February 14

February 14, 2009
Today: Numbers 32, 34, 35
Tomorrow: Deuteronomy 1-4 It is a long reading tomorrow!! Hang in there... stay up to date. Sunday is the Lord’s Day... take time and spend it with Him.

Sometimes a warning is really a prediction. All it takes is changing an “if” to a “when.” Looking back some 3500 years, it’s clear that it was only a matter of time before the “if” of God’s warning turned into the “when” of predictable consequences. Israel’s constant flirtation with her idolatrous neighbors would bring terrors for centuries. It did not take a clairvoyant to see what inevitably would happen. Israel’s track record was already pretty dismal. The Israelites were a fickle bunch – one day praising God, the next day being seduced by cheap imitation gods. One day trusting God for victory, the next day cowering with fear. The Israelites lacked full and complete commitment to the Lord, and given that fragile faith, they always under estimated the power of their enemies. Indeed, they seemed to be altogether fascinated by them, strangely drawn to them and almost envious of them! As long as you are fascinated, drawn, and envious, it is hard to wipe out your enemies completely. Oh, maybe there are daily skirmishes and sometimes ever furious all-out assaults. But there is never quite that knock-out punch because, after all, you’re still fascinated, drawn, and envious. Call it a love-hate relationship. Call it compromise. Call it anything you want. The problem is that anything less than complete eradication of the enemy means that there is no escape from the endless cycle of war, appeasement, fraternization, accommodation, acceptance, betrayal, conflict, and once more, war. Spiritual enemies are enemies for a reason! With spiritual enemies, there can be no peaceful coexistence. It’s them or us. Complete and total victory or ongoing, never-ending conflict.

Thought for the day: Am I kidding myself to believe that I can rid my life of most major sin and still live comfortably alongside the few “insignificant sins” I allow to remain?

Thoughts of F. LaGard Smith