A GOD OF INTEGRITY

 

I wanted to weep as I finished studying the book of Judges. The closing chapters moved away from accounts of Israel’s heroes to demonstrate the low state of religion and morality as Israel forsook her covenant with Jehovah and ‘every man did that which was right in his own eyes’ (Judges 17:6; 21:25). As I studied this book, I lost count of how many times I came across this heartbreaking sentence: ‘and the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord’ indicating their return to idolatry at the end of the reign of each military leader and hero that they called ‘judge’. 

 

The saddest lesson that Israelites missed is repeated in this sentence: ‘In those days there was no king in Israel’ (Judges 17:6; 18:1; 21:25).  But there was…..the one and only true King who they kept rejecting through their broken covenant. I have often asked myself why Jehovah did not just annihilate the whole House of Israel because of their continual backsliding. I was overcome today as I was reminded of the answer I already knew: He  would NEVER break His covenant with US (Deuteronomy 4:31; Leviticus 26:44,46; Isaiah 49:15,16). We knew this truth as we stood in the councils of heaven and sustained Him as one who would never break His promise to save our pitiful souls.  Tears overcame me as I saw the integrity of His heart and understood the longsuffering, the mercy and the grace of our Saviour, Our God, our King, our all…..

 

We are noble men and women of the covenant. We are the strong ones whom He has sent in these the last days to preserve the House of Israel. We are:

 

·      His people (Exodus 6:7; Jeremiah 10:4)

·      His favoured people above all (Isaiah 43:1-7; 2 Corinthians 11:2; Revelation 19:7-8; 21:2,9; Deuteronomy 7:6)

·      His servant (1 Nephi 21:3)

·      His light unto the world (D&C 103:9)

·      His inheritance (Deuteronomy 32:9)

·      His jewels (Exodus 28:17-21; Malachi 3:17; D&C 60:4; 101:3)

·      The apple of His eye (Deuteronomy 32:9,10; Zechariah 2:8)

 

Hurrah, hurrah for Israel and her eternal King!

 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN

(Art: Faith Has Saved You by Randy Friemel)