Straw, the camel's back and grace
-- Part 2
He's trustworthy, we're not
Today's Three-minute Bible Study
Print, Study and Apply
Title: Straw, the camel's
back and grace -- Part 2---- Date: 05/29/2000
Keywords:
"disobey" "trustworthy"
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to eXXit, the web site designed to help you stand strong in the face of sexual
temptation.
Passage: Judges 2:1-4*
1. The angel of the LORD went up from Gilgal to Bokim and said,
"I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land that I swore to give to your
forefathers. I said, 'I will never break my covenant with you,
2. and you shall not make a covenant with the people of this land,
but you shall break down their altars.' Yet you have disobeyed me. Why have you done this?
3. Now therefore I tell you that I will not drive them out before
you; they will be in your sides and their gods will be a snare to you."
4. When the angel of the LORD had spoken these things to all the
Israelites, the people wept aloud,
Questions
1. From verse 1 we saw how God delivered on his promises and
demonstrated his trustworthiness. What did he ask of his people as their part of the
covenant (verse 2)?
2. What did his people do? How trustworthy were they?
3. At the end of verse 3, God asks his people "Why have you
done this?" Do you really think God didn't know why?
Practical help
In yesterday's study, which focused on verse 1, you saw God as
dependable because he is trustworthy -- he keeps his promises. In today's study we'll
focus on verse 2.
Why do you think the Israelites disobeyed God's simple request that
they not make any covenants with the people of the lands they were taking over?
To the Israelites, possibly, the grass looked a little greener under
that pagan alter. Some of the pagan rituals (many of which were of a sexual nature)
probably looked quite tempting. The thinking probably went like -- "What harm can it
do, to indulge a little?"
How about this -- it can do enough harm to make you forget your
dependence on God. God didn't ask them why they did it because he didn't know, he asked
them because he wanted them to see what it was doing (or going to do ) to them.
Pornography, Internet or otherwise, can also be looked at as a
ritual of a 'culture' that God knows will corrupt you. It exists to distract you from the
things that are pure and upright. It purposes to grow in you a dependence on it, while
shrinking your dependence on the one true God.
In the end, do you think you're better off depending on the promises
of porn, or the promises of God? It's your choice.
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*Scriptures are from The Holy Bible: New International Version © Copyright 1973,
1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. All rights reserved.