
or
super
religious
or
super
spiritual
or very
successful
in our
careers
or very
successful
in married
life
or
family
life
or
very
successful
intellectually
or
successful
emotionally
or
successful
in
whatever
we
give
you
thanks
and
praise
that
you
do
not
wait
until
we
become
right
handed
but
that
you
see
us
as
left
handed
people
and
still
you
love
us
and
sent
your
son
setting
aside
his
glory
and
divine
prerogatives
you
sent
your
son
to die
upon
the
cross
to
be
far
more
left
you
can't
be
poorer
than
dead
father
and
he
died
that
we
might
become
rich
left
handed
people
like
us
that
we
might
become
rich
we
ask
father
that
you
would
deliver
us
from
the
ways
that
we
think
we
can
only
be
used
by
you
or
be
successful
if
we
are
right
handed
and
grow
within
us
such
a
being
gripped
by
the
gospel
and
the
truth
of
your
word
that
we
can
be
understand
who
we
are
in
light
of
Jesus
and
be
content
with
the
fact
that
we
are
left
handed
as
we
follow
you
and
that
you
use
left
handed
people
for
our
good
and
for
the
good
of
the
world
and
the
good
of
this
city
and
for
your
glory
so
father
we
ask
that
you
do
that
mighty
work
within
us
who
are
here
and
all
this
we
ask
in
amen