Title: Tears of Bogim
Contents
Bogim's Tears
Judges 2:1-5
In the book “The Liar Man, the Weeping Woman” by Alan Fizz and Barbara Fizz, the three functions of tears are summarized.
First, tears protect the eyes. Tears protect the eyes through cleansing, lubricating, and antibacterial properties.
Second, it relieves stress. Stress tears that run down the cheeks are different from eye protection tears. It contains endorphins, which are pain relievers, which reduce mental pain.
Third, it functions as an emotional marker. Crying can move other people's hearts.
So, isn't there a saying, 'A woman's tears move a man, and a man's tears change the world'?
But if you look closely at the Bible, you can see that there are tears like these and other tears.
It is the tears we shed before God. In other words, spiritual tears. These tears cleanse our souls. It heals our souls. It renews our souls.
Not only that, but it moves the heart of God. These tears enrich our spiritual life.
Tears shed in front of people make us humble and weak.
But the tears we shed before God make us great and make us strong.
That is why our tears before God become the jewels of our souls.
As I said, our eyes need tears to maintain their function. physical tears.
Likewise, our souls need tears to function properly.
Those are the spiritual tears, the eyes before God.
Dear all! Weep a lot before the Lord. Tears of repentance, tears of gratitude, tears of joy... These tears will be tears of power.
In today's text, the Israelites wept before God in a place called Bochim.
Those tears became tears of power and changed the people of Israel. Let's look at the story of those tears.
background of tears
The Israelites crossed the Jordan River following Joshua's lead and entered the land of Canaan.
In Joshua 5, Gilgal is a very important place for the people of Israel. During the past 40 years, the 2nd generation of the Exodus who were born in the wilderness did not perform circumcision, but the first thing they did when they entered the land of Canaan was circumcision. By celebrating this, they were reborn as God's holy people.
Not only that, but the Passover was celebrated again in Gilgal for the first time in 40 years.
This means that the 40 years of their life in the wilderness had come to an end due to their disobedience, and they had a new relationship with God.
So this Gilgal has a very important meaning for the Israelites.
But now many years have passed. Joshua died. All the spiritual leaders of Gilgal have passed away. Although the stronghold area of Canaan has been conquered, there is still a lot of land to conquer. They moved their base from Gilgal to Bochim. Their spiritual condition is not what it used to be. They do not keep their promises to God properly. Compromise with the Gentiles. They lost all the spiritual power of God's people. Gilgal has lost that spiritual spirit. They were no longer the Israelites in Gilgal.
So, the Israelites of Bokim are no longer the Israelites of Gilgal. There is a deep spiritual darkness. Full of disastrous failures and disappointments.
Therefore, this bokim became a symbol of the spiritual stagnation of the people of Israel.
The people of Israel are now weeping at this bokim.
It is important to gain faith, but it is more important to keep it. It is important to receive grace, but it is more important to keep it. Gilgal's spiritual blessings are important, but keeping them is even more important.
The tears of Bochim of the Israelites are tears of regret and sorrow for losing their faith.
Dear all! I hope you keep your faith.
So I hope you don't have tears like this.
If you have lost your faith, it is more important to restore it. You must not sit there sitting down.
You have to get up again and start over. The tears of the people of Israel are tears of regret and sorrow for what they have lost, but they are also tears of restoration that begins again.
It is because these tears became an opportunity and their faith began to be restored again.
Dear all! I hope your faith will be renewed. May the lost faith be restored.
meaning of tears
The tears the Israelites shed at Bochim had several important meanings.
1. Tears of Grace
Verse 1 says, “The angel of the Lord came from Gilgal to Bochim.” An angel of the Lord came from Gilgal to Bochim.
As I said, Gilgal is the place where the people of Israel performed ceremonies before God, kept the Passover, and made a promise with God and kept that promise thoroughly.
God met the Israelites in Gilgal. you did it together
On the other hand, Bokim was a place where they left the word of God, compromised with strangers, and served idols together. This is the place where God had to turn away and leave.
However, it is that God came to Bogim to meet the people of Israel.
They sinned, and although they were separated from God, He did not forsake Him, and He found Him again.
The people of Israel are moved to tears by their grace and love.
Therefore, the tears of Bokim are tears that are shed because of God's grace and love.
God created human beings beautifully according to His will. However, man has broken the word of God. I broke my promise to God. And they turned away from God. Furthermore, it denies that God does not exist. I live my own life as if God does not exist. He has committed a great sin that cannot be erased before God.
Now, in order to solve this problem, humans must first confess their mistake to God and ask for forgiveness. This is the right thing to do. But God came first. He came to those who never knew that they had sinned, who never asked for forgiveness, and made His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, die on the cross and opened the way for unilateral forgiveness. That's why I said that I loved you like this.
Dear all! Today, God comes to us through bokim. He will come back to the place where we sinned. Even if we have made a mistake before God and cannot dare to stand before God again, God will come to us. I hope you will meet this God of grace, the God of love.
2. Tears of Enlightenment
After the Israelites met the Lord again in Bochim and heard the word, they realized what they had done wrong. That error can be found in Judges 1.
First, they did not fully believe in God. In verse 19, when the Israelites saw the iron chariots of the inhabitants of the valley, they were afraid. In today's terms, it's like a chariot. They fight with rifles as infantry, but the other side is heavily armed with tanks and armored vehicles. It was said that he was frightened by the weapon and fled. God said, “I will be with you, and I have delivered them into your hands,” but they could not rely on God’s word.
Second, they compromised. In 1:2, the tribe of Judah disobeyed God's command and compromised with the tribe of Simeon. In verse 26, the tribe of Joseph made a compromise with the Hittites. And if you look at verse 27 and below, you have compromised with the Gentiles in countless cases. He violated God's Word and made a compromise along the realistically favorable direction of the world.
Now as they heard the angel of the Lord speak, they began to understand.
So I started crying before God. Tears of Bogim.
Even today, there are many cases where we do not know what we have done wrong even if we do not live according to the Word of God. Even if we try to repent, we often do not repent because we do not understand.
Like the people of Israel in today's text, please check whether we are living in fear and trembling in the world without seeing the power of God. Rather than keeping the word of God, please check whether you are compromising with the world and compromising with people because of a small profit in front of you.
Dear all! We also need tears of enlightenment.
We must look at the mirror of God's Word and examine our own sins and faults.
3. Tears of Determination
Verse 5 says that they sacrificed before the LORD at Bochim.
It was a sacrifice of tears.
Now, with tears of determination and determination to make a new one, they offered a new sacrifice before God.
Decision is required. You must not just realize your sin, know what your mistake is, understand yourself, forgive yourself, and just sit there. When you realize your sin, you must make a thorough decision.
It must be new. Tears of determination are needed. The tears of the people of Israel are needed.
When God pours the oil of the Holy Spirit on these tears, we can become new people.
We need tears.
It is necessary to protect our eyes, but it is also necessary to renew our souls.
The tears of Bokim are tears given by the Lord. We pray that the tears that the Lord has given us will also be abundant.