Cost of Ignoring God's Commandments

 Judges 1-2     Psalm 120    Matthew 3

As the people of Israel begin to claim their areas of the promised land and Joshua dies, they face the new challenge of continuing to follow the Lord without their godly leader. It doesn’t take long for them to lose their way and forget what God had taught them about obedience and following his commandments and direction. They start by failing to drive out the people living in the land and before long they are being led astray and following the gods of those in the land as God had told them they would do.

God appoints judges over them to lead them and their refusal to follow the law of God leads to God withdrawing his support for them and going before them to put their enemies into their hands. Each time God appointed a judge they would return for a time but then as soon as the judge died, they would look for pleasure in other places. They find themselves now fighting alone without the Lord going before them and now have to rely on there own ability and power.

If you feel you are living in the midst of those with deceitful and lying tongues today’s song reminds us that when we look to the Lord, we have our eyes in the right place. While the pain caused by those that lie and work to hurt us is real, God still calls for us to live in peace with all as long as it depends on us. At times we feel along as the song writer does because no matter how hard we work for peace there are those that will be for war.

When John the Baptist came and was calling the people to repentance, he drew crowds that drove the religious leaders to jealousy. He was offering a new life, a chance to turn from sin and start again, pleasing God alone. He called those very leaders to repentance as well and reminded them God would cut down the unfaithful.

When Jesus comes to him to be baptized John believes it should be the other way around. Jesus tells him they are going to do this God’s way and when he comes out of the water, he is blessed to begin his earthly ministry and the journey of leading others to salvation. Obedience to God the father is for all who dwell on earth and that included the son that came to show us how to live.

Today’s readings remind us how hard it is to consistently follow God’s commands and ways and that even the ones with the great knowledge of God get it wrong and have to be called to repentance. That included you and I at times. The challenge to not be led aside by those the surround us, especially those with loud and powerful voices, is difficult for even those with the deepest faith. We need to remind ourselves of this struggle and take care when leading others whose faith is not as developed and deep as we think ours is.