Day 23

Judges 9-10

GOD’S LIMIT

I will deliver you no more – Judg. 10:13

            God is not limited, but He has limits.  What is the last straw?  What is God’s bottom line?  At what point does God refuse to respond to our plea?  The characteristic behavior during the period of Judges was everyone did what was right in his own eyes (21:25).  When immorality and idolatry (these two always go together) went unchecked, God turned His back on His people.  A fourfold cycle is repeated throughout the Book of Judges:  Sin, judgment, repentance, and deliverance.  Israel’s backsliding would lead to enslavement.  When they repented God would send a deliverer (a judge). 

            God will go only so far with His people.  When we replicate the backsliding of Israel He may allow us to become slaves to our enemies.  The sins that start out as friends sooner or later end up as enemies.  Many a saint is in bondage today, because he made friends with the sins God hates.  That is the reason the Bible says, “Friendship with the world is enmity with God” (James. 4:4).

            I read an illustrated story once about an Arab that had a camel who wanted to sleep inside his rider’s tent.  At first the owner refused.  The camel politely asked to stick his cold nose under the tent, and then his head, and his neck, his front legs, his body, until finally the whole camel was in the tent and the Arab was outside and couldn’t get back in.  The moral to the story is, “It’s better not to let some things get started.”

            Israel became slaves because they let bad things get started.  What seemed harmless became heinous.  Friendly sins became deadly adversaries.  Idols were in the tent.  God was on the outside.  When they decided to ask God for help, He replied, Cry out to the gods you have chosen (10:13).  Servitude to sins is the high price for low living.  Sometimes God lets us befriend our sins until they become our enemy.  God is not willing to share His friendship with our lesser friends.  He has His limits.

            If sin is in the tent, something that needs to be in there with you is on the outside.  You may not know it until you are on the outside trying to get back in. 

God’s friend LTD,