The Cycle CAN Be Broken

Friday, February 18th, 2011

Today's Passage: Judges 2:6-3:6 (E-100 Reading)
Memory Verse(s): 1 Chronicles 7:14

As a native Liberian, it's always amazed me how similar my birth country's relationship with God has been to that of Israel.  It's never been a mystery which God we worshipped.  Liberia has been called a Christian nation since its foundation in 1847 by freed slaves who chose to make their home on African shores.  Just like the children of Israel, God called us out for a special purpose: to bring honor to His name and His name alone.

But everyone who knows anything about spiritual matters knows that the enemy will not allow man to be totally devoted to God without throwing him options for compromise that seem more convenient.  So, like the children of Israel, half-hearted devotion led to the worship of gods from other places, passing down a spirit of rebellion towards the one true God to the generations that followed.  It even says in today's passage that when Joshua and those who truly loved and worshipped God had died, there was no longer anyone who remembered His ways-- just like it seems to be among generations of people in this wonderful nation of ours... America.

The price of disobedience and rebellion is a vicious cycle orchestrated by the enemy to destroy God's people.  No matter where in the world they live, or the color of their skin, he convinces them that they can live however they want to, turning their backs on the only One Whose love is unconditional.  Then, when calamity comes, they cry out to Him, suddenly remembering He exists.  Being such a loving and forgiving Father, His heart is always moved when His children are hurting.  So He responds with deliverance, only for the cycle to begin all over again.

The only cure that there is for this disease is humility, love for all God is, and a determination not to let this chain of events be passed on to our children.  God revealed Himself to Moses as the God Who shows His compassion to the descendants of the faithful.  But the fire of His jealousy can burn hot for generations.  He's always given us the grace to choose which side of Himself we will experience.  Let's pray we get it right.

Prayer: Father, You have been and will always be my deepest heart's desire.  Help me remember what seems so easy to forget; I can't live without You.  Even as this world seems to get even more evil by the day, may Your nation of the totally devoted stand strong and pass on to our children the same deep love for You, until the seed of rebellion is broken.  In Jesus' Name, Amen.