Spiritual Adultery
Spiritual Adultery. The history of the Children of Israel in the Old Testament is filled with their obedience and then disobedience. When reading through the Old Testament it is easy to feel a great frustration toward the Israelites.
16 Then the LORD raised up
judges, who saved them out of the hands of these raiders. 17 Yet they
would not listen to their judges but prostituted themselves to other
gods and worshiped them. Unlike their fathers, they quickly turned from
the way in which their fathers had walked, the way of obedience to the Lord's
commands. 18 Whenever the LORD raised up a judge for them, he was with
the judge and saved them out of the hands of their enemies as long as
the judge lived; for the LORD had compassion on them as they groaned
under those who oppressed and afflicted them. 19 But when the judge
died, the people returned to ways even more corrupt than those of their
fathers, following other gods and serving and worshiping them. They
refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways.
Judges 2:16-19, NIV
Spiritual Adultery
The history of the Children of Israel in the Old Testament is filled with their obedience and then disobedience. When reading through the Old Testament it is easy to feel a great frustration toward the Israelites. Look at all of the miracles they experienced, and yet they soon forgot the miracles and turned to other gods and idols. Sin seemed always to be crouching at the door, ready to pounce on them at any minute. However, we have the Bible to read; we know the beginning and the end. The Israelites did not!
Now,
take a moment to ponder our own lives and our own tendencies. Suddenly
we see a different picture. How quickly our faith dies amid the
circumstances of life.
Do you remember these lines in Come Thou Fount that say?
Prone to wander, Lord I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love.
The
light dawns as we realize that we are just like the Children of Israel;
we are so quick to turn from the God we love. Paul says it this way in
Romans 7:15:
I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.
Thankfully,
through the Lord Jesus Christ, God understands our weaknesses and
frailties -- though He doesn't allow our sin to remain unpaid. The only
payment for our sins is Christ--even the sins we commit after becoming
Christians.
How do we counter
spiritual adultery in our own lives? We must continually cast ourselves
before Christ, asking for grace, mercy, and help to turn from the sin
which so easily besets us.
Pray today for strength to turn away from sin and live obediently before God!
More devotions on the topic of Spiritual Adultery
Come Near to God, James 4:4-10
Devotional Reflections Home Page
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