Judges 19-21
This story of the Levite and his concubine is one of the most disturbing stories in Judges. A similar thing happened when the two angels of the LORD visited Lot in Sodom – the men of the city came to take and violate the two men and Lot offered them his virgin daughters instead. Clearly I do not understand the culture to see what is okay about this!! In that instance, the angels rescued all of them and the daughters were safe, but in this instance the Levite forced the concubine, whom he had just journeyed to ‘redeem’, to pleasure the men of the town in order to save his own life. As a woman, all I can say is that I am soooo glad that my God, who has redeemed me, did things differently – He gave His own life to save mine.
And a nod to the courage and persistence of the Israelites! They came together as one to execute justice in this situation, and they sought God before taking action. Funny, God told them to go but did not promise them victory until the third time. The first two times were fantastic disasters! But instead of turning away, they continued to seek God with prayer and fasting until He granted them victory. I know how often I think I am following God’s lead only to run into obstacles and failures. How often to I hold my faith and press on until God delivers?
Luke 16
Jesus tells some very difficult to understand stories in this chapter of Luke. I think the general gist of most of it, though, has to do with living for God’s future Kingdom rather than for the here and now; with storing up treasure in heaven rather than seeking your reward here on earth. And He doesn’t mean denying yourself what is available here and now – I believe all these things are a gift from God. But whether you use these gifts to serve yourself now or use them to serve others now for your later benefit is up to you.