Avoid letting sinful decisions become a thorn in the side
Man has a history of modifying God’s word to meet his needs.
- Nadab and Abihu made a custom mixture and created strange fire (Leviticus 10:1-3)
- Moses was too embarrassed to speak to the stone for water and struck it instead (Numbers 20:8-12)
- Jonah didn’t want God to save Nineveh if they repented (Jonah 4:1-4)
The children of Israel were no different. They were supposed to drive the inhabitants completely out of Canaan, but they did not. Their disobedience ranged from taking the natives as slaves to allowing the natives to live among them as they took control of the land. (Judges 1)
God revoked his promise to drive the natives out and allowed them to become a “thorn in the side” of Israel. (Judges 2:3) We see throughout the rest of the Old Testament that God’s chosen people were drawn away from him by the sins and temptations of Canaan’s descendants. In all of the cases of disobedience, we see that God did not clean up their mess.
Even now, man continues to modify God’s word to suit his needs. And even now, man is getting himself into sinful jams that are more and more difficult to get out of. Take for instance:
- Religious denominations: These were created by man’s slight changes from God’s word being taught as truth. How does a professional minister for one of these repent?
- Divorce and remarriage: Through recent years, divorce has gotten easy to get for reason other than adultery. How do you break up an unbiblical marriage that has produced children?
- Taking and keeping jobs that keep us away from the church: How does a person that becomes financially dependent on such a job quit so it stops weakening his or her faith?
This is the nature of disobedience. Making decisions contrary to God’s word to suit our needs and weakly justifying them has serious implications but fools us into thinking we’re OK. If you are not where you need to be spiritually, a serious look back at the choices you’ve made could help you see the way back to the correct path.
Daily Reading for July 22
Song 1:9-2:7
Judges 1
Jeremiah 17
Matthew 28
July 22, 2013
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