Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served the Baals; and they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt; and they followed other gods from among the gods of the people who were all around them, and they bowed down to them, and they provoked the LORD to anger.     Judges 2:11-12 NKJV

In the book of Genesis in chapter 3, Adam brought sin into the world. He and Eve’s first mistake was communicating with the serpent. Then they let the serpent deceive them, and they ate the forbidden fruit. This is when sin came into what was a perfect world. The Garden of Eden was a heaven-on-earth type of place. All that was destroyed by sin.

After this, we see the first murder when Cain murders his brother Abel. And this is followed by mass corruption that makes God sorry He even made man. He decides to flood the earth and destroy all mankind, but then there was this righteous man named Noah. God directed him to build an ark so that he and his immediate family and two from each animal species could be saved.

Then God called Abraham out of his life of idolatry, and Abraham listened to and followed God. God promised to make him a great nation that would be God’s chosen people. God kept His promises. Abraham’s descendants were the Israelite nation. They were different from all other nations in that they had the presence of the one true God with them.

Throughout their time in the wilderness, they grumbled and complained about all God provided for them. They angered God, and time and time again God brought judgment on them. They would cry out to Him, and He would deliver them, and they would do well for a time and then repeat the whole process.

God sent them great leaders like Moses and Joshua. In the book of Judges, God sent judges to them. But they would repeat this pattern of falling into idolatry and angering the Lord. The Lord will give them over to their enemies, and they will be slaves to their enemies. They will cry out, God will deliver them, and they will do well under the new leadership, but eventually will fail again.

It makes you wonder why God didn’t just destroy the whole bunch of them and start over as He had threatened to do before. I’ve come to realize, however, that I’m glad He didn’t because this gives me hope.

You see, I have the same problem these Israelites had. I’m trying to get better about it, but I do well for a while, then trouble comes along, and I sometimes fail. There are times when I walk steadily in faith, but there are still also those times when I try to solve everything on my own. There are times when I turn to the Lord and give it all to Him. But sadly, there are still times I strike out on my own or trust that the problem can be solved by some other means.

I try my best to live by Proverbs 3:5-6, which tells us to trust in the Lord with all our heart and not to lean on our own understanding. It tells us to acknowledge Him in all our ways, and He will direct us on the right paths.

There is one thing that has remained unchanged since the creation, and that is God. He is faithful. He will always be there for us. Even when we make a mess of things, we can still cry out to Him for help in cleaning it up. We may have to pay a price, but He loves us and will help us make it right if we so desire.

If, like me, you have spent most of your life like these poor Israelites, know that you can surrender to Him and trust in Him.

Although we are all works in progress, when we commit ourselves to the Lord, we can avoid falling into the pattern of the Israelites.

Have a great day!