Today you should read: Judges 3
Will we ever learn?
I often wonder that about myself—same mistakes, same frustrations, same results. God’s chosen children continued to do the same wrong things over and over, they never seemed to learn.
Verses 1-2 tells us that when the children of Israel went in to claim the promised land, God allowed some heathen nations to remain in order to teach warfare to the generations who had not experienced battle. God also allowed these nations to remain with their sinful practices in order to see whether His children would obey His commands in the midst of difficult conditions (v. 4).
What happened? And the Israelites served their [the pagan nation’s] gods. (v.6). The Israelites did evil in the Lord’s sight. They forgot about the Lord their God… (v.7a).
I don’t know about you, but I find myself getting frustrated with them! They just keep going back to the same thing (idolatry) over and over and over and over. They experience punishment, difficult times. They beg God and He shows mercy, then they do it again and again and again. What’s wrong with them?
Then I remember, what’s wrong with me? I do that too. God has shown me kindness, love and grace through Jesus. He forgives and restores. He trades the rags of my old life and sin for the riches of his peace. What do I do? Go back to the rags. You do it too. Will we ever learn?
I hope so. We have the privilege of reading this history and making a change in our lives so as not to repeat it. We don’t have to sin. Sin was defeated at the cross. We can live in victory, it’s a choice we must make.
- What are some ways you continue to do this – fall into the same things over and over?
- What steps can you take to overcome them?
By: Tim Parsons — Lead Pastor
JumpstartCPC.com 