Suggested Bible Reading: Judges 19-21
Devotional Thought:
Title: “Beware of Selfish Decisions!”
Satan is delighted when the Lord’s people destroy themselves from within. It was only the sovereign mercy of God that preserved 600 Benjamites in the rock Rimmon (20:47) until the men of Israel had reflected upon the foolishness of their actions and sought, in their own way, to put things right. Although the children of Israel were beginning to have serious concerns about what had happened to their brethren, they would, no doubt, have claimed that their personal actions throughout this destructive episode of their history were totally justified. They would have pointed out that the disgraceful behavior of the men of Gibeah demanded the severest judgment and that they had simply executed it. They would also have justified the oath they “had sworn in Mizpeh, saying, There shall not any of us give his daughter unto Benjamin to wife…” (vs. 1) even though that oath was now proving to be a major barrier in ensuring that the tribe of Benjamin survived. They did not want to play any part in seeing their daughters linked with such depraved men. Their initial response was to turn to the Lord: “O Lord God of Israel, why is this come to pass in Israel, that there should be today one tribe lacking in Israel?” (vs. 3) Sadly, they had not even considered that the answer to their question rested in the necessity for them to take responsibility for the decisions they had made. So may times Christians want God to fix their bad decisions without them needing to repent of their poor decision making. Their actions may have been right in their own eyes, and they certainly justified them, but they had been carried out in such a vindictive, selfish and legalistic manner that they found themselves with little room for humility when they wished to move more graciously. They had made their oath and, as far as they were concerned, they could not go back on it. Following what was probably a night of restless guilt, “it came to pass on the morrow, that the people rose early, and built there an altar, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings.” (vs. 4) True to character, they proceeded to devise their own plan to solve their dilemma as to how to restore the tribe of Benjamin. They decided to turn to another oath that they had made, which would allow them to circumvent the one that was giving such great difficulty. Even though they “repented them for Benjamin their brother,” (vs. 6) turning to one rash vow to solve another problem created by another vow was destined to produce an unhappy outcome. It would have been better for them to simply confess to the Lord the folly of that initial vow, and then to seek His forgiveness, rather than to embark on a course of action that caused further unnecessary bloodshed. However, the Devil is good at what he does. Once he get people marching down an arrogant, agenda driven, and angry path, he leads them to one bad decision after another until they are destroyed and the cause of Christ affected. Many, many, many marriages have been destroyed marching down this destructive line of reasoning. May the Lord help us to be more discerning!
Personal Prayer Requests:
- Lord, please help me to be gracious, merciful, holy, and just when dealing with the sinfulness of people’s bad decisions.
- Lord, please help me to be humble. Pride leads to such terrible decisions and such confusing and destructive actions.
- Lord, please help me to be able to discern how you would want me to handle situations rather than letting my flesh have control or believing the lies of the Devil.