Day 9/30 – Right in Your Own Eyes

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Thoughts from the Diary of a Desperate Man by Walter A Henrichsen (“Walt”)
Right in Your Own Eyes
Day Two Hundred Seventy-three

“In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes.” Judges 21:25

God gives a series of cameos on life during the Theocracy. God did not establish a police force or a judicial system to try and convict law-breakers. He gave Israel a series of judges because they refused to be governed in the manner established by God in the Law. The story in Israel during the days of the judges is tragically repetitive: The people sin, abandoning God for gods that are not gods; God judges in the form of oppressing nations; Israel, in terrible pain, repents and turns to God; God brings deliverance through a judge; the judge rules for a period of time and dies; Israel again sins.

The people did not do wrong in their own eyes. They did what they thought to be right. You can sin by doing what you know to be wrong, but also by doing what you think is right. The latter is probably more deadly, for you do not have the help of your conscience to check you. To convince yourself that you are doing right, you need to bring your conscience into agreement. It is not hard to do. A man recently converted expressed shock that the Bible prohibits fornication. When asked if he always thought it was right, after reflection he said, ‘When I first did it I knew it was wrong, but I overruled my conscience and in a short while it seemed right.”

Conscience has the power to condemn, but not absolve. A clear conscience gives confidence in the presence of God, but it does not absolve guilt. The Holy Spirit will assist your conscience in these matters, but even He may be
grieved.353 Because you believe something to be right doesn’t mean that it is
right. God may call it sin, as He did in the day of the judges.

353 Ephesians 4:30

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Isaiah 9-10 Ephesians 3 (New King James Version)

