Wednesday: November 27, 2013

Read: Deuteronomy 2:24 –  4

Think: The consequence of your sin will always cost you more than the sacrifice of your obedience.

Let that sink in for a moment. Is your head already thinking of how this has been true in your own life? A time when you lied to your teacher and got away with it, until they found out a week later, told your parents and made you suffer through detention? A time when you gave in to flirting with the cute boy even though you knew he wasn’t good for you, and then you ended up hurting everyone’s feelings in the end, when a little self-control would have saved you from all that.

If it seems like I seem to know these situations well – I do! It’s my story. When I look back on my disobedience I see a string of hurtful and unhelpful things. And when I look back on my obedience I see sacrifices that have matured me and brought me to further completion of the goal of my faith.

The consequence for Sihon king of Heshbon was much greater than the sacrifice of obedience would have been. As you read in chapter 2:26-35, Sihon denied the Israelites’ simple request to pass through his land unharmed. Sure, Sihon might have lost some credibility with other kings by helping out the Israelites, he might have lost a bit of profit by selling them food at a decent price, but that would have been much more worth it for him in the long run.

Sihon’s disobedience lost him everything. Not only was his army put to shame and totally defeated by God’s power through Israel; all of their towns and people in them were also destroyed. Can I hear a “NOT WORTH IT” from anybody?

Disobedience is just not worth it, ever! I can promise you that. But the hard truth is, we’ve all been there. I’ve messed up and in my lifetime will again mess up, probably more than I would like to admit. So what then? What happens when we live in the consequence of our sin?

This is my favorite part – God forgives us! He still allows us to go through the junk we have brought on ourselves, but he is merciful and forgiving. Let’s look back at chapter 4:27-31. To sum these verses up it says, after you have done really dumb things and made bad decisions, if from there you begin to seek God again, he will welcome you back with open arms! God in fact can use our very distress in hard times to wake us up and remind us that he is still here for us.

To wrap things up I’ll quote my father, “Doing what’s wrong is never right.” And I’ll add to that, doing what’s wrong is always more painful than doing what’s right.

Pray: Are you in a place where you have messed up? Are you living in the consequences of really bad decisions? Call out to our glorious savior Jesus!  He wants to help you right in the pit you are in. He knows where you have been and where you are finding yourself now, and he’s ready to restore you!

written by – KVH