“The angel of the LORD went up from Gilgal to Bokim and said, ‘I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land I swore to give to your ancestors. I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you, and you shall not make a covenant with the people of this land, but you shall break down their altars.’ Yet you have disobeyed me. Why have you done this?” (Judges 2:1-2, NIV)
Resonant in this scripture — which recounts the disobedience of the Children of Israel when they did not utterly subdue the inhabitants of the Promised Land, but allowed them to coexist with them in the land, albeit as “servants” or “slaves” — is the peril of allowing anything that is ungodly to inhabit our lives.
The problem with allowing any ungodly thought or deed to persist in one’s life — even in a small, seemingly insignificant way — is that after a while the “slave” becomes the master; and the “servant” becomes the one that is served.
In the case of the ancient Israelites, it wasn’t too very long before they were worshiping at the pagan altars and incorporating forbidden practices into their lives. I am sure that their chosen course of action seemed enlightened at the time, but the outcome of disobedience to God is always the same: Our own eventual destruction.
Today, choose life. Choose God. None of us ever succeeds in riding the “tiger” that is ungodliness. – Luther
