Tag: Prostituted themselves

80. They refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways.

Judges 2:6   After Joshua had dismissed the Israelites, they went to take possession of the land, each to their own inheritance. The people served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had seen all the great things the Lord had done for Israel.  Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of a hundred and ten. And they buried him in the land of his inheritance, at Timnath Heres in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.  After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel. Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord and served the Baals. They forsook the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They aroused the Lord’s anger because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. In his anger against Israel the Lord gave them into the hands of raiders who plundered them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist. Whenever Israel went out to fight, the hand of the Lord was against them to defeat them, just as he had sworn to them. They were in great distress.  Then the Lord raised up judges, who saved them out of the hands of these raiders. Yet they would not listen to their judges but prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped them. They quickly turned from the ways of their ancestors, who had been obedient to the Lord’s commands. Whenever the Lord raised up a judge for them, he was with the judge and saved them out of the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived; for the Lord relented because of their groaning under those who oppressed and afflicted them. But when the judge died, the people returned to ways even more corrupt than those of their ancestors, following other gods and serving and worshiping them. They refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways.

In one generation God was forgotten and what He had commanded was discarded. How can this happen?  How can a generation of believers and followers be succeeded by a generation that does not know God or what He had done for them?  If you laid out a plan for this to happen what would absolutely need to happen to be successful.

Get people comfortable with life by giving them prosperity and ease of life.  Introduce some other thoughts and religions into their culture so that they question what and who to worship.  Erode away the truth of God by tolerating complacency and neglect in your life. Do not think or speak of what God has done in the past, nor look for His hand in your life today.  Do not speak of God’s warnings. Do not speak of sin. Do not speak of God’s promises.

There is a reason we are told to faithfully walk with Jesus Christ.  There is a reason we are to meditate on His word when we wake, throughout the day, and when we lie down at night.  There is a reason we are to speak of His awesome deeds and wonders.  There is a reason we are to place His word around out neck and over our doorposts.  There is a reason we are to seek and desire to know Him more and more each day.  There is a reason we are to be faithful in humble service, reliance, and obedience to Him.

Seems Right

“During Gideon’s lifetime, the land had peace forty years”

Judges 8:33
No sooner had Gideon died than the Israelites again prostituted themselves to the Baals. They set up Baal- Berith as their god and did not remember the Lord their God, who had rescued them from the hands of all their enemies on every side. They also failed to show any loyalty to the family of Jerub- Baal (that is, Gideon) in spite of all the good things he had done for them.
Abimelek son of Gideon went to his mother’s brothers in Shechem and said to them and to all his mother’s clan, “Ask all the citizens of Shechem, ‘Which is better for you:to have all seventy of Jerub- Baal’s sons rule over you, or just one man? ’ Remember, I am your flesh and blood.”
When the brothers repeated all this to the citizens of Shechem, they were inclined to follow Abimelek, for they said, “He is related to us.” They gave him seventy shekels of silver from the temple of Baal- Berith, and Abimelek used it to hire reckless scoundrels, who became his followers. He went to his father’s home in Ophrah and on one stone murdered his seventy brothers, the sons of Gideon.

Proverbs 12:15
The way of fools seems right to them,
but the wise listen to advice.

Proverbs 14:12
There is a way that seems right to a man,
but its end is the way to death.
Even in laughter the heart may ache,
and the end of joy may be grief.
The backslider in heart will be filled with the fruit of his ways,
and a good man will be filled with the fruit of his ways.
The simple believes everything,
but the prudent gives thought to his steps

A good lesson to learn from today.  Following God will give purpose and peace to you life.  I can only imagine what transpired to cause such a quick falling away from following God.  Gideon dies and soon after people forget God and start following idols.  What is in the heart of man that it so easily can disregard God.  For 40 years they had peace.  Can it be that in peace we lose sight of our need for God?  In peace do we no longer seek Him?  Is our heart prone to distance ourselves away from God in times of peace?  Is it possible that those who have a very shallow desire and love for God are just one moment of peace away from disregarding Him from their lives?  Paul instructed us to guard our heart and mind in and through our knowledge of Jesus Christ.  He instructed us to put on the full amour of God for this purpose.  Peter said it very well too “Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. “Being lukewarm in our walk with God is not going to end well.  It is so easy to say “tomorrow I will set my desire for Him and live for Him – but in reality tomorrow never comes.  Today is the day, not tomorrow, next week, or when you find time. Scriptures throughout the bible are there to teach us.  We should understand from history how easy it is to follow others and let that determine our expectation of what it means to follow God.  Read God’s word and let it speak to your heart on what His expectations are for you.  Our purpose this side of eternity is to honor and glorify Him –  How can this happen if are not fully committed?  How can this happen if we do not spend time in His word?

What is your snare

All Israel prostituted themselves by worshiping it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his family.

Judges 8:23
But Gideon told them, “I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you. The Lord will rule over you.” And he said, “I do have one request, that each of you give me an earring from your share of the plunder.” (It was the custom of the Ishmaelites to wear gold earrings.)
They answered, “We’ll be glad to give them.” So they spread out a garment, and each of them threw a ring from his plunder onto it. The weight of the gold rings he asked for came to seventeen hundred shekels, not counting the ornaments, the pendants and the purple garments worn by the kings of Midian or the chains that were on their camels’ necks. Gideon made the gold into an ephod, which he placed in Ophrah, his town. All Israel prostituted themselves by worshiping it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his family.

1 Samuel 12:12
And when you saw that Nahash the king of the Ammonites came against you, you said to me, ‘No, but a king shall reign over us,’ when the Lord your God was your king. And now behold the king whom you have chosen, for whom you have asked; behold, the Lord has set a king over you. If you will fear the Lord and serve him and obey his voice and not rebel against the commandment of the Lord, and if both you and the king who reigns over you will follow the Lord your God, it will be well. But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord, but rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then the hand of the Lord will be against you and your king.

Exodus 32:7
And the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt

I keep reading these accounts of God’s greatness and how He allowed people to see it.  I sit back and wonder how could these people so easily fall away from what God truly expected of them.  Look at Exodus where the people saw God perform great power and wonders in their exodus from Egypt.  When Moses went to the mountain to be with God and be instructed for 40 days the people immediately made an idol to worship.  Again in Samuel we see where the people had God present with them and they asked God for a king when He was clearly their King.  There are numerous examples throughout scripture of God’s people choosing something other than God to worship and give honor to.  Is this still true today?  Do we give honor, glory, worth to something other than God?  Do our lives reflect humble submission and service to Him?  Is there both and outward and inward difference to our lives compared to those who regard God as a fairy tale?  The only way to answer these questions is to reflect on what God’s word says and speaks into your heart.  If there is no regular time spent in His word how are we able to (as instructed) “write it on our heart”, “write it on our door posts”, “meditate on it day and night”, “take it with us on our coming and going”.   The biggest error in any life is to disregard His word and having a deep heart desire to humbly serve Him.