Willing Volunteer

 DEVOTION

JUDGES

WILLING VOLUNTEER

Judges 5:6-9

6 "In the days of Shamgar son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the roads were abandoned; travelers took to winding paths. 7 Village life in Israel ceased, ceased until I, Deborah, arose, arose a mother in Israel. 8 When they chose new gods, war came to the city gates, and not a shield or spear was seen among forty thousand in Israel. 9 My heart is with Israel's princes, with the willing volunteers among the people. Praise the LORD!

NIV

This almost sounds prophetic about Jesus with the people of Israel who lost the straight and narrow road laid out for them by the LORD and took a winding path instead, because they chose to worship other gods, although it was under the pretense of worshipping the LORD. Because they did, they had no defense war came and Rome conquered them occupied them, and ruled over them. The heart of Jesus was with them and all who were willing volunteers, and then they changed the world forever. There was danger when the Israelites took on other gods and war came to them. They said they served the LORD, they were still doing the daily sacrifices in the temple to the LORD for the forgiveness of sins, yet they took on other gods. How could that be? How could they attempt to serve two masters, the LORD, the Living God, and some dead god without eyes to see, ears to hear, or a mouth to speak. We should take stock of our lives and see if there are any of those things of this world that we have taken on that have no eyes to see, ears to ear, or a mouth that cannot speak, while we profess to follow Jesus, the Living God who saved us, redeemed us, and who sees us, ears, and speaks to us. Jesus was raised up and his heart is with us all who are willing volunteers. Let us not get enthralled, enchanted with things in this world, in essence giving them credence in our lives, in a sense, almost serving them, but let us keep our hearts pure and dedicated to our Lord as a willing volunteer for him to do with us as he desires, which ultimately will be in our best interests. We know that Jesus’s heart is with us, yet we must be that willing volunteer.