One example of how we go our own way…

And Samuel said to Saul, “The Lord sent me to anoint you king over his people Israel; now therefore listen to the words of the Lord. Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘I have noted what Amalek did to Israel in opposing them on the way when they came up out of Egypt. Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’ ” 
So Saul summoned the people and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand men on foot, and ten thousand men of Judah. And Saul came to the city of Amalek and lay in wait in the valley. Then Saul said to the Kenites, “Go, depart; go down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them. For you showed kindness to all the people of Israel when they came up out of Egypt.” So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites. And Saul defeated the Amalekites from Havilah as far as Shur, which is east of Egypt. And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive and devoted to destruction all the people with the edge of the sword. But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep and of the oxen and of the fattened calves and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them. All that was despised and worthless they devoted to destruction. 
The word of the Lord came to Samuel: “I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments.” And Samuel was angry, and he cried to the Lord all night. And Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning. And it was told Samuel, “Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he set up a monument for himself and turned and passed on and went down to Gilgal.” 
And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, “Blessed be you to the Lord. I have performed the commandment of the Lord.” 
And Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the oxen that I hear?” 
Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice to the Lord your God, and the rest we have devoted to destruction.” (1 Samuel 15:1–15)

While this part of the story does not tell the consequences of Saul’s disobedience in regard to the nation, it goes on to describe how Saul claimed to have obeyed, then confessed his sin when told God had rejected him from being king. But he then blamed it on the people and said to Samuel, 

“I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. Now therefore, please pardon my sin and return with me that I may bow before the Lord.” 
And Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you. For you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.” As Samuel turned to go away, Saul seized the skirt of his robe, and it tore. And Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you. And also the Glory of Israel will not lie or have regret, for he is not a man, that he should have regret.” 
Then he said, “I have sinned; yet honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me, that I may bow before the Lord your God.” (1 Samuel 15:24–30)

Excuses and lies. This man didn’t get it. God wants obedience, and if sin happens, He wants honesty. Instead, Saul tried to blame others and wanted God to change His mind so he could worship Him — blaming his inability to worship on God’s ‘failure’ to be lenient and refusal to do what he wanted. 

Lord, how foolish is a proud and sinful heart to think that God has to earn our love and obedience by doing what we want. This selfish thinking is just one of the many reasons You died.

A deadly slippery slope

 

READ Judges 17–21

Today’s reading is like a horror movie. First, a man of Israel stole from his mother, admitted it and she gave some of what he had stolen to make a batch of household gods like those worshiped by the nations that the Lord’s people were to defeat. He went farther by consecrating one of his sons as his priest, thus establishing his own cult and belief system. His actions are summed up: “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” (Judges 17:6)

Pausing here, this shows the rock-bottom results of doing our own thing. Isaiah wrote that sin is “turning to our own way” and how easily we do it, particularly in spiritual matters as well as every-day matters. This man thought this was the right thing to do because there was no leadership to tell him otherwise. Going my own way is like that, whether there is no leader or I refuse to listen to or obey whatever authority I do have. In the matter of worship, my authority is the Word of God, but I cannot read it and then do whatever I think is right without putting myself on a slippery slope.

In the next section of this reading, a young Levite happens to visit this man and winds up accepting the role of his personal priest and being paid for it. It is enough to say that serving God for money is not serving God at all. He did it for what he could get out of it.

Soon a larger group from an Israeli tribe came along and took the Levite and the idols for themselves. They told this ‘priest’ to: “Keep quiet; put your hand on your mouth and come with us and be to us a father and a priest. Is it better for you to be priest to the house of one man, or to be priest to a tribe and clan in Israel?” And the priest’s heart was glad. He took the ephod and the household gods and the carved image and went along with the people.” (Judges 18:19–20) Eventually those carved images were set up and treated as their gods.

Again I pause. Is this not still happening? How many go their own way, establish their own religious group, enjoy financial prosperity, and consider their growth as ‘better’ and even proof that they are on the right track? Reading this makes me feel a bit sick to my stomach.

But it gets worse. Another Levite  has a concubine, a term for someone other than a primary wife, even a sex-slave. She was unfaithful, left him and went to her father’s house. He went to retrieve her and wound up in a drinking party with her father that lasted for several days. Then he took her to another place, was taken in by an older man, ate and drank while “worthless” men gathered at the door wanting to “know” this young man, a euphemism for sex. The older fellow offered them his virgin daughter and the concubine instead, but they didn’t listen. The Levite made his concubine go out and they abused her all night until she died. What did the Levite do? He cut her into twelve pieces and sent them to the twelve tribes of Israel.

The upshot was a war with the clan or tribe where this happened. At first, that tribe seemed to win, but were eventually defeated. The Israelites swore not to give any of their daughters in marriage to that tribe. However, they felt sorrow for that decision and arranged another battle to secure young women for them, plus allowed them to kidnap their women, thus ensuring this one tribe would not be lost because there were no more marriages.

The book ends with: “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25) and again I think this is the bottom of that slippery slope, the result of giving in to doing what a deceived mind thinks is right rather than listening to and obeying God.

This brings to mind an incredible series of sermons in our church about the Seven Deadly Sins — and why they are so deadly. If any of them are committed and not taken to the Lord in confession and repentance, they will eventually lead to death. They begin with that attitude of “it seems like a good idea” but end in great calamity. Doing what is right in our own eyes does not work out well.

God warns His people, yet history shows that sin is stronger than warnings. It is only overcome by the powerful work of Jesus Christ who died for it and lives in us that we might have His power and grace to overcome our foolish and destructive “I wants” that otherwise will destroy us.

Lord Jesus, I am so grateful to You for giving me Yourself, Your life, Your loving forgiveness and the power to say NO to all the ideas that fly through my head in opposition to Your leading and Your will. Without You, I know what I would do, and it would not be pretty. Thank You for saving me from myself.