sipping on cyanide

The Israelites suffered from a tragic flaw: complacency (see Deut 4.25).  Webster’s defines it as “a feeling of contentment or self-satisfaction, especially when coupled with an unawareness of danger, trouble, or controversy.”  It eventually led to the destruction of their land, homes, and nation, aka the loss of the promise God made to Abraham 500 years prior.  Before entering their God-given land, they were instructed at least a dozen times to utterly destroy the inhabitants, not letting “anything that breathes remain alive” (Deut 20.16).  The Israelites didn’t heed the command and suffered gravely for it.

Living in a society that pushes an acceptance of others’ beliefs and ways of life, this seems harsh, even brutal.  But what we don’t understand, and neither did they, was that over time, expose leads to temptation, which can lead to imitation, which leads to destruction.  For Israel, it was idolatry, the worshiping of false gods.  They eventually forget what Yahweh had done for them, saw their prosperity as resulting from their own efforts and turned to worship the gods’ of their neighbors.  For us, it is a little subtler.  It is a recovering alcoholic not seeing the harm of going to a bar to play pool; it is a husband and father of 3 keeping the Internet at his house and on his phone even though he is struggling with online porn.  It is me going to a friend’s house where I know they will be smoking pot, thinking that 6 months of being clean will stave off the temptation of 13 years of bad habits. Subtler still: it is sleeping through your morning quiet time, watching suggestive television or making fun of a friend behind his back. Major problems usually always begin subtle.

It is our complacency with the things that destroy and our unwillingness to utterly annihilate them that will keep us eternally chained to our suffering. 

“I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curse.  Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying him and holding fast to him; for that means life to you and length of days…” (Deut 30.19,20)