One thing the enemy loves to do is to plunder our property (looting), our health, and our peace. Unless someone stands up, takes the initiative to counter the incursions, he will continue.
Often we allow the enemy to continue his plunder as if taking our goods and assets, both physical and spiritual, is a normal lot of being a Christian. But it is not! Have we gotten to the point of really crying out to God? Here is the story of Gideon.
John 10:10 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.
The Bible shows us that we are in a world of plunder
The whole Bible (including the history of the people of Israel) was written to instruct us.
Always backing off is not the solution when the enemy comes every year to steal and destroy our efforts. The people of God need to know that war is continually in the hearts of men. Yet we act like life is a playground and not a battleground. We have lulled ourselves into complacency because life seems peaceful and prosperous.
But the way we gain peace now may nevertheless prepare a future war. Because the enemy is always preparing to plunder us. It is his nature.
We can obtain what seems to be peace by :
- Signing an armistice (The First World War shows us that it allowed the enemy to rebuild his strength)
- Tolerating its presence among us. (We accept certain ungodly principles that destroy us from the inside)
- We think that what our fathers have obtained for us is permanent. Whereas they can be lost if each generation doesn’t fight to preserve them.
Because the enemy seeks continually to rob us of what we have. And sometimes we are not aware of what we have…until we lose them!
It was the case of the people of Israel
The people served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had seen all the great things the Lord had done for Israel.
… another generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel. 11 Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord and served the Baals. 12 They forsook the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the people around them.
(These were the gods called Baal and Astarte – an immoral religion seeking pleasure with prostitution and child-sacrifice which they pretended would cover their sins)
God could not tolerate that His people would be involved with such perversity. After all, the nation of Israel existed to pave the way for the coming of the Messiah. If they slid into idolatry and did the same as other nations, they would have no reason to exist. So…
In his anger against Israel the Lord gave them into the hands of raiders who plundered them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist. 15 Whenever Israel went out to fight, the hand of the Lord was against them to defeat them, just as he had sworn to them. They were in great distress.
What fault allowed the enemy to plunder them?
- Their mission was to purge the land from iniquity (living without moral law)
- No compromise with evil.
But not only they didn’t obey entirely to purge the land, but they fell into the temptation to forget the only true God. And that empty space in their heart was filled with idolatry. They lost their status of “Witness to the Truth” before all the idolatrous nations around them. What was the result?
“They were no longer able to resist. 15 Whenever Israel went out to fight, the hand of the Lord was against them to defeat them, just as he had sworn to them. They were in great distress” 16 Then the Lord raised up judges, who saved them out of the hands of these raiders. (Judges 2.15)
The process of being exposed to plunder
- A generation who did not experience the great things God had done for the preceding generations.
- Accepting immorality in their ranks in the name of the “religion of tolerance“
- The plundering of the freedoms they thought they had acquired.
- And that leads us to great distress (mainly moral – dysfunctional families, depression, looking for a cause to defend, seeking a reason to live, or committing certain acts done in the name of “personal preference” or “convenience”). And when we can no longer stand the consequences of our acts, we call God for help.
I realize this part of the message may not please everyone. (Please do not see a political or religious message) Only God can change what is in the heart of man)
We can easily compare this situation to our times. But we can also learn from these lessons from the Bible.
Questions for our thinking through:
- Have you lost your status of “Witness to the Truth”?
- What do you tolerate in your life that is prohibited by God.
- What do you feel the enemy has plundered in your life. Make a list.
But here is Good News! Know that God has sent the great Judge Jesus to deliver us from those who have plundered our physical and spiritual goods and assets.
And here is the promise from Joel 2:25 I will repay you (replace) for the years the locusts have eaten …
You can download the text of this message here
(Day 22) God was in this place, and I knew it not
(Day 24) Is desperate need the starting point?
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