1And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD: and the LORD delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years. 2And the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel: and because of the Midianites the children of Israel made them the dens which are in the mountains, and caves, and strong holds.
3And so it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites came up, and the Amalekites, and the children of the east, even they came up against them;
4And they encamped against them, and destroyed the increase of the earth, till thou come unto Gaza, and left no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep, nor ox, nor ass. 5For they came up with their cattle and their tents, and they came as grasshoppers for multitude; for both they and their camels were without number: and they entered into the land to destroy it. 6And Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites; and the children of Israel cried unto the LORD. 7And it came to pass, when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD because of the Midianites, 8That the LORD sent a prophet unto the children of Israel, which said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I brought you up from Egypt, and brought you forth out of the house of bondage;
9And I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all that oppressed you, and drave them out from before you, and gave you their land; 10And I said unto you, I am the LORD your God; fear not the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but ye have not obeyed my voice.
-Judges 6:1-10 (KJV)
I know what you're probably thinking as you read through these verses of Scripture: What does this have to do with sin. Well, I will tell you, in just a bit.
Scripture says, in verse 1, "And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD: and the LORD delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years." One thing we must realize is that sin has consequences. Even after you've been forgiven for your sins, the consequences of those sin often remains. Israel sinned, they did evil in the sight of the LORD. Sin must be dealt with. That is why God handed them over to Midian. Midian was another country, that traces back to Abraham. The Midianites came and basically knocked out Israel. Verse 4 says "..and left no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep, no ox, nor ass." They destroyed their crops, their food supply. In fact, verse 2 "And the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel: and because of the Midianites the children of Israel made them the dens which are in the mountains, and caves, and strong holds." The Midianites were so cruel that the children of Israel had to make dens in the mountains as hiding places from them. Now, what does this have to do with sin? More importantly, what does this have to do with you and me? Now I'll tell you.
When we chose to live a life of sin, sin becomes our master. Midian became the master of Israel when they sinned against God, and God punished Israel for that sin. Sin controls you. You get into sin, and suddenly, you get scared that others may find out your sin. So, you do your sin where nobody knows, you cover up your sin. Just like Israel made dens and caves in the mountains to hid from the cruelty of the Midianites, we, too, find hiding places for our sin, thinking God will not see us. Remember back in Genesis 3, when Adam and Eve ate from the forbidden fruit? When they realized their sin, they hid themselves from the presence of God. Genesis 3:8-11 says, "8And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden. 9And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? 10And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. 11And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?" Just like Adam and Eve tried to hid from God, we do the same thing. We try to hide our sin from God, and we try to hide our sins from others. Sin controls everything. When Israel tried to grow crops for food, Midian was there to destroy it. Midian destroyed not only crops, but cattle and animals as well. Israel was left with nothing. Left unchecked, sin will destroy us as well. Sin will destroy relationships, families, work, everything, until we are left with no sustenance. Sin gets in there and destroys everything.
Friends, sin is evil, sin is cruel. Sin has no part in our lives. Yet, we give into it all the time. Let's stop sin before it starts. Paul writes in Romans 6:12-14, " 12Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. 13Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. 14For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace." We will dig into these verses in our post tomorrow. For now, are you living in sin? Are you trying to hide those sins from God, or from others? Seek forgiveness, and allow God to heal your sin. Think About It.
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