“So, remove grief and anger from your heart and put away pain from your body, because childhood and the prime of life are fleeting” (Ecclesiastes 11:10).
Every hour, day, and year that passes is forever lost. Once time has passed, we can never get it back. Jesus said it is impossible to “add a single hour” to our lives (Matthew 6:27).
Within the last year, I have hit three different ten-year milestones in my personal life – the tenth birthday of my oldest son; ten years working with the church in Morgantown; and, with this article, closing out the first ten years of Plain Bible Teaching. This has led me to reflect upon how much can happen in a decade. So in this article, we are going to focus on five different ten-year periods in the Bible and see what lessons we can learn.
Losing Patience in God’s Promise
“Now Sarai, Abram’s wife had borne him no children, and she had an Egyptian maid whose name was Hagar. So Sarai said to Abram, ‘Now behold, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Please go in to my maid; perhaps I will obtain children through her.’ And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. After Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Abram’s wife Sarai took Hagar the Egyptian, her maid, and gave her to her husband Abram as his wife” (Genesis 16:1-3).
God gave the “seed” promise to Abram: “In you all the families of the earth will be blessed” (Genesis 12:3; 22:18). This would be fulfilled through “one who will come forth from [his] own body” (Genesis 15:4). Abram believed God’s promise (Genesis 15:6). But the promise was not immediately fulfilled. After ten years, Sarai and Abram devised another plan – that he would have a son not with his wife, but with her maid (Genesis 16:1-3). But their plan was not God’s plan. The Lord told him later, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and indeed I will give you a son by her. Then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her” (Genesis 17:15-16). Regarding the son of Abram and Hagar, God said, “He will be a wild donkey of a man, his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand will be against him” (Genesis 16:12). There would be negative consequences for generations because of their impatience in waiting for God’s promise (Genesis 16:11-12).
There are a few lessons for us from the decade in which Abram and Sarai became impatient in waiting for God’s promise to be fulfilled:
- We must have faith in what God has promised – The Hebrew writer said, “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6). We cannot be saved without faith (1 Peter 1:9).
- We must patiently wait for His promises – We are to be “imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises” (Hebrews 6:12). Faith alone is not enough. We must have “patience” if we hope to “receive the promise” (Hebrews 10:36, KJV).
- We must not invent our own means of accomplishing His plan – Jesus is “to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation” (Hebrews 5:9). We must not be like those who sought to “establish their own” righteousness and “did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God” (Romans 10:3).
Maintaining Peace Against Our Enemies
“Now Elon the Zebulunite judged Israel after him; and he judged Israel ten years. Then Elon the Zebulunite died and was buried at Aijalon in the land of Zebulun” (Judges 12:11-12).
Elon judged Israel for ten years and nothing is said about this decade. This is significant. The judges delivered Israel from oppressors – those who were raised up by God to punish the people for their sin – and maintained peace (Judges 3:7-12). The fact that nothing is recorded about Elon’s time as a judge indicates that this was a time of peace and faithfulness among the people of Israel.
There are a few points we need to remember regarding peace and the spiritual battles that go on today.
- If possible, we must be at peace with all men – Paul wrote, “If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men” (Romans 12:18). To do this, we must first focus on being at peace with God. The angels who announced Jesus’ birth said, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased” (Luke 2:14).
- When battles do come, we must fight – “We do not war according to the flesh” as the Israelites did, but we fight spiritual battles for the Lord (2 Corinthians 10:3-4). When we do battle, we must use “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:17).
- We must always be on the alert – Peter wrote, “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). Though the church in Ephesus would enjoy a degree of peace for a time, Paul told the elders to “be on guard” against threats from outside and also within the church (Acts 20:28-30).
Developing Strong Relationships
“Then Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died; and she was left with her two sons. They took for themselves Moabite women as wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. And they lived there about ten years. Then both Mahlon and Chilion also died, and the woman was bereft of her two children and her husband” (Ruth 1:3-5).
Naomi and her family moved from Judah to Moab because of a famine in the land (Ruth 1:1-2). While they lived in Moab, her two sons married Moabite women (Ruth 1:4). After Naomi’s husband and sons died, she told her two daughters-in-law to leave and return to their people (Ruth 1:3, 5, 8). However, Ruth refused to return. She said to her mother-in-law, “Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus may the Lord do to me, and worse, if anything but death parts you and me” (Ruth 1:16-17). During the ten years Naomi lived in Moab, she and Ruth developed a close relationship, and Ruth gained faith in God.
