So the people of Israel lived among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. And their daughters they took to themselves for wives, and their own daughters they gave to their sons, and they served their gods.
(Judges 3:5-6 ESV)
The times of the Judges was indeed a lowly state of affairs. It began there: with affairs - the people of Israel intermarrying with those who did not follow God. Compromise. Satan's first level of attack is always the family. If he can bring us down there, our churches, communities and nations will crumble. Does it really make a difference? By the time we get to the end of this time period, the people of God, who had been marching to and through the promised land, will have shifted into reverse, trying to keep from getting thrown out of it. It began one person at a time, one marriage at a time, making worship of the One True God unimportant. Sound familiar? So that's where God begins in the next stage, in I Samuel, with one family, one decision, one commitment to God. Let's turn this thing around.
No comments:
Post a Comment