Isaiah 9-10
The Government of the Promised Son
9
Nevertheless the gloom will not be upon her who is distressed,
As when at first He lightly esteemed
The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,
And afterward more heavily oppressed her,
By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan,
In Galilee of the Gentiles.
2
The people who walked in darkness
Have seen a great light;
Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death,
Upon them a light has shined.
3
You have multiplied the nation
And [a]increased its joy;
They rejoice before You
According to the joy of harvest,
As men rejoice when they divide the spoil.
4
For You have broken the yoke of his burden
And the staff of his shoulder,
The rod of his oppressor,
As in the day of Midian.
5
For every warrior’s [b]sandal from the noisy battle,
And garments rolled in blood,
Will be used for burning and fuel [c]of fire.
6
For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7
Of the increase of His government and peace
There will be no end,
Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom,
To order it and establish it with judgment and justice
From that time forward, even forever.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.
The Punishment of Samaria
8
The Lord sent a word against Jacob,
And it has fallen on Israel.
9
All the people will know—
Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria—
Who say in pride and arrogance of heart:
10
“The bricks have fallen down,
But we will rebuild with hewn stones;
The sycamores are cut down,
But we will replace them with cedars.”
11
Therefore the Lord shall set up
The adversaries of Rezin against him,
And spur his enemies on,
12
The Syrians before and the Philistines behind;
And they shall devour Israel with an open mouth.
For all this His anger is not turned away,
But His hand is [d]stretched out still.
13
For the people do not turn to Him who strikes them,
Nor do they seek the Lord of hosts.
14
Therefore the Lord will cut off head and tail from Israel,
Palm branch and bulrush in one day.
15
The elder and honorable, he is the head;
The prophet who teaches lies, he is the tail.
16
For the leaders of this people cause them to err,
And those who are led by them are destroyed.
17
Therefore the Lord will have no joy in their young men,
Nor have mercy on their fatherless and widows;
For everyone is a hypocrite and an evildoer,
And every mouth speaks [e]folly.
For all this His anger is not turned away,
But His hand is stretched out still.
18
For wickedness burns as the fire;
It shall devour the briers and thorns,
And kindle in the thickets of the forest;
They shall mount up like rising smoke.
19
Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts
The land is burned up,
And the people shall be as fuel for the fire;
No man shall spare his brother.
20
And he shall [f]snatch on the right hand
And be hungry;
He shall devour on the left hand
And not be satisfied;
Every man shall eat the flesh of his own arm.
21
Manasseh shall devour Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh;
Together they shall be against Judah.
For all this His anger is not turned away,
But His hand is stretched out still.
Assyria Shall Be Broken
10
“Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees,
Who write misfortune,
Which they have prescribed
2
To rob the needy of justice,
And to take what is right from the poor of My people,
That widows may be their prey,
And that they may rob the fatherless.
3
What will you do in the day of punishment,
And in the desolation which will come from afar?
To whom will you flee for help?
And where will you leave your glory?
4
Without Me they shall bow down among the prisoners,
And they shall fall [g]among the slain.”
For all this His anger is not turned away,
But His hand is stretched out still.
Arrogant Assyria Also Judged
5
“Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger
And the staff in whose hand is My indignation.
6
I will send him against an ungodly nation,
And against the people of My wrath
I will give him charge,
To seize the spoil, to take the prey,
And to tread them down like the mire of the streets.
7
Yet he does not mean so,
Nor does his heart think so;
But it is in his heart to destroy,
And cut off not a few nations.
8
For he says,
‘Are not my princes altogether kings?
9
Is not Calno like Carchemish?
Is not Hamath like Arpad?
Is not Samaria like Damascus?
10
As my hand has found the kingdoms of the idols,
Whose carved images excelled those of Jerusalem and Samaria,
11
As I have done to Samaria and her idols,
Shall I not do also to Jerusalem and her idols?’ ”
12 Therefore it shall come to pass, when the Lord has [h]performed all His work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, that He will say, “I will punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his haughty looks.”
13 For he says:
“By the strength of my hand I have done it,
And by my wisdom, for I am prudent;
Also I have removed the boundaries of the people,
And have robbed their treasuries;
So I have put down the inhabitants like a [i]valiant man.
14
My hand has found like a nest the riches of the people,
And as one gathers eggs that are left,
I have gathered all the earth;
And there was no one who moved his wing,
Nor opened his mouth with even a peep.”
15
Shall the ax boast itself against him who chops with it?
Or shall the saw exalt itself against him who saws with it?
As if a rod could wield itself against those who lift it up,
Or as if a staff could lift up, as if it were not wood!
16
Therefore the Lord, the [j]Lord of hosts,
Will send leanness among his fat ones;
And under his glory
He will kindle a burning
Like the burning of a fire.
17
So the Light of Israel will be for a fire,
And his Holy One for a flame;
It will burn and devour
His thorns and his briers in one day.
18
And it will consume the glory of his forest and of his fruitful field,
Both soul and body;
And they will be as when a sick man wastes away.
19
Then the rest of the trees of his forest
Will be so few in number
That a child may write them.
The Returning Remnant of Israel
20
And it shall come to pass in that day
That the remnant of Israel,
And such as have escaped of the house of Jacob,
Will never again depend on him who [k]defeated them,
But will depend on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.
21
The remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob,
To the Mighty God.
22
For though your people, O Israel, be as the sand of the sea,
A remnant of them will return;
The destruction decreed shall overflow with righteousness.
23
For the Lord God of hosts
Will make a determined end
In the midst of all the land.
24 Therefore thus says the Lord God of hosts: “O My people, who dwell in Zion, do not be afraid of the Assyrian. He shall strike you with a rod and lift up his staff against you, in the manner of Egypt. 25 For yet a very little while and the indignation will cease, as will My anger in their destruction.” 26 And the Lord of hosts will [l]stir up a scourge for him like the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb; as His rod was on the sea, so will He lift it up in the manner of Egypt.
27
It shall come to pass in that day
That his burden will be taken away from your shoulder,
And his yoke from your neck,
And the yoke will be destroyed because of the anointing oil.
28
He has come to Aiath,
He has passed Migron;
At Michmash he has attended to his equipment.
29
They have gone [m]along the ridge,
They have taken up lodging at Geba.
Ramah is afraid,
Gibeah of Saul has fled.
30
[n]Lift up your voice,
O daughter of Gallim!
Cause it to be heard as far as Laish—
[o]O poor Anathoth!
31
Madmenah has fled,
The inhabitants of Gebim seek refuge.
32
As yet he will remain at Nob that day;
He will shake his fist at the mount of the daughter of Zion,
The hill of Jerusalem.
33
Behold, the Lord,
The Lord of hosts,
Will lop off the bough with terror;
Those of high stature will be hewn down,
And the haughty will be humbled.
34
He will cut down the thickets of the forest with iron,
And Lebanon will fall by the Mighty One.
Footnotes:
• Isaiah 9:3 So with Qr., Tg.; Kt., Vg. not increased joy; LXX Most of the people You brought down in Your joy
• Isaiah 9:5 boot
• Isaiah 9:5 for the fire
• Isaiah 9:12 In judgment
• Isaiah 9:17 foolishness
• Isaiah 9:20 slice off or tear
• Isaiah 10:4 Lit. under
• Isaiah 10:12 completed
• Isaiah 10:13 mighty
• Isaiah 10:16 So with Bg.; MT, DSS YHWH (the Lord)
• Isaiah 10:20 Lit. struck
• Isaiah 10:26 arouse
• Isaiah 10:29 Or over the pass
• Isaiah 10:30 Or Cry shrilly
• Isaiah 10:30 So with MT, Tg., Vg.; LXX, Syr. Listen to her, O Anathoth

Ephesians 3
The Mystery Revealed
3 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles— 2 if indeed you have heard of the [a]dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you, 3 how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, 4 by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), 5 which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets: 6 that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel, 7 of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power.
Purpose of the Mystery
8 To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9 and to make all see what is the [b]fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things [c]through Jesus Christ; 10 to the intent that now the [d]manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the [e]principalities and powers in the heavenly places, 11 according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, 12 in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him. 13 Therefore I ask that you do not lose heart at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.
Appreciation of the Mystery
14 For this reason I bow my knees to the Father [f]of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— 19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, 21 to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Footnotes:
• Ephesians 3:2 stewardship
• Ephesians 3:9 NU, M stewardship (dispensation)
• Ephesians 3:9 NU omits through Jesus Christ
• Ephesians 3:10 variegated or many-sided
• Ephesians 3:10 rulers
• Ephesians 3:14 NU omits of our Lord Jesus Christ