We see a pattern emerge in the book of Judges. It is the same pattern we struggle with today. We see the people have freedom, but then they fall into sin. After the fall into sin, they are captured and oppressed by their neighbors. They will eventually repent and cry out to God for help, and God will raise up a judge. That judge will lead them to freedom, and they will be free for as long as the judge lives. However, after the judge dies, the same pattern resumes. Sin to oppression to repentance to judge to freedom to sin, and over and over again it happens. We have the same patterns in our lives. What are we to do about it?

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Good morning. It’s good to be with you on this Thursday morning on this National Day of Prayer. I hope that today as you find yourself going about your day with whatever task you have before you, I would encourage you to take some time and pray. Pray for our nation, pray for our leaders, pray for our churches. Pray.

If you are in the Madison area, I would invite you to join the staff of Saint Matthews and other churches and other members of our church as we gather at the City Hall in Madison today just to observe a time of prayer for our city, for our nation, for our churches. So, as I said, we’re going to meet at twelve noon at City Hall. We’d love to have you with us. But no matter where you find yourself, I would encourage you to take some time out of your day to pray on this annual day of prayer. It’s a great thing for us to do.

Paul tells us to pray. Pray for our leaders, pray for our city. One of the words that the Lord has for the Jews while they’re in exile is the welfare of their exilic land is their welfare as well. So we should work for the good of our communities no matter where we find ourselves.

Speaking of the good of our communities and where we find ourselves, we’re back in Judges today. We’re going to read today from Judges. We’re going to see today the writer of Judges establish and name the pattern that we’re going to see over and over throughout the book of Judges. You’re going to see the same pattern over and over and over and over again. So let’s read Judges chapter 2, verses 11 through 23:

Then the Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and worshiped the Baals. They abandoned the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They followed other gods from among the gods of the peoples who were around them. They bowed down to them. They provoked the Lord to anger. They abandoned the Lord and worshiped the Baals and the Astartes.

So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he gave them over to the plunderers who plundered them. And he sold them into the power of their enemies all around, so that they could no longer withstand their enemies. Whenever they marched out, the hand of the Lord was against them to bring them to misfortune, as the Lord had warned them and sworn to them. They were in great distress.

Then the Lord raised up judges who delivered them out of the power of those who plundered them. Yet they did not listen even to their judges. They lusted after other gods and bowed down to them. They soon turned aside from the way in which their ancestors had walked, who had obeyed the commandments of the Lord; they did not follow their example.

Whenever the Lord raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge and delivered them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge. For the Lord would be moved to pity by their groaning because of those who persecuted and oppressed them. But whenever the judge died, they would relapse and behave worse than their ancestors, following other gods, worshiping them and bowing down to them. They would not drop any of their practices or their stubborn ways.

So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel. And he said, “Because this people have transgressed my covenant that I commanded their ancestors and have not obeyed my voice, I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations that Joshua left when he died.” In order to test Israel, whether or not they would take care to walk in the way of the Lord as their ancestors did, the Lord left those nations, not driving them out at once, and he had not handed them over to Joshua.

So here’s what we see—this pattern that is established here, that we see all throughout the book of Judges. Verse 11: “Then the Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.” So they would fall into sin. They would relapse into sin. They would turn from God. They would worship the idols of their neighbors. They would worship the Baals.

Remember, the Baals were the Canaanite gods of fertility and of the harvest. So many of their neighbors would worship the Baals to ensure a good harvest. When the Israelites worshiped the Baals, they never stopped worshiping Yahweh. They continued to worship Yahweh. They would just worship the Baals in addition to.

Idolatry doesn’t mean that we don’t still trust God. It just means we trust God plus whatever. Our idols are always the things that we put our hope in—in addition to or instead of God. They worshiped the Baals because they were trusting in the Baals to deliver them. They trusted God, but not completely.

God demands our complete faith, our complete trust, our all in all. That’s what God wants. That’s what God desires. As the writer to the Hebrews tells us, “Without faith, it is impossible to please God.”

So they would fall into idolatry. Then, because of their sin, they would fall into captivity. They would be oppressed by their neighbors—by the Canaanites, Hittites, Jebusites. They would conquer Israel and enslave them and oppress them. Then the people would recognize this and cry out to God. They would repent. They would turn from their sin. “God, save us. God, restore us. God, forgive us.”

Then God would raise up a judge. And the judge would come. The judge would free them. The judge would restore them. The judge would drive out their enemies. And while the judge was alive, the people would follow God.

Then the judge would die. And they would do what was evil in the sight of the Lord. They would worship the idols. Then they would be captured. Then they would cry out for help. Then God would raise up a judge. And they would be free. And they would fall into sin. And they would be captured. And they would cry out. And God would raise up a judge. And they would be free.

Over and over and over and over again.

Don’t we have the same pattern, friends?

Don’t we do the same things?

The story of Judges is our story. In the same way they fall into sin because of their lack of faith and get in trouble, they cry out to God, and God frees them. They fall into sin.

We have these patterns in our life, don’t we, friends? We have these ruts. They’re called ruts for a reason, aren’t they? We fall back into them. And it’s so easy to do that, isn’t it? It’s so easy to fall into sin. It’s so easy to fall back into old habits. It’s so easy to fall back into slavery.

And so I think for us, one of the ways I’ve learned to break up this rhythm—something I’ve learned from addiction therapy and from 12-step programs—is we have to treat every day as a new day. If yesterday was a great day and things were perfect, today’s a new day. Be faithful. If yesterday was a terrible day and you failed in every possible way, today’s a new day. Be faithful.

Every day, we begin again.

Every day, we start again.

“Morning by morning, new mercies we see.”

The way we break up the pattern of sin and captivity and repentance and freedom and sin is to disrupt the pattern by starting anew every day.

Yesterday’s sins are forgiven. “If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1). Our sins are as far as the east is from the west. That’s what the Psalmist tells us.

Today is a new day. If you failed, start back over. Don’t continue. Start over. It’s a new day. If yesterday was great—hey. It’s a new day. Depend on God for today’s mercies. Don’t rely upon yesterday’s, but live into today’s mercies.

Every day. It’s a new day.

So I think that’s how we break up the pattern: we treat every day as a new day. We let the mistakes go. We let the victories go. We live fully into the day that God has given to us.

Today’s a new day, friends. Today’s a new day.

So let’s live fully and boldly and fully present in this new day that God’s given us.

Thanks for being with us. Tomorrow we’ll pick up with Judges chapter 3. Have a great day.