They are so used to slavery, and they cannot seem to manage freedom. This can be related to this generation where sin is growing rapidly and the need to be obedient seems to be of no significance …
“After the death of Joshua, there arose a generation that do not know God or the miracles He had done for their fathers, so they did evil in the eyes of the Lord by worshiping other god’s, and forsook the Lord. God was angry at the Israelites and delivered them into the hands of spoilers, but God in all of this, still remembered his covenant with them” (Judges 2:1). He then raised judges to deliver them from the hands of their enemies, the judges were their protection (Judges 2:19), but when the judges died, the Israelites went back to their old ways.
My questions are these, were they playing with God or testing their boundaries because of the covenant? Could that be the reason they went back to other gods? And again, they did evil over and over again even after their freedom from Egypt, they forgot God and served other gods. God got angry and sold them to the king of Mesopotamia, and they spent eight years. They cried to the Lord lamenting and He heard them again and raised a deliverer called Othniel for them, who delivered them from the king of Mesopotamia.
The Trends of Idolatry
Here comes comfort, comfort tends to bring forgetfulness. The Israelites were in comfort for forty years and they forgot God again, and God delivered them into the hands of Eglon, whom had already sinned against God and got the opportunity to punish him through the Israelites (vs12b). Eglon took over the palm tree land off Israel and they served Eglon for eighteen years. While serving Eglon, the children of Israel cried to the Lord again, and as usual, God heard them and raised Ehud who eventually killed Eglon, and Israel was free again. Israelites rested from trouble again for 80 years, they were too comfortable again and God used a man called Shampor to deliver them from the hands of the philistines. Just as they did in the past, they served other gods and God made them serve another twenty years under the reign of Jabin.
Yes, we can be forgiven “But can we remain in sin that grace may abound “God forbid! Even if we have been forgiven, what of the bondage that keeps recurring in our lives when we sin? I am not talking of physical bondage and some might be sicknesses, depression, anxiety, phobia, the list is endless.
Is Liberty in Christ to be Abused?
Hold on!! Canaan was supposed to be the promise land, why were they in bondage again? The truth is you can be in your promised land and still remain in bondage because of disobedience? Most times we are like the children of Israel who kept sinning against God because we thought we had the love of Christ we have freedom and liberty, so we sin and then we think we can be forgiven again and again. Yes, we can be forgiven “But can we remain in sin that grace may abound “God forbid! Even if we have been forgiven, what of the bondage that keeps recurring in our lives when we sin? I am not talking of physical bondage and some might be sicknesses, depression, anxiety, phobia, the list is endless.
Simply Obey and be Free Forever
The thing is the Israelites keep finding themselves in a mess of slavery just because they cannot do one simple thing, obey!! They seem to prefer slavery than to be consistent in obeying the commands of God. They are so used to slavery, and they cannot seem to manage freedom. This can be related to this generation where sin is growing rapidly and the need to be obedient seems to be of no significance .The choice is yours, whether to be in slavery or to be free and remain free in Christ Jesus. Jesus is the only one that can set us free from sin that has held us bound. “If the son set you free you shall be free indeed.” (John 8:36).
