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After the death of Joshua, the people of Israel enquired of the Lord, “Who shall go up first for us against the Canaanites, to fight against them?” The Lord said, “Judah shall go up; behold, I have given the land into his hand.” And Judah said to Simeon his brother, “Come up with me into the territory allotted to me, that we may fight against the Canaanites. And I likewise will go with you into the territory allotted to you.” So Simeon went with him. Then Judah went up and the Lord gave the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand, and they defeated 10,000 of them at Bezek.  JUDGES 1:1-3 At start of the book of Judges we meet the nation of Israel facing a leadership crisis. Joshua their greater leader after Moses has died. This is a huge problem of course because even though the they have managed to break the back of the Canaanite resistance they not done enough to fully possess the land. The enemy is weakened but they now need to go in and do the dirty work of fu...

The word of the LORD which came to Zephaniah the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah. [Zephaniah 1:1] Is God silent? I am prompted to ask the question because not too long ago I was speaking to someone who was struggling in their faith in Jesus. They said God had become a rather remote figure in their daily experience because they just don't feel he is there. He does not appeart to speak to their situation or listen to their prayers.  He is invisible and silent!

It is a common experience of mine. I have prayed. I have sought God's will. I know that which I seek is not grounded in selfish ambition. There is no doubt in my heart that my request is in the right place. In fact under close examination I sense there's even some common justice to it. And yet, God does not answer or even respond. I feel even ignored by the silence of God to the request.  Indeed, in fact if I am very honest God's response appears humanly irrational and not quite in line with how I have always understood His truth. This is my experience. And it is an experience that is best summed by one word : disappointment. Many times God has disappointed me. He has not quite fulfilled what I expected. These disappointments are particularly hard when God seems to meet the needs of other people and he seems blind to my own. It seems in those moments, God is purposely turning a blind to my concerns. It turns out, that in fact, I am not the only one who feels this way s...