We can learn some things about developing strong relationships from the time that Naomi and Ruth were together in Moab.
- We must be devoted to one another – Paul wrote, “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor” (Romans 12:10). The word translated devoted carries with it the idea of reciprocal love shown toward one another. We should have this type of love for our families, friends, and fellow Christians.
- This must be an ongoing effort – Strong relationships do not automatically happen. They must develop. This is why the older women were told to “encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children” (Titus 2:4). The love and devotion that we have for one another must grow over time.
- It must be based upon our faith in God – In his second letter, Peter mentioned the “like precious faith” that Christians have (2 Peter 1:1:, KJV). In his first letter, he said that we must “love the brotherhood” (1 Peter 2:17). While we should love all people (Matthew 22:39), we ought to have a special relationship with our brethren because we share “a common faith” in Christ (Titus 1:4).
Continuing in Apostasy
“In the thirty-ninth year of Azariah king of Judah, Menahem son of Gadi became king over Israel and reigned ten years in Samaria. He did evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not depart all his days from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel sin” (2 Kings 15:17-18).
Menahem reigned as king over Israel for ten years. Like the others who ruled over the northern kingdom, he was a wicked king. He “did evil in the sight of the Lord” and continued in the “sins of Jeroboam” (2 Kings 15:18). He assassinated the previous king in order to gain power (2 Kings 15:13-14). In his anger, he killed the unborn babies of Tiphsah (2 Kings 15:16). He also made peace with Assyria – enemies of God’s people (cf. 1 Chronicles 5:26) – in order to maintain his rule (2 Kings 15:19-20).
There are a few lessons we need to learn from Menahem’s ten year reign over Israel.
- God sees all that we do – The evil the king did was “in the sight of the Lord” (2 Kings 15:18). We cannot hide anything from God. The Hebrew writer said, “And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do” (Hebrews 4:13).
- We must learn from the sins of others – There was a long history of wickedness among the kings of Israel. Menahem could have learned the lesson from their apostasy and turned from their sin, but he did not. We must learn from others and not commit the same sins that we see others doing (cf. Ezekiel 18:14).
- We must not compromise with the enemies of God’s people – Paul said, “Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them” (Ephesians 5:11). If we have fellowship with the enemies of Christ, we forfeit our fellowship with Him (2 John 9-11).
Doing Good
“So Abijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David, and his son Asa became king in his place. The land was undisturbed for ten years during his days. Asa did good and right in the sight of the Lord his God…” (2 Chronicles 14:1-2).
Judah enjoyed ten years of peace during the reign of Asa. During this time he did good (2 Chronicles 14:2-3, 5) and taught the people to obey the Lord (2 Chronicles 4:4). He also used the time of peace to fortify defenses and strengthen the army (2 Chronicles 14:6-8); yet he still trusted in God, rather than trusting in his own strength (2 Chronicles 14:9-12).
Let us consider the following points from Asa’s example that we can apply to our lives as Christians.
- We must obey the Lord – Paul told the brethren in Colossae, “Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus” (Colossians 3:17). Near the end of the Bible we are told, “Blessed are they that do His commandments” (Revelation 22:14, KJV)
- We must teach others to follow the law of God – Part of Timothy’s work as a preacher was to “entrust” the word of God “to faithful men who will be able to teach others also” (2 Timothy 2:2). We must work to develop teachers of the word in each generation. The teaching we do must be like the apostles in that we instruct others “to observe all that [the Lord] commanded” (Matthew 28:20).
- We must strengthen our defenses – It is important that we learn to “accurately [handle] the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15). The word of God is our sword and is related to every piece of armor we must wear to protect ourselves in the spiritual battles we fight (Ephesians 6:13-17).
Conclusion
A lot can happen in ten years. We need to be sure we are using our time for good. Paul told the Ephesians, “Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:15-16).
As you examine yourself and evaluate your service to God (2 Corinthians 13:5), consider the past ten years. Have you improved in your service to God? Are you stronger now than you were then? Or have you drifted from the faith and allowed sin to remain in your life? If corrections need to be made, now is the time to do it. Then, plan to use the next ten years to build a solid foundation for the rest of your life and prepare your soul for eternity.
This article is one of the fifty articles included in the book Plain Bible Teaching: The First Ten Years. Click on the link to read more about the book.
Another very good article, Andy. I would never have thought of the ten year concept shown often in Scripture.
Excellent thoughts. I would like to put this in our bulletin very soon if that’s okay?
Thanks, guys. Tim, you’re more than welcome to use this article for your bulletin.