Hurry It Up, Will You?

Read Judges 9:1–12:15

1. One day Gideon’s son Abimelech went to Shechem to visit his uncles. . . . He said to them and to the rest of his mother’s family,
2. “Ask the leading citizens of Shechem whether they want to be ruled by all seventy of Gideon’s sons or by one man. And remember that I am your own flesh and blood!” . . .
3. After listening to this proposal, the people of Shechem decided in favor of Abimelech because he was their relative.
4. They gave him seventy silver coins from the temple of Baal-berith, which he used to hire some reckless troublemakers who agreed to follow him.
5. He went to his father’s home at Ophrah, and . . . killed all seventy of his half brothers, the sons of Gideon. But the youngest brother, Jotham, escaped and hid.
6. Then all the leading citizens of Shechem and Beth-millo . . . made Abimelech their king. Judges 9:1-6

We do an awful lot of waiting, don’t we? There’s waiting at the doctor’s office, at traffic lights, and at home. And then we wait for rides, for kids to come home, for kids to leave, and for the weekend. Waiting can be frustrating.

This passage contains a particularly poignant story about waiting. Jotham has to do it. Ask yourself whether you think he enjoys it, because his experience is much like everybody else’s in some ways.

While you’re pondering that, also read about when to call on God; making (and keeping) promises; and how not to respond when you feel left out.

Abimelech was the opposite of what God wanted in a judge, but it was three years before God moved against him, fulfilling Jotham’s parable (Judges 9:22-24). Those three years must have seemed like forever to Jotham. And he must have wondered why Abimelech wasn’t punished sooner for his evil ways.

We are not alone when we wonder why evil seems to prevail—many others have also wondered (see Job 10:3; Job 21:1-18; Jeremiah 12:1; Habakkuk 1:2-4, 12-17). God promises to deal with sin, but in his time, not ours. Actually, it is good that God doesn’t punish us immediately, because we, too, deserve God’s punishment for our sins. When we demand that God punish evil now, we are demanding that he punish us, too, and he’s more merciful than that. In his mercy, God often spares us from immediate punishment and allows us time to turn from our sins and turn to him in repentance.

Understand that trusting God for justice means waiting for his timing. First, you must recognize your own sins, turn from them, and ask for God’s forgiveness. You may face a difficult time of waiting for the wicked to be punished, but know that in God’s time, all evil will be destroyed.