To Chase the Previous Letter

Dear Parsiphony,

I have written and sent this letter quickly to arrive with the first I sent because there is one thing I would amend within the first.

In my previous letter, I mentioned the Christian woman who entered into a union with a non-Christian with her eyes open, but sincerely repented afterwards. It is certain she will have trials; possibly that is what drove her to repent. But God is often more merciful than we give Him credit for, and perhaps through the mercy of God she may have more to hope for than a combative relationship with her husband.

Surely if there was ever a generation which abandoned God with its eyes open, it was the generation in Judges 10:6-16. They had a national history of a faithful generation receiving the blessings God had promised for an obedient nation in the generation of Joshua (Joshua 23:14), and of at least a generation at this point who had incurred God’s wrath by turning away, and then experienced His deliverance when they began again to seek Him with all their heart. That is the context of Judges 10:6-16, which I have reproduced for you below.

6 And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim, and Ashtaroth, and the gods of Syria, and the gods of Zidon, and the gods of Moab, and the gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines, and forsook the LORD, and served not him.
7 And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hands of the Philistines, and into the hands of the children of Ammon.
8 And that year they vexed and oppressed the children of Israel: eighteen years, all the children of Israel that [were] on the other side Jordan in the land of the Amorites, which [is] in Gilead.
9 Moreover the children of Ammon passed over Jordan to fight also against Judah, and against Benjamin, and against the house of Ephraim; so that Israel was sore distressed.
10 And the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, saying, We have sinned against thee, both because we have forsaken our God, and also served Baalim.
11 And the LORD said unto the children of Israel, [Did] not [I deliver you] from the Egyptians, and from the Amorites, from the children of Ammon, and from the Philistines? [<-- talking about easily memorable times He had delivered Israel in the past]
12 The Zidonians also, and the Amalekites, and the Maonites, did oppress you; and ye cried to me, and I delivered you out of their hand. [<-- MORE past deliverances!]
13 Yet ye have forsaken me, and served other gods: wherefore I will deliver you no more.
14 Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen; let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation.
15 And the children of Israel said unto the LORD, We have sinned: do thou unto us whatsoever seemeth good unto thee; deliver us only, we pray thee, this day.
16 And they put away the strange gods from among them, and served the LORD: and his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel.

It is easy, when God brings one of His children low, for that child to despair of ever reaching the same trust and intimacy with God she used to have again. When God brought me to repentance about my young man, I was too upset to do anything except read my Bible, even though it was finals week. I read for hours and hours. My reading included these verses:

Revelation 3:1-2
1 And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.
2 Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God.

“Strengthen the things which remain.” Oh how those words stung! Was I always going to be like I was, a doubter, far from God, away from His presence? Would I always be strengthening what remained, never gaining again what was lost, never building beyond that point? God had delivered me from many enemies before (metaphorically), but I had taken this young man as a new idol. Would He tell me what he told the Israelites in verse 13 (“wherefore I will deliver you no more”)?

For months those words tormented me. But what did God do after the children of Israel repented and “put away” the strange gods to which they had married themselves? God raised up Jephthah, who retrieved once again for Israel twenty cities from the Ammonites (Judges 11:33)! Retrieved again! Funny that I didn’t notice this when I went past it. What really struck this home to me was I Samuel 7, verses 3-4, 7-8, and 13-14.

3 And Samuel spake unto all the house of Israel, saying, If ye do return unto the Lord with all your hearts, then put away the strange gods and Ashtaroth from among you, and prepare your hearts unto the Lord, and serve him only; and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.
4 Then the children of Israel did put away Baalim and Ashtaroth, and served the Lord only.

7 And when the Philistines heard that the children of Israel gathered together to Mizpeh, the Lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the children of Israel heard it, they were afraid of the Philistines.
8 And the children of Israel said to Samuel, Cease not to cry unto the Lord our God for us, that he will save us out of the hand of the Philistines.

Between here and the last two verses I cited, God discomfited the Philistines and the Israelites pursued after them in battle.

13 So the Philistines were subdued, and they came no more into the coasts of Israel: and the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel.
14 And the cities which the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, from Ekron even unto Gath; and the coasts thereof did Israel deliver out of the hands of the Philistines. And there was peace between Israel and the Amorites.

The people’s hearts were not right with God, but they repented, and ceased not to cry unto the Lord. And not only did the Philistines no longer come into the coasts of Israel for all the days of Samuel, but the cities which before were taken were restored to Israel again!

God truly is merciful. He doesn’t owe us anything, but if we turn to Him, He is a merciful God. We can say with the Israelites “We have sinned: do thou unto us whatsoever seemeth good unto thee.” But because of the great mercy of God, we can also intreat, “deliver us only, we pray thee, this day,” and perhaps the day after as well, from our other enemies.

Much love, and God bless,
~Dinah Greyhorn