Straw, the camel's back and grace
-- Part 4
Wise Choices
Today's Three-minute Bible Study
Print, Study and Apply
Title: Straw, the camel's
back and grace -- Part 4---- Date: 05/31/2000
Keywords:
"choices" "consequences" "cry"
Welcome
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. What sort of impact did the words of the angel of the Lord have
on the Israelites (verse 4.)?
2. Why do you think the Israelites started weeping?
3. Have the destructive consequences of a porn habit brought you to
tears?
Practical help
Today we wrap up our study on Joshua 2:1-4 closing on verse 4 with a
reprieve to verse 1. It's hard too imagine all the different sorts of tears the Israelites
were probably shedding after the angel of the Lord had finished speaking. Tears of shame,
tears of regret, tears of fear and so on. They'd just been hit with a new reality -- God
saying "I'm not cleaning up your messes any more!"
Does this seem like God is abandoning them? At first glance maybe,
but what is really going on is a father caring enough for his children to let them
experience the truth of his wisdom and authority. The next era of relationship between God
and his people was to be one where a foolish choice resulted in an appropriate
consequence. God was no longer going to shield them from the bitter fruit of their
actions.
What God did say first, though, (verse 1) was "I will never
break my covenant with you ..." (If you want to know what a covenant with God can be
like, click here.)
So, if your in the midst of suffering from the consequences of a
porn habit know this -- you're not suffering because God wants to punish you. You're
suffering because God wants to help you. Sometimes you just have to experience how bad a
choice really was before you'll realize how wise God's commands really are.
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*Scriptures are from The Holy Bible: New International Version © Copyright 1973,
1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. All rights reserved.