Judges 10:10-16 (NKJV)

10 And the children of Israel cried out to the Lord, saying, "We have sinned against You, because we have both forsaken our God and served the Baals!"

11 So the Lord said to the children of Israel, "Did I not deliver you from the Egyptians and from the Amorites and from the people of Ammon and from the Philistines? 12 Also the Sidonians and Amalekites and [c]Maonites oppressed you; and you cried out to Me, and I delivered you from their hand. 13 Yet you have forsaken Me and served other gods. Therefore I will deliver you no more. 14

"Go and cry out to the gods which you have chosen; let them deliver you in your time of distress."

15 And the children of Israel said to the Lord, "We have sinned! Do to us whatever seems best to You; only deliver us this day, we pray." 16 So they put away the foreign gods from among them and served the Lord. And His soul could no longer endure the misery of Israel.

Well, well, well, the people Moses called stiff-necked had to learn the hard way-again! God made a covenant with them at Mt. Sinai. The Israelites belonged solely, totally to God. However, they decided they could coexist instead of doing the hard thing, the right thing, and obeying God. Once again, they did what was evil in God's eyes, leaving Him totally out of the sphere of worship and committing blatant idolatry. There were seven groups of deities mentioned earlier in the chapter. God's response to them in verses 11 through 14 is slightly tinged with sarcasm and sounds a lot like an exasperated parent. And, once again, like a wayward child, reaping what they sowed, they put away the false gods, but they endured 18 years of misery.

We tend to rationalize our actions and behavior. We slowly drift and excuse thoughts, words, deeds contrary to the Word, to the point we become unmindful of our behavior. This suggests the old analogy of a frog in a pot of water… So how do we not continue the pattern of the Israelites? We do this by spending time in the Word, meditating, journaling, asking the Holy Spirit to shine his light in the shadow where we have lost sight of our idols, and confess, stay connected with other believers in a connect group, and join others in an accountability band as Wesley teaches us. We have these New Testament passages to remind us: "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9) and Be [a]sober, be [b]vigilant;

[c]because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." (1 Peter 5:8)

Prayer: Lord Jesus, it is so easy to the specks in the Israelites eyes, yet not the planks in our eyes. Holy Spirit shine your light in our dark and dusty corners so that we can confess our sins. We thank you for the forgiveness of our sins through the atoning blood of Jesus. Nudge us when we start to stray so that we do not become numb to our actions and fall short of Your best for us. In the name of Jesus, whose birth we celebrate, Amen.