The enemy of God and those who believe and follow God works diligently to distract, deceive, dismantle our faith with efforts to destroy our relationship with our God.  He is crafty and good at his work.  He has practiced his trade of manipulation of minds coupled with lying about God since the garden of Eden.  Adam and Eve fell for the enemy’s lies and turned their focus from God who created and loved them dearly to self-satisfaction without God. 

The newly created man and woman, made in the image of God, were banned from the garden of perfection because they did exactly what God told them not to do. The enemy of God knew even then how to manipulate their thought process. Here are excerpts of Genesis 3 for how it all went down;

“Now the serpent was craftier than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, ‘Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

“When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.” 

God said no; but Adam and Eve decided yes. Sin was born and gave birth to more sin. Sin begins in the mind and is fleshed out in resulting behaviors that are not of God. 

Their intimate relationship with God was fractured and broken.  Adam and Eve decided that the snake in front of them was better than the God who created them.  This newly formed couple, made in the image of God, chose to now acquire the characteristics of the enemy instead of the loving ways of God.  They sinned against God then lied about it to God.  Adam’s first response to God; “She made me do it.” Eve’s first response; “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”  As if the “devil made me do it” which is our excuse today.  Satan’s power is limited.  He presents sin to us but he cannot make us fall for it. We do that all by ourselves. With God’s power in us, which is unlimited, we can overcome the enemy just like Jesus!

“In those days,” the book of Judges teaches, “Israel had no king.” This truth is repeated often, not as an excuse for their behaviors of sin; but as a declaration of the condition of their hearts.  God’s people did as they pleased without God. “The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord.”  God’s people are trying to do life on their own in a hostile land of people groups who do not know or worship the One and Only God. They worship and even sacrifice their children and young virgins to many man produced gods of silver, bronze, and gold.  God’s people are falling for the sin of worshiping these gods while turning to the God in times of trouble.

Judges 18

The Danites Settle in Laish

In those days Israel had no king.

And in those days the tribe of the Danites was seeking a place of their own where they might settle, because they had not yet come into an inheritance among the tribes of Israel. ² So the Danites sent five of their leading men from Zorah and Eshtaol to spy out the land and explore it. These men represented all the Danites. They told them, “Go, explore the land.”

So they entered the hill country of Ephraim and came to the house of Micah, where they spent the night. ³ When they were near Micah’s house, they recognized the voice of the young Levite; so they turned in there and asked him, “Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? Why are you here?”

⁴ He told them what Micah had done for him, and said, “He has hired me and I am his priest.”

⁵ Then they said to him, “Please inquire of God to learn whether our journey will be successful.”

⁶ The priest answered them, “Go in peace. Your journey has the Lord’s approval.”

⁷ So the five men left and came to Laish, where they saw that the people were living in safety, like the Sidonians, at peace and secure. And since their land lacked nothing, they were prosperous. Also, they lived a long way from the Sidonians and had no relationship with anyone else.

⁸ When they returned to Zorah and Eshtaol, their fellow Danites asked them, “How did you find things?”

⁹ They answered, “Come on, let’s attack them! We have seen the land, and it is very good. Aren’t you going to do something? Don’t hesitate to go there and take it over. ¹⁰ When you get there, you will find an unsuspecting people and a spacious land that God has put into your hands, a land that lacks nothing whatever.”

¹¹ Then six hundred men of the Danites, armed for battle, set out from Zorah and Eshtaol. ¹² On their way they set up camp near Kiriath Jearim in Judah. This is why the place west of Kiriath Jearim is called Mahaneh Dan to this day. ¹³ From there they went on to the hill country of Ephraim and came to Micah’s house.

¹⁴ Then the five men who had spied out the land of Laish said to their fellow Danites, “Do you know that one of these houses has an ephod, some household gods and an image overlaid with silver? Now you know what to do.” ¹⁵ So they turned in there and went to the house of the young Levite at Micah’s place and greeted him. ¹⁶ The six hundred Danites, armed for battle, stood at the entrance of the gate. ¹⁷ The five men who had spied out the land went inside and took the idol, the ephod and the household gods while the priest and the six hundred armed men stood at the entrance of the gate.

¹⁸ When the five men went into Micah’s house and took the idol, the ephod and the household gods, the priest said to them, “What are you doing?”

¹⁹ They answered him, “Be quiet! Don’t say a word. Come with us, and be our father and priest. Isn’t it better that you serve a tribe and clan in Israel as priest rather than just one man’s household?” ²⁰ The priest was very pleased. He took the ephod, the household gods and the idol and went along with the people. ²¹ Putting their little children, their livestock and their possessions in front of them, they turned away and left.

²² When they had gone some distance from Micah’s house, the men who lived near Micah were called together and overtook the Danites. ²³ As they shouted after them, the Danites turned and said to Micah, “What’s the matter with you that you called out your men to fight?”

²⁴ He replied, “You took the gods I made, and my priest, and went away. What else do I have? How can you ask, ‘What’s the matter with you?’”

²⁵ The Danites answered, “Don’t argue with us, or some of the men may get angry and attack you, and you and your family will lose your lives.” ²⁶ So the Danites went their way, and Micah, seeing that they were too strong for him, turned around and went back home.

²⁷ Then they took what Micah had made, and his priest, and went on to Laish, against a people at peace and secure. They attacked them with the sword and burned down their city. ²⁸ There was no one to rescue them because they lived a long way from Sidon and had no relationship with anyone else. The city was in a valley near Beth Rehob.

The Danites rebuilt the city and settled there. ²⁹ They named it Dan after their ancestor Dan, who was born to Israel—though the city used to be called Laish. ³⁰ There the Danites set up for themselves the idol, and Jonathan son of Gershom, the son of Moses, and his sons were priests for the tribe of Dan until the time of the captivity of the land. ³¹ They continued to use the idol Micah had made, all the time the house of God was in Shiloh.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

“For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime;
weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.” Psalm 30:5

God is faithful even when His people are not.  God knows their sins and loves them still.  He gets angry at us when we turn from Him and His best for us.  He allows us to wallow in the consequences of our sins for a while until we turn back to God.  We are so blessed by our God in ways so undeserving! I am grateful for the unending mercies of the Lord and His loving forever faithfulness to me.  When I fall, God picks me up, brushes off the dirt, forgives and restores me all because of Jesus who redeemed me!  There is no one like our God!  Why worship anyone or anything else but God? 

But, we don’t worship idols, do we?  We don’t add our idols to our worship of God, do we? We do when we fall for the tireless tricks and distractions of shiny objects offered up daily from the enemy of God—

• A new vehicle that is attractive and will raise our status among our friends might become the object of our affection when we will do anything to acquire it, even if it means going into debt for years to come…
• The offer of a new job that we are sure will give us all we need to climb the ladder of success but will mean the sacrifice of our morals in acquiring it… 
• A younger version of our mate who truly understands us and is okay with being a “side dish” in our married lives…
• Doing what it takes to get a bigger, better home even if it means getting a second or third job to pay the mortgage…
• Letting go of wholesome, good for us, godly relationships and turning to those who will help us get ahead in the world…
• Attending and giving to God’s church to bolster our status, reputation, and for financial gain in the community…
• Using gossip and manipulation to get what we want…
• Living with someone before commitment to marry to see if this “will work” for us…

These are but a few of the “idols” of our culture that our enemy says is okay for us because we deserve it.  “Surely God did not mean what He says…He is just keeping you from enjoying life”—This from the “accuser and liar,” our enemy whose end goal is eternal death and destruction. (Revelation 12:10 and John 8:44)

Israel may have been with a “king” at that time; but we are not! We have King Jesus!  Take hold with a firm grip on the hand of our Savior who has been declared by God to be The King of kings and Lord of lords! Listen to the Holy Spirit God gave us with power to overcome all that the enemy throws at us!  It was God’s Plan to save us in this Way all along…all according to God’s timing to provide the ultimate sacrifice to provide all we need to repent and remove sin from our lives forever!  Life is found in Jesus—not just any life but eternal Life!

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:16-17

God did for us what we cannot do for ourselves—remove the sin that stands between us and God through Jesus.   ^“Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:16 

We have no excuse for sin. But we have a Savior who removes sin.  Fall for Jesus!

Lord,

Thank you, thank you, thank you!  Guide all that I think, say, and do for your glory so others will know you, too.

In Jesus Name, Amen