TLIC Family. Day 48. February 17: Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

THINK TOGETHER

Who has God put in your life for you to listen to and obey?

READ TOGETHER

Can you find the book of judges in a Bible? The book of Judges covers 400 years of Israel’s history. And it’s a very bad, and very sad, 400 years. Yesterday we saw how the Hebrew people were trapped in a cycle of sinning, being defeated, and then repenting to God, over and over again, but without ever really trusting God. The book of Judges ends with these words:

Judges 21:25. In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

This means that everyone did whatever they wanted to do. They didn’t a king because they didn’t have a king. And they didn’t obey God because they were too self-centered to see that they needed God and his love.

Have you ever wanted to do whatever YOU wanted to do?

Have you ever wished your mom and dad, or teacher wouldn’t be able to boss you around?

The Bible shows us that we all are like the Hebrew people during the book of Judges. We all want to be our own boss. Our own king. We all want to do whatever we want to do. We want to do things our own way. We want to be in charge of our own lives. We’ve all been like this ever since Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden.

But the Bible also shows us that we weren’t created by God to be our own boss. We weren’t made to rule our own lives. We all need a “king” to follow. We all need someone to love us and care for us and to guide us into what it right and good. And that’s why God gives us moms and dads. And that’s why he gives us teachers, and pastors, and coaches. God wants us to learn to listen to others who will show us what is right.

But even moms and dads get it strong sometimes don’t they? And even teachers, and pastors, and coaches make mistakes. The book of Judges says that the people were bad because they had “no king in Israel.” But simply having a king wasn’t the answer either, because the Bible is full of stories of really bad kings. Kings who did very wicked things. And the people followed along with those wicked kings.

You see, we don’t just need any king. We need THE king. We need the greatest king of all time. The king who will always show us what is right and good. The king who will tell us what to do because he loves us, not because he’s bossy. The king who will even die for us so that our sins can be forgiven and we can be made right with God.

We need king Jesus!

We need to stop doing what we think is right, and start trusting Jesus to show us what is right. And we need to trust that even when we do what is wrong, he will still love us no matter what.

Because of Jesus I am right in God’s eyes.

With Jesus I can do what is right in HIS eyes.

DO SOMETHING TOGETHER

Watch these scenes from The Lion King together. Talk about how young Simba wanted to do what was right in his own eyes (I Just Can’t Wait to Be King song). But Simba had to learn to trust his king, Mufasa (also his father). He had to trust that his Father-King loved him and that he also knew what was best.

If you watch the “Great Kings of the Past” scene you can talk about how Jesus is our King who is not just up in the stars, but who is with us in our hearts guiding us by his love for us through the Holy Spirit that lives in us.