An old story example (part 2)

Sometimes, truth shows up in unexpected places.  We found this to be true in the last post, when we found that a part of Israel’s genealogy record contained an example for us to consider.  As a refresher, here is the passage:

1 Chronicles 5:18-20
The descendants of Reuben and Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh…waged war against the Hagrites…They received help against these enemies because they cried out to God in battle, and the Hagrites and all their allies were handed over to them.  He was receptive to their prayer because they trusted in Him. 

From this snippet of history, we found that God fulfills His promises.  He was willing to do so because these three tribes humbly cried out to God and trusted in Him for the result.  We then looked at a few of the promises God has made to us church-age believers and considered if we were approaching those promises the same way the Israelites did with what God promised to them.

However, that’s not where the story ends for these three tribes.  After settling in the land, they lived there for many generations…and the next part recorded by the Chronicler is also an example for us.  Unfortunately, though, it’s not a positive example:

1 Chronicles 5:23-26
The descendants of half the tribe of Manasseh settled in the land from Bashan to Ball-hermon (that is, Senir or Mount Hermon); they were numerous…They were valiant warriors, famous men, and heads of their ancestral houses.  But they were unfaithful to the God of their ancestors.  They prostituted themselves with the gods of the nations God had destroyed before them.  So the God of Israel roused the spirit of King Pul (that is, Tiglath-pileser) of Assyria, and he took the Reubenites, Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh into exile.

They had skill, they had fame, and they had authority – everything the world says you need to have a life of enjoyment and significance.  But they forgot how they got those things.  They forgot Who gave them those things.

Instead of continuing to trust in the God of their ancestors, they were distracted and enticed by the same failed gods that had destroyed the nations before them.  It’s easy for us to sit back and wonder ‘How in the world could this happen?’, but any one of these could be a contributing cause:

·       Perhaps their ancestors didn’t teach their descendants as well as they should have.
·       Perhaps the descendants didn’t want to listen to “the old ways”.
·       Perhaps their skill, fame, and power felt more secure than trusting an invisible God.
·       Perhaps the cultural gods validated feelings and activities that were contrary to God’s teachings.

Whatever the reasoning that happened from generation to generation – whether it was a slow decline or a sharp turn off the path – the generations that came from the three tribes that defeated the Hagrites were unfaithful to the God of their ancestors.  Even though they took those steps, they still had their skill, fame, and authority…so maybe they took that as proof they could get away with abandoning God.

But God saw the state of their hearts as more important than the power they had – and He roused the spirit of King Pul to conquer the northern tribes, taking them into exile.  The exile occurred because Israel repeatedly violated God’s first commandment, to have no other gods before Him (Exodus 20:3).  It is interesting to note that after the exile was over and God returned the Jews back to the land He had promised them, they never again had an issue with following other gods. 

When life is going well…we, too, have a tendency to forget that God brought us to this place and time in our lives.  We get distracted and enticed by other cultural gods, mainly for the same bullet point reasons we considered above.  And God takes our relationship with Him just as serious as he did with the Israelites.  The author of Hebrews gave us this warning:

Hebrews 12:7, 10-11
Endure suffering as discipline: God is dealing with you as sons.  For what son is there that a father does not discipline?...He does it for our benefit, so that we can share His holiness.  No discipline seems enjoyable at the time, but painful.  Later on, however, it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

As a good father, God is willing to punish us when our priorities are out of line.  Just like He did with Israel, He is willing to let us suffer consequences so we can understand who He is and who we are in Him.  When we are disciplined, our best course of action is to learn from it and be trained by it.  Let’s be like Israel, who learned from their exile, and not repeat those same actions again.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

Warnings and knee-jerk reactions

Have you ever ignored a warning? 

Maybe someone was trying to tell you about a potential pitfall, but for whatever reason, you didn’t hear them.  How did that end up for you?

So far, David has given us several warnings in Psalm 62.  He’s warned us about two-faced people that will lie to us:

Psalm 62:4
They only plan to bring him down from his high position.
They take pleasure in lying;
they bless with their mouths, but they curse inwardly.

He’s warned us about the illusion of fame and status:

Psalm 62:9
Common people are only a vapor; important people, an illusion.
Together on a scale, they weigh less than a vapor.

Now, David gives us a two-for-one warning:

Psalm 62:10
Place no trust in oppression or false hope in robbery.
If wealth increases, don’t set your heart on it.

Don’t give in to the knee-jerk response: “Oppression?  I don’t oppress anybody!”

The only way to oppress someone is to first have power or authority over them.  Oppression happens when we misuse our authority in order to build ourselves up.  Have you ever flexed your authority muscles, just because you can? 

Don’t give in to the second knee-jerk response: “Robbery?  I haven’t robbed anybody!”

To rob someone is to take what doesn’t belong to you.  Maybe by your physical strength you took something, maybe you were cunning enough that they didn’t notice, or…have you ever taken credit for something that you didn’t do? 

If you answered “yes” to either of these questions, then you are in danger of doing what David is warning against: trusting your identity to your authority or placing your hope in what you can acquire – instead of trusting God.

While we might be tempted to write these warnings off as “play nice and I’ll be fine”, but in the last part of verse 10, David indicates that any reliance on wealth for our security would be foolish:

If wealth increases, don’t set your heart on it.

Making money is not a bad thing, in fact God tells us to work and earn a living in many places throughout the Bible.  However, in verse 10 David states that if wealth increases – and he doesn’t specify which type of riches, legitimate or otherwise – don’t set your heart on it.

Depending on the context, the Hebrew word for riches can indicate strength, capability, skill, valor, or wealth.  We would do well not to base our security on any of these things, even if they increase during our lifetime.

Even in a time of blessing and increase, we need God to continue to be our only source of security.  We can’t say that we haven’t been warned.

Keep Pressing,
Ken