Doing Bad

 DEVOTION

JUDGES

DOING BAD

Judges 3:12-19

2 Once again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD, and because they did this evil the LORD gave Eglon king of Moab power over Israel. 13 Getting the Ammonites and Amalekites to join him, Eglon came and attacked Israel, and they took possession of the City of Palms.   14 The Israelites were subject to Eglon king of Moab for eighteen years. 15 Again the Israelites cried out to the LORD, and he gave them a deliverer — Ehud, a left-handed man, the son of Gera the Benjamite. The Israelites sent him with tribute to Eglon king of Moab. 16 Now Ehud had made a double-edged sword about a foot and a half long, which he strapped to his right thigh under his clothing. 17 He presented the tribute to Eglon king of Moab, who was a very fat man. 18 After Ehud had presented the tribute, he sent on their way the men who had carried it. 19 At the idols near Gilgal he himself turned back and said, "I have a secret message for you, O king."

NIV

We should use all of this chapter as it contains the whole of this narrative about Ehud and King Eglon of Moab, but we can take another lesson from Israel first. It just seems it doesn’t take much for the Israelites to do evil in the eyes of the LORD. What is their problem? Wouldn’t it be better to worship the LORD and have no other gods before them? They did have the Ten Commandments, and they must still have the tent of meeting somewhere with the ark of the covenant. What did they do with it? There must have been priests from the tribe of Levi attending to the LORD and were any of the people bringing sin offerings. Wasn’t there still one day of atonement? The Israelites still did evil in the eyes of God and he gave them over to being under the power of a foreign king. He took over the city of Palms, which is Jericho. This is strange in itself, as Jericho was completely demolished under Joshua’s leadership. Nevertheless, here is the lesson. The Israelites had all they needed to know the LORD, and to keep faith with Him, but their humanity got in the way, wanting what they wanted when they wanted it. It is easier to serve something that cannot demand anything from them, or something of their own making. Of course, we believe we would never turn from the LORD like the Israelites did. We don’t have any of the physical reminders they had, but we do have the whole of God’s word and we have the Spirit dwelling within us. Yet have we added some things of our own making that the Lord would consider evil in his eyes? But then how could religious things or activities be evil. Unless we put too much emphasis on tradition rather than truth. We might also put too much emphasis on good deeds instead of pure worship. Of course, we know it can never be Jesus plus, but have we added those things thinking that is being like Jesus. However, what is Jesus like? What did Jesus do? He taught about the kingdom of God, healed people, forgave sins, prayed to his Father,  offered himself as a sacrifice, died for us, raised for us, and ascended for us. What other good deeds or religious activities did Jesus do? Sure, he went to the temple, but to the courts to teach the people about the good news. Maybe all the things we do are of our own making and not from following Jesus. But how could doing good be considered bad? Just a thought to ponder.