Judges 10

QUESTION: Creation and Restoration - 1

ANSWER:

Judges 10 – Part 1

by Pastor Nathan Shepherd (Dive Chapel, Candle Key, Florida)

The popular Christian rock band, “Eutychus Landing” was on stage at the Dive Chapel in Candle Key, Florida. Josh Sinclair, the lead singer, finished the last stanza of “You Are So Good to Me” and stood with his head bowed as the music played out.

The Dive Chapel was packed. Word had gone out late in the week to bring lawn chairs because the church only owned 500 plastic seats. There were more than 800 people jammed into the bay front warehouse. Ah, community.

Josh brought his microphone back to its stand, front and center on the stage. “Hey y’all, wow, thanks for the great singing. It really lights us up. If you all don’t mind, we’re going to play a new song right now. It’s one that some of you have probably heard on the radio.” There were hoots, cheers and clapping from the crowd.

A young man pulled a stool up behind Josh and handed him an acoustic guitar. The band’s guitarist, James Jones, racked his electric and shrugged into a gray Ovation. Jones pulled a stool up next to Josh.

Josh turned back to the mike. “Hey James my brother. Okay, this song is about our Great Creator. About Jesus. About how we should be more cognizant and reticent about the beautiful world that the Creator laid out for us to thrive in. I know I’m taking a page out of Pastor Nate’s sermon book, but God is good and He cares for us. You can’t go down into these reef waters and not be blown away by how cool and great and inventive Jesus the Creator is.” Cheers and Amens echoed through the church.

“Anyhow, this song is called ‘Our Little Friend Venus’ and we thank you for letting us play it for you.” The crowd erupted in joyful cheering and burst to their feet as one. The strumming chords led into the lyrics…

One day God put His hand to his chin,
He winked at Jesus and He started to grin,
Took a handful of diamonds and flung them across the sky.
Then He took one special diamond, made it extra bright,
And said ‘you’ll be the first thing in the sky each night.’
You’ll be there for my children, just there to remind.
One thing I know, one thing I believe,
This world did not come from out of the waste.
And our little friend Venus, our little friend Venus,
Is there to remind us of God’s grace.

The band finished the song and went straight into a prayerful rendition of “They’ll know we are Christians by Our Love.” When they were finished, Josh prayed for the church, the Keys, Reef Restoration Ministries, and Nathan and Maya Shepherd.

Nathan walked slowly to the front of the church, turned and smiled. “Wow. It’s kind of like homecoming here at the DC this morning. Thank all of you for coming. Guys, ‘Eutychus Landing’, huge thanks. What a blessing.”

The crowd erupted yet again. “They’ll be at a table in the back when the service is over. They’re selling their new CD for only five bucks and they’ll be signing them. We told them to charge at least ten, but they refused.

“All right everybody, if you have your Bibles, let’s turn to Judges 10. We’ve been hitting the Word pretty hard the last few weeks and, in this chapter, we have something of a respite. In verses one and two, we meet Tola. This guy is the only leader in Judges that the scriptures say, ‘arose to save Israel.’ The Hebrew word used there as ‘to save’ can mean ‘to defend’ or ‘to deliver’. ‘Defend’ may be a better word here, because it does not appear that Tola saved the children of Israel from a ruling army. Basically, we learn two things about Tola. He ruled Israel for 23 years and his grandfather’s name was Dodo.

Judges 10 – Read Part 2!