Why God needs to be first place

DAILY BIBLE READING:

Judges 9:22–10:18 
Luke 24:13-53 
Psalm 100:1-5 
Proverbs 14:11-12

BIBLE VERSE(S) FOR TODAY:

Judges 10:14 (CSB) "Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen. Let them deliver you whenever you are oppressed."

REFLECTIONS ON TODAY'S BIBLE VERSE(S):

In our Bible reading today, we came across a verse that told us what was going on in the hearts and actions of the Israelites...

Judges 10:6 "Then the Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. They worshiped the Baals and the Ashtoreths, the gods of Aram, Sidon, and Moab, and the gods of the Ammonites and the Philistines. They abandoned the Lord and did not worship him."

Verses like these appear through the entirety of the book of Judges. It's what happens when a people are not led by a godly leader who calls them to holiness and demonstrates what that looks like in his own life.

It also illustrates what our own hearts do all too often. Instead of serving the one true God, we set up other gods: our jobs, our pursuit of success/wealth, our kids, entertainment, sports, etc.

Well, when we look back at the Verse for Today, we see that one of the "benefits" of serving the one true God is that we have a refuge when life gets tough. But, the "gods" we typically serve can do nothing about it. They cannot help. And so God's comments to the wayward Israelites was intended to point out that they had been serving something that couldn't help them when they were in trouble.

Judges 10:14 (CSB) "Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen. Let them deliver you whenever you are oppressed."

Sometimes, our "gods" can numb us to the pain of life's trials but they cannot ultimately give us a right perspective and healing relief. 

So, we are reminded of yet one more reason why we must serve and love our God supremely; why He must be first place in our life; why nothing else can even come close to Him.

While keep God first place in our hearts is certainly for His glory, it is also for our good. Keeping God first place in our hearts is ultimately for our own good.