The Master becomes the Slave!

Scripture Read: Judges 2:11-15 Then the sons of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals, and they forsook the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed themselves down to them; thus they provoked the Lord to anger. So they forsook the Lord and served Baal and the Ashtaroth. The anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and He gave them into the hands of plunderers who plundered them; and He sold them into the hands of their enemies around them, so that they could no longer stand before their enemies. Wherever they went, the hand of the Lord was against them for evil, as the Lord had spoken and as the Lord had sworn to them, so that they were severely distressed.

Application:  As we begin to watch Israel head into this cycle of destructive lifestyle it is important for us to remember that the context is verse 10 where we see that the elders of Israel had not really taught the next generation the reality of a relationship with their Maker. They transferred the data about Him, but not the depth of experience that transforms an individual. This next generation deceived themselves the same way we can if we are not careful. When we have the data about something we can presume that we are in right relationship to it. We must remember that it is impossible to live on past spiritual experience. It would be like your spouse asking you if you love them and you respond with - I gave you a rose 3 years ago, or someone saying - "I could have been a star" and then you find out they were in a play when they were 6 years old. Some say, "I'm a Christian" because they walked an aisle years before. 

Just as disingenuous as those realities are, so is the thought that spiritual life can be passed on automatically to the next generation. There must be a proactive plan to introduce and cultivate a life with God from those that know Him to those that do not. This next generation made the decision to share the throne of God with false gods. It would be healthy for us to consider the outcomes of a decision like this. The first outcome is the irony of idolatry. We reject our true Maker, make someone else or something else our god and before we know it we are serving the very thing that we made our master! We, the servant, deny the true Master His place in our life, then we, the master, make something that should be inferior to us; i.e. money, a statue, a rock or piece of wood, serve as our god, and before we know it, we make it a master over us and we become enslaved to it! It rules us in spite of the fact that we made that which is not God, god!  The second outcome is simply reaping what we sow. God warned Israel that if they were unfaithful to Him, He will leave them at the mercy of their own consequences - which in this case would include their enemies because they refused to obey all the way and rid the land of all the people's and their false gods. This brings out the reality of a statement concerning man and sin - "Men are judged by the truth they despise and betrayed by the sin which they love". Never was there a truer statement made that describes the tragic outcome of living in sin!

Meditation Questions: What makes something an idol? Are there things in your life that you have empowered? What are they and what are you doing about it? When you find yourself loving something more than God, what do you do about it? Baal worship is obvious idolatry, but not all idolatry is easy to identify, what things in your life can become idols? How much time do you spend just in praise of the Lord? Do you ever spend time reading the Psalms back to the Lord?