"You ought to be thankful, a whole heaping lot, for the places and people you’re lucky you’re not."

So this is Day 6 of blogging every day (say what you want, but I technically still wrote something yesterday, short as it was!). What I've discovered is that I don't think writing itself is ever a struggle for me (just ask the people I text regularly... 😬). The bigger issue is coming up with things to say that I think are worth reading, and fitting the act of writing into my schedule. It gets to be time-consuming, because I research and polish and finesse until every word and sentence and paragraph is just so - which is probably unnecessary at least part of the time, but such is my nature. What can you do?

Anyway, the election has obviously been on the minds of pretty much everyone all week (and will continue to consume life as we know it for the foreseeable future, as far as anyone can tell). I voted, and of course I'd prefer the results to go one way over another, but I'm honestly not that bothered by who wins. I'll explain why.

Sometime in the past (can't recall exactly when - "like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives" 😉), the Bible study group I'm in went through the book of Judges. If you're not familiar with the Biblical timeline up to this point (the books of Genesis through Joshua), it goes (very briefly) like this:

Genesis - Creation. Adam and Eve. Sin. Noah and the flood. The tower of Babel. Abram and Sarai (Abraham and Sarah). God makes a covenant with Abraham. Isaac is born. Abraham's faith is tested. Jacob. Joseph (and how the Israelites ended up in Egypt).

Exodus - The Israelites are slaves in Egypt. Moses and the burning bush. Plagues. Pharaoh eventually lets the Israelites go. Moses is given the ten commandments. Aaron and the gold calf. Ark of the covenant, tabernacle, priests, etc.

Leviticus - Procedures and instructions for offerings and lots of information about conduct.

Numbers - A census of the Israelites. Organizing the tribes and assigning duties. Complaining. Scouts explore Canaan (the promised land). The people panic and rebel. The Israelites are banished to the wilderness for 40 years instead of entering the promised land now. Moses struck the rock and was also forbidden from entering the promised land.

Deuteronomy - Moses pleads with the Israelites to remember and obey. How to divide the promised land. Regulations. Joshua becomes the new leader of the Israelites. Moses dies.

Joshua - Entering the promised land. Rahab protects the spies. Jericho falls. Israel defeats lands and armies and kings (when they obey the Lord). Land is divided amongst the tribes. Joshua dies.

(Sparknotes complete - congratulations!)

The book of Judges occurs during the time period after Joshua dies, but before Israel is governed by kings. Judges (Gideon and Samson, for familiar examples) are appointed by God to rule over Israel for short periods of time. Unfortunately, the Israelites fall into a repetitive pattern of disobeying the Lord, being conquered and oppressed, and crying out to the Lord. The Lord rescues His people by sending a judge, who gets the Israelites back on track - but the judge eventually dies, and Israel goes back to disobeying, being conquered and oppressed, crying out... and so on. The longer the cycle goes on, the further and further away from God the people get. By the end, all sorts of immoral behavior is rampant amongst the Israelites, and one overarching observation is repeated four times: "In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit." (Judges 17:6, 18:1, 19:1, 21:25)

However, no matter how many times the Israelites kept screwing up and crying out, God always came to their rescue and provided them with a new leader to throw off their oppressors and restore peace. We witness them reject God as king again and again, but He delivers them out of their distress every time, in spite of their sinfulness. God is always faithful to His covenant with the Israelites, and the book of Judges truly showcases this and, subsequently, points to Jesus in the New Testament (as do so many of the Old Testament books!).

It doesn't sound so bad from what I've described, but it's a dark and tragic time for the Israelites, and even though the judges God appoints accomplish what He needs them to, each judge is more violent and disturbing than the last. One judge leads Israel into idolatry and starts a civil war between the tribes. Another judge thinks sacrificing his daughter will please God. Gideon is a coward, and Samson is violent and sex-crazed. A tent peg gets hammered through someone's head. A pagan temple is built. There's sexual abuse, slaughter, and retribution. It's a huge train wreck.

But God used who was available. Yes, most of the judges were severely flawed, but they had a few redeeming moments (for example, Deborah is great, and Gideon grows in his faith and courage over time). Overall, the book of Judges demonstrates how far the Israelites had fallen... but they were never forsaken by God, and we see countless examples in this book and all throughout the Bible of God using unexpected people who have done terrible things to fulfill His glorious plan.

So Trump or Biden, Republican or Democrat, I know God will use whoever ends up in office to accomplish His purpose. He's got it under control, and thank God for that! I've got enough to worry about with this blog. 